Monday, November 30, 2015

Proclaim!

A slightly pompous word...
You have to be very sure that your message matters before you risk proclaiming it, and sometimes that sense of its importance can actually get in the way of the message itself.
We've all heard readers who are so determined you will grasp the Full Significance of their reading that they ham it up beyond all bearing...
My guess is that such insistent proclamation disrupts understanding  even more than the depressingly flat presentation that packages timeless words as though they were entries in the phone book.
Famously, of course, in England we enjoy both understatement and mocking ourselves....hence my choice of picture for today 


But I know, really, that I've missed the point.
One of the high spots of my year came when, having led my son and daughter-in-law through their marriage vows, I told the packed church
"I therefore proclaim that they are husband and wife".
Good news for them and for all who love them...but we have even better news this Advent.
We have a gospel to proclaim!

#AdventWord

1 comment:

jo(e) said...

Ah, I love clergy who have a sense of humor.