Preaching provides many things, but chief among them should be gravity, light, and air. Like the gospel itself, these elements are essential but invisible, and their absence in a sermon will be felt. Preachers and their congregations are to live an incarnational faith in an incarnational God in a real world of gravity, light, and air. No Gnostic escape route is available. The gift of preaching is part of God's way of helping a world desperate for the kind of Good News that grounds, guides, and fills.

Where's the center of gravity?

By gravity I don't mean preaching that is grave or ponderous. The gravity I have in mind is not limited to a mood or personality or form. Gravity is the central pull on the preacher's life. What does the preacher's life demonstrate to be his true center as he dares to stand and speak in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

I first realized how the preacher's life and words reflect his center of gravity during a very difficult season ...