Thursday, September 19, 1996
Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690

The preacher and the writer may seem to have an... easy task. At first sight, it may seem that they have only to proclaim and declare; but in fact, if their words are to enter men’s hearts and bear fruit, they must be the right words, shaped cunningly to pass men’s defenses and explode silently and effectually within their minds. This means, in practice, turning a face of flint toward the easy cliché, the well-worn religious cant and phraseology, dear, no doubt, to the faithful, but utterly meaningless to those outside the fold. It means learning how people are thinking and how they are feeling; it means learning with patience, imagination and ingenuity the way to pierce apathy or blank lack of understanding. I sometimes wonder what hours of prayer and thought lie behind the apparently simple and spontaneous parables of the Gospel.

... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole, London: Highway Press, 1952, p. 44 (see the book; see also Col. 3:16-17; Matt. 13:10-13; Mark 4:33-34; Luke 12:11-12; more at Gospel, Imagination, Man, Patience, Prayer, Preacher, Simplicity, Understanding)

 
Compilation Copyright, 1996-2024, by Robert McAnally Adams,
        Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day,
        with Robert Douglas, principal contributor
Logo image Copyright 1996 by Shay Barsabe, of “Simple GIFs”, by kind permission.
Send comments to curator@cqod.com.

Last updated: 01/08/22

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