Something a bit unusual occurred last Sunday. At New Covenant Church in Naperville, since our senior pastor Doug O'Donnell fell ill, and was therefore unable to preach, we shifted and did something that we've never done before. Pastor Andrew Fulton led our corporate time ordinarily reserved for a sermon by reading 2 Peter right through and then opening up a time for impromptu congregational insights and applications (since no one who had a voice had prepared a sermon).
It seems the Word simply read, pondered, and straightaway applied was felt powerfully and movingly by God's people. A rich and sweet time! Many rank and file believers spoke feelingly and stirringly in response to Peter's second epistle. I confess that what many said greatly encouraged my faith, not least because it came from about a dozen brothers and sisters who ordinarily don't publicly encourage the body. May that good Word, and the good words in response to it, continue to bear fruit and multiply among us--for the sake of the Name in our midst, in Naperville, and to the ends of the earth!
As a caveat, this is not said at all (how can I stress this enough?) in deprecation of the preached Word by specially endowed ministers of that Word that is above all earthly powers. Nothing can replace that. Nothing. Whatever. Ever. My view of preaching, and its indispensibility for the life and health of the local and global Church, is as high I hope as anyone's. Preaching is the corporate high point of every week. Nevertheless, it should be duly noted with gratitude: God was pleased, it seems, to bless the simple reading of his Word and our simple, untrained and unprepared response to it. Bless his holy name!
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