Christianity is fundamentally rooted in the Word. God spoke to His people through spiritual leaders and prophets of Israel. Then the Word finally was incarnated to engage himself with them directly. God still speaks to us through the Bible. In Scripture God is actively present, making His will and presence known to us. The Christian tradition – especially the Reformed – has appreciated this significance of the Word of God in its worship. Consequently, the ministry of the Word has become a critical point of its worship service. Yet, despite putting lots of emphasis on the Word in worship, the Korean Presbyterian churches seem to be struggling with overfamiliarity with Scripture. People have lost the wonder and excitement of God’s Word. They feel bored and dull with preaching. Possibly, aesthetics and symbolic liturgy would give us a breakthrough of the situation.
5.2.1. Public reading of Scripture
Firstly, there should be a revival of the public reading of Scripture. The ministry of the Word in the worship service embraces the public proclamation of Scripture as well as the expounding sermon. However, in the Korean Presbyterian worship the liturgy of public reading of Scripture is almost lost and the Scripture reading is done only with the text for sermon. The Scripture should be announced and proclaimed to be heard
in the ear of the congregation as much as possible. It is God’s speaking, His words of grace. It discloses His sacrifices and love done for us. It draws us anew into the experience of our belonging to Him. When the Scripture is read, we are told that God is working in our life today just as He has worked in the past.
In order to implement public reading of Scripture in worship, following the plan of lectionary readings can be a good way to do it. One of the advantages of utilizing lectionary is that it forces us to deal with the whole biblical story. If you follow the lectionary, your congregation would automatically read and hear most passages of the Bible to be announced in three years (Cf. Lee 2010:60-61). The adoption of the lectionary would make the liturgy of Scripture reading a major aspect of our worship, giving consistency according to the cycle of the Christian year.
To make the reading of Scripture more effective and more participatory, it would be a good idea to establish a lay readers’ group or to employ a way of dramatic reading. The manner in which we read Scripture publicly is important. It is not something to stumble over or to be read in a careless way. Therefore, it is good to have a group of people committed to and well-trained in reading Scripture. Besides this, a dramatic reading is also of advantage. When reading the narrative passages like Gospel lessons, some persons from the congregation can take the roles of characters in the story and read like a kind of play. This method can involve the congregation as active participants too (Webber 1992:74, 93).
5.2.2. Imaginative preaching
Preaching is basically a verbal mode of communication in which speaking and hearing dominate; but it is never insulated from non-verbal factors of communication. Here are three data evidential of it: Firstly, even the Reformed and Puritan traditions illustrate that preaching is a multi-sensual activity. Preachers in the traditions have practiced sermon as a form of art. For example, Calvin used in his masterpiece, Institutes of Christian religion many rhetorical devices such as metaphor, personification, resounding of words and phrases, alliteration, and so on. Calvin’s usage of words is “picturesque and pleasing to the taste” (Breen 1957:16). Puritan
preachers’ usage of words denotes similar fashion. They also have developed their sermon in rhetorical eloquence with a number of tropes although they wanted to differentiate their own sermon from that of the Anglican preachers, criticizing it as ‘pretty’ and ‘witty’. Puritan preachers’ ministry of the Word too exemplifies that preaching is a linguistic art which appeals to multiple senses as well as hearing.76
Secondly, words create (inner) images. As we have looked in Luther’s remarks already, word provokes images unavoidably in the mind’s eye. The Word of God that evokes inner images in those who read it or listen to it carries a vision ‘remembered’ and ‘hoped’ in the heart of people. Furthermore, the vision securely kept in the heart might help them to live a life of faith vibrantly especially in times of temptation and affliction.
The third evidence of preaching as the integration of verbal and non-verbal forms of communication is statistical data. According to Bosch (1977:12), 55 percent of the message transmitted between people is altogether nonverbal (including gestures, so-called body language, clothing, facial expression, posture); 38 percent is vocal (tone of voice, pitch, speed of speech, modulation, inflection, etc.); and a mere 7 percent is verbal (the actual cognitive content of the words used in communication). Even though there may be an objection to the proportions of the statistics presented, one thing indisputable is that any form of verbal communication (including preaching) is never purely a matter of language or the content of speech. A variety of non-verbal factors are involved there in chorus. Therefore, succinctly speaking, we not only hear preaching; we also see, taste, touch and smell preaching imaginatively.
Then, what should preachers do for an effective preaching that ignites the imagination of people? Reierson (1988:60-68) makes three suggestions in this regard. Firstly, preachers should use mythic language rather than discursive language. Mythic language expresses itself in creative imagination whereas discursive language does in rational and logical thinking. Mythic language is more
76 Cf. Reierson (1988:75ff) for specific examples and further discussions of the artistic feature of the Puritan preaching.
subjective and intuitive than discursive language. It involves a kind of thinking process which is charged with intuitive and sensory experience. The focus of mythic language is put on the experience in its fullness. Accordingly, in this category many artistic devices that furnish images and sensation are included. Preaching is in need of utilization of mythic language because mythic language, dealing with the realm of experience and emotion, reveals the depth of meanings in life. When we preach, therefore, artistic techniques and rhetorical devices are not mere addendum or adornment; they are the indispensable language forms which can communicate fully the depths of life and faith.
Secondly, preachers should do well to utilize metaphorical language. As mentioned earlier, metaphorical language is an absolute necessity when we want to speak of realities such as God, the divine, spirituality and the like because they are elusive and never able to be fully grasped in reason. Therefore, we need stories, parables, symbols and analogies in order to reach the transcendent realities. Metaphor bridges between two entities, between the heaven and earth, or to speak in terms of time, the past, present and future. It helps us to understand familiar things in a new way by creating tension between the entities. Viewed from this angle, it adds value to preaching because it may enable us to overcome the familiarity with the biblical stories. Perhaps it makes us listen to the Word of God in a fresh way.
Thirdly, preachers ought to foster a variety of modes of knowing, i.e. sensation, thinking, feeling and intuition. 77 These four functions, which constitute comprehensive knowing, are related to how we view the world, how we take in information and feelings, and how we decide about things. Preaching, then, should
77 Adopting Carl G. Jung’s theory, Reierson (1988:66-68) articulates four dimensions of a complete knowing: Sensation is the function by which people observe things; feeling has to do with judgment of the value of the objective world; thinking is the function that categorizes and assigns meaning to perceived elements; intuition is associated with the aesthetic function like imagination and innovation. The sensation and thinking functions relate to the descriptive task of theology. Through these functions human beings observe their world and seek to define it and understand it. Art may have implication in this task by opening up the richness and complexities of the created world. The feeling function correlates with the critical task of theology in which we make critical judgments of value on life. Art may assist theology in this task by depicting the human crisis and predicament. The intuition function pertains to the constructive task of theology. Through this function we imagine and hope for new possibilities and alternatives. In this task, too, art can be of great help to illustrate a vision of wholeness and to implant an eschatological hope in us.
be a process of this comprehensive knowing by observing our world and life, making a critical judgment upon them, and constructing an alternative image of hope of our wholeness.
Unquestionably, preaching is a crucial component of worship as people respond to the Word moved by the words of the preacher. Therefore, it is right for the preacher to try to find every possible way to communicate the good news effectively. Stories, metaphors, image-rich words, pictorial images, structures of sermons themselves, etc. – these are not redundant adornments; but they are essential elements to a sermon communicating gospel. They make the sermon come alive to the congregation, and the result? The people would be nourished with the great power and depth of the Word of God.