I received a book token for my birthday.
I was looking forward to spending it in a proper bookshop. A few weeks later I was travelling to London and noticed that there was a Foyles bookshop in London Waterloo Station. What a lovely experience it was to speak to knowledgeable assistants who were able to point me to the books I was looking for.
These included DEPARTURE(S) by Julian Barnes. The 77-year-old Barnes, who won a Booker Prize for his novel The Sense of an Ending, reckons that this is his last book.
DEPARTURE(S) relates the experience of reflecting on his terminal cancer diagnosis, his life and impending death. The book is full of memories, or what is called IAM’s (involuntary autobiographical memories).
I was interested to read about his approach to writing:
“Mostly I write fiction, which requires the slow composting of life before it becomes usable material, and I have no notion at the time what might or might not break down into fictional possibility. And the same applies, to a lesser extent, to non-fiction.”
I was taken by the phrase “the slow composting of life.”
We have an allotment, where one of the tasks is managing our compost bins. I have what might appear as a disproportionate joy in seeing the end results of the composting process!
A sermon will be an amalgam of my previous reading, reflection on Scripture, conversations I have had, observations of real life and enjoyment of the culture of music, TV and film. All this going into the compost bin of my mind and at some point, in the future if it is utilised in a message.
For the preacher no resource or experience is wasted if it has been properly processed and used in a timely and appropriate way. Of course, this does require the wisdom and discipline to discern what resources will fit any given message.
Reading DEPARTURE(S) reminded me that the Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann describes the Bible as “the compost pile that provides the material for new life.”
At first sight this does not sound like an especially complimentary comment, but it is a highly suggestive one. For Brueggemann the idea of a compost heap is suggestive of fertility and potential. A compost heap has biodegradable material in it that can so easily be lost. It has trapped within it many seeds and goodness that could burst into new and fruitful life.
Carefully turning the compost heap is an important task for the preacher. Nothing useful will grow in our preaching ministry unless it begins here.
For Bruggemann this process takes place in the “Zone of Imagination.” This reminded me of what my son used to say when he was sitting quietly: “I’m in my imagination station.”
Good preachers need a lively imagination to retrieve what we already know and to reflect on fresh ways to speak about them.
Jesus said:
“Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” (Matthew 13: 52)
Photo by Seth Cottle on Unsplash