Peter Gomes On Language

How a "literate preacher" crafts his sermons.

Gomes: I think I'm a very literate preacher.  I like language.  I love words, and I like to make words dance and do things.  And I like to cause people to think about how these words are contributing to these ideas, and for words to dance in their own heads.  So in that sense, I . . . it's an odd description, but I think I'm a "wordy" preacher.  Words are very important to me.  The right word at the right time, fitly spoken, in my view is the most powerful engine on earth.  So I take very great care with the words and the language I use, and how I put words together.  And I think it's no accident that one of the great Greek words, "logos", means "word".  And Jesus is often described as "the Word" -- the Word incarnate.  I'm an incarnational preacher.  I try to bring words, ideas and concepts to life.  And that's, for me, the glory of language, the glory of rhetoric. 

Gomes: I think I'm a very literate preacher.  I like language.  I love words, and I like to make words dance and do things.  And I like to cause people to think about how these words are contributing to these ideas, and for words to dance in their own heads.  So in that sense, I . . . it's an odd description, but I think I'm a "wordy" preacher.  Words are very important to me.  The right word at the right time, fitly spoken, in my view is the most powerful engine on earth.  So I take very great care with the words and the language I use, and how I put words together.  And I think it's no accident that one of the great Greek words, "logos", means "word".  And Jesus is often described as "the Word" -- the Word incarnate.  I'm an incarnational preacher.  I try to bring words, ideas and concepts to life.  And that's, for me, the glory of language, the glory of rhetoric.