Thinking in Story
Preaching in a Post-literate Age
by Richard Jensen
C.S.S. Publishing Co., Inc
Lima, Ohio 1993
Dr. Jensen, who was my theology professor at Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, has written a book about using story in preaching.
He states that there has been 3 stages of thinking in our culture. The first one was oral, where the chief sense used in communications was the ear. Story telling was used to communicate as the story could be remembered by the hearer. In this stage of communication, the message had to be simple and repeated often for the hearer to remember the barest minimum.
The second stage was written stage as developed by the Greek culture with their phonetic alphabet. In this stage of communication, the eye replaced the ear as the chief sense used in communication. Thought became more linear, moving from point to point. Communication of thoughts could be more complex as the reader could reread the communication over and over again. The preacher in this stage of communication, could develop more complex thoughts in the message.
The third stage of communication is the post-literate age, the age we are in now. In this age, the television has become one of the chief means of getting a message across. Jensen argues that watching the message on TV is a lot of work for the hearer as all of our senses are bombarded with images and suggestions. Drama works because it massages both the eye and ear. In this stage, Jensen argues that "story" becomes a good way for the preacher to get across the gospel message. "Story" uses the sense of image as one sees the story in your mind's eye, and it works on the emotions. "Story" was lost somewhat in the written stage as more linear thought was brought into play. But today, we need to resurrect "story" in our preaching style, as the hearer, the congregation, is familiar with this style because we are all television watchers.
Now that we have come to understand the idea of story as a tool in preaching, I would like to share a "story" Dr. Jensen used in his book as an example. This "story" was preached on the radio program he hosted for many years, Lutheran Vespers.
A Story Sermon
(A sermon preached on Lutheran
Vespers on February 12, 1998.)
"The meeting will please come to order," Justin North called out in a strong voice. Justin North was the chair of the church council at Trinity Church. He had held that position longer
