W. Hulitt Gloer, Baylor University

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Session Description

I want to open with a passage from Peculiar Treasures by Frederick Buechner. He takes Biblical characters and writes little vignettes in there. A lot of good preaching can come out of what he says. This is Buechner's take on the famous story in Numbers 22, about Balum's ass. "The legend of Solomon's ring, the adventures of Dr. Doolittle, the attempt to decipher the dots and dashes of dolphins, and to teach chimpanzees to type out their thoughts on computers. All of these reflect humanity's ancient dream of being able to talk with the animals. As fascinating as a message from outer space would be a message from the inner space of a great blue heron, or a common house cat sunning herself on the kitchen linoleum. Their mute gaze suggests a vision of reality beyond our imagining. What do they see in their ignorance that we in our wisdom are blind to? ... "

Conference Title

2008 Calvin Symposium on Worship

Event Date

1-25-2008

Event Type

Workshop/Seminar

Type (recording/text)

Recording

Subject Area

Homiletics

Topic

Preaching

Keywords:

imagination, preaching, Frederick Buechner

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Seeing What is Really There: Preaching and the Imagination

I want to open with a passage from Peculiar Treasures by Frederick Buechner. He takes Biblical characters and writes little vignettes in there. A lot of good preaching can come out of what he says. This is Buechner's take on the famous story in Numbers 22, about Balum's ass. "The legend of Solomon's ring, the adventures of Dr. Doolittle, the attempt to decipher the dots and dashes of dolphins, and to teach chimpanzees to type out their thoughts on computers. All of these reflect humanity's ancient dream of being able to talk with the animals. As fascinating as a message from outer space would be a message from the inner space of a great blue heron, or a common house cat sunning herself on the kitchen linoleum. Their mute gaze suggests a vision of reality beyond our imagining. What do they see in their ignorance that we in our wisdom are blind to? ... "