Preach Magazine Issue 3 - Preaching and the Holy Spirit | Page 37

REVIEWS

The Preaching Life
Barbara Brown Taylor, Canterbury Press (2013)

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Storytelling:

Sharing the gospel with passion and power
Martin Goldsmith, IVP (2014)

This is an unusual book in that the author has divided it
into two distinct sections. The first concentrates on the life
of faith of the individual and of the church, while the second
is a series of her own sermons based on Bible texts. As
Christians we are helped by her analysis of how we might
preach with our lives and as preachers we are instructed
by her interesting approach to biblical texts. This book is for
all, not just for preachers.
In the first section she includes some of the topics we
would expect to read about living the Christian life. The
call and vocation of all Christians is to take their worship
and ministry of the Word and Sacrament out into a world
where faith in God is no longer the rule, but the exception.
For preachers there is an inspiring chapter on sermon
preparation, which encouragingly reminds us that, under
the influence of the Holy Spirit, ‘tin becomes gold and
rocks become diamonds’. There is also a lovely chapter on
imagination, which challenges us to develop ‘a willingness
to be surprised, confused, amazed by the undreamt-of ways
in which God chooses to be revealed to us’.
In the second section the sermons are of differing
constructions, some filling out the bare bones of the biblical
story in narrative style, others concentrating more on
the modern application of the text. They are therefore a
good source of study material for all preachers, as well
as offering a wealth of sermon illustrations. Church
stewards might also find them useful in preparing ‘local
arrangement’ services.
There are lots of gold nuggets in this book. We need to
search for them and use them in our preaching ministry as
everyday Christians in the world, as well as in the church.
JENNY BENFIELD

LWPT8693 Preach Magazine - Issue 3 v3 REPRO.indd 37

The premise of this book is that while people may
be resistant to hearing the gospel in the form of a
traditional sermon or presentation, most will listen to
a well-told story. Martin Goldsmith was a missionary
in South East Asia for ten