Sermon Review
Proper 12 6-29-12
Summary of what I was saying:
David and Bathsheba have sex. Adulterous sex or possibly rape (the text is unclear about motivations). This leads to pregnancy, murder, and marriage.
Both text and Jewish tradition are fairly silent about D&B’s motivations.
Good News: The story is told. Every story–big, little, scary, easy–can be told here. “This, here, is God’s house and every story is important.”
Theology: low anthropology (humans don’t come off so well) but God’s love does
Jesus Count: low
What did I change on my feet?
I cut out a bit about how Christian tradition has treated this story.
I tweaked the very end. It was a minor change that made things better. I hope.
What didn’t work/what did I miss?
I think I started off too slow–could have spent less time on David being King and gotten to the point more directly.
There is a point where instead of saying aggressive I say whatever.
What worked?
I preached on the beginning of David and Bathsheba’s relationship without casting all of the blame on either of them, saying sex is evil, or trying to avoid the fact that this is about sex.
Pastorally, being able to say, “This happened. We have heard your story.” is a good starting place for a lot of people.
(Especially since the Church should be God’s house where every story is important.)
Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I missing something? Leave a comment and let me know.
Other sermons I liked:
Megan’s
Because we do need to find God and theological insights in the ordinary.
Steve’s
Loved this treatment of Divine possibility and plenitude.
(Don’t see your sermon or a sermon you liked? Maybe I don’t know about it. Leave me a comment with a link and I’ll take a look.)
Theologybird Writes 