“What I plead for is, that in all your desire to create good sermons you should think no sermon good that does not do its work.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 95
Not a Means of Grace
“If someone is so dependent on coffee that they can’t be a Christian in the morning until they have had some, then there is a problem”
Devoured by Grace, p. 41
Following the Contempt
“There is nothing worse for a preacher than to come to think that, he must preach down to people; that they cannot take the very best he has to give. He grows to despise his own sermons, and the people quickly learn to sympathize with their minister”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 94
Constrained by Liberty
“I am a slave to Christ, which means I can’t do certain things. One of the things I am prohibited from doing is using my liberty as a device for enslaving myself. These are liberty chains—you may not use your liberty (which is real) as a cover for tying yourself up in bondage again”
Devoured by Cannabis, p. 41
A Preacher, Not an Artist
“A sermon exists in and for its purpose. That purpose is the persuading and moving of men’s souls . . . It is always aimed at men”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 92
A Most Reasonable Qualification
“What is the meaning of liberty? In order to make any progress at all when it comes to understanding the use of marijuana, we have to know what freedom is. We also have to discuss it, and work through it carefully, with very sober minds. That means we should debate the question of pot without having smoked any”
Devoured by Cannabis, pp. 39-40
Preaching and Reading
“Ordinarily, reading sermons is like listening to an echo. The words there, but the personal intonation is gone out of them and there is an unreality about it all . . . In general it is true that the sermon which is good to preach is poor to read and the sermon which is good to read is poor to preach.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 91
Competing Aesthetic Systems
“One wine might be selected because it would go well with the beef, and another chosen because it complemented the pasta. Marijuana goes with (recalling Cheech and Chong) Oreos and mustard”
Devoured by Cannabis, p 31
Pride Kills
“Never allow yourself to feel equal to your work”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 88
Jesus No Moonshiner
“If the use of wine was sinful and problematic , then it would have been really problematic for Jesus to have made 160 gallons of it”
Devoured by Cannabis, p. 26