Rest!
Another busy summer. Can’t you tell?
Appearances, folks, are deceptive. It has been/is a busy summer— about 3 months of weekly preaching, two writing projects, another being polished and finalized, clinical schedules, …. So that respite in the hot tub at our resort in Maui a couple of months ago was very welcome.
Not that I don’t appreciate the busyness of life, especially when I get to do things I thoroughly enjoy. But it was fun to lie around in Maui and do
Snapshot!
They say that we eat first with our eyes. Which is to say, if it looks good, I’m going to enjoy it more.
Scientists, though, have gone further. Apparently food that looks good can make dishes that are bland and not up to par taste better. And—get this!—you can achieve the same effect by just looking at pictures of good food.
In work jointly done by neuroscientists in Lausanne and Tokyo, they declared here:
Preaching is Conformational
Preaching serves to conform the people of God to the will of God. In the account in Nehemiah, the exposition of God’s word leads to covenant renewal, the realignment of the community to the will of their sovereign: getting right with the King.
“You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them
Everywhere?
Several months ago, 11mark, a marketing and advertising agency, put out the results of a study of people’s cell phone habits.
The study was labeled “IT in the Toilet.” It went where no other surveys cared to go to assess the “bathroom benchmark” for cell-phone usage.
Apparently 75% of Americans don’t go to the bathroom alone—they take their mobile devices along for company: 91% of those between 28 and 35 years of age. And even 47% of those 65 and older have
Lei!
In Maui, where we were last month, we attended a luau (lū‘au), a traditional Hawaiian feast accompanied by obligatory dances and music.
As we entered into the complex where the luau was to be conducted, each of the guests was garlanded with a lei. A Hawaiian proverb says it well: E lei no au i ko aloha (“I will wear your love as a wreath/adornment”). That’s what the lei is, a wreath, given in a traditional welcome.
All kinds of materials may be utilized for this
Sunrise!
The mountain on West Maui is called Haleakalā (“house of the sun”) with its tallest peak at about 10,000 feet. And it’s a great place to catch the sunrise—a must-do activity in Maui.
From where we stayed, in South Maui, it was a three-hour drive to the summit, mostly hairpin bends that really are hair-raising. Lots of blind turns and steep drop-offs. With the occasional cow meandering across the road.
Not to mention, a ton of bikers on the return trip, going down.
Preaching is Applicational
That preaching is applicational means that preaching is not simply informational. Rather it is transformational, intended to change the lives of God’s people for the glory of God. It is not enough that people know. They must be. That is the goal of preaching. Preaching, therefore, has to be application-oriented.
All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.