“Cultures pass through aesthetic phases as they rise and fall, and the last phase is the phase of decadence. It is the phase in which sensate spectacle is glorified, and it is a sign, not of glory but of decrepitude.”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 45
First Things First
“Here as everywhere the love of truth for itself is the only salvation. Love the truth, and then, for your people’s good and for your own delight, make it as beautiful as you can.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 132
Naturally Artificial
“The world is laden with many good things, and apart from picking an apple or two with your bare hands, any kind of dominion has to be accomplished by means of tools. A man with tools is not being an artificial man. My argument is that a man cannot be an authentic man without tools.”
Ploductivity, p. 30
Understated Beauty
“Simplicity is beautiful when it is elegant. Complexity is beautiful when it is understated. The lines should be clean, not cluttered . . . Compare what we are going to do architecturally and liturgically with what a godly women should do to adorn herself. She should adorn herself, and she should make herself beautiful. But the Bible is explicit that this is not to be done by bedizening oneself with various spangles.”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 43
Write Down Every Other Word
“I think that the best sermons that ever have been preached, taking all the qualities of sermons into account, have probably been extemporaneous sermons, but that the number of good sermons preached from manuscript have probably been far greater than the number of good sermons preached extemporaneously; and he who can put those two facts together will arrive at some pretty clear and just idea of how it will be best for him to preach.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 132
Using Them Right Off
“When God breathed the breath of life into Adam, and Adam first sat up, he did so with two opposable thumbs. And he used one of those thumbs when he chucked his first rock into the first pool he came to.”
Ploductivity, p. 30
Simplicity Is An Aesthetic Value
“Both with architecture and with liturgy, there are some who assume that if one’s good, two must be better. The liturgy gets cluttered up with bright colors and shiny objects, and the architecture of the church looks, at the end of this process, like a gingerbread architect on acid did the whole thing.”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 41
Where the Sin Is
“In order to evaluate a tool, we have to account for the telos, the end, the purpose. Hammers are used to build both brothels and barns.”
Ploductivity, p. 29
The Very Last Thing
“The last thing in the world we want is to complete the steeple, and find out that the sign outside says Nehushtan Memorial.”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 37
Was It Ever Fresh?
“The real question about a sermon is, not whether it is extemporaneous when you deliver it to your people, but whether it ever was extemporaneous, whether there ever was a time when the discourse sprang freshly from your heart and mind” ().
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 130