Wednesday, May 27, 2009

A Summer with the Old Testament

During this past school year we have had a number of sermon series, some better than others. As I write this we are finishing up a sermon series on the 40 Days of Love. Sermon series are a great way to get deeper into a subject than if you just preached one sermon on it. It focuses everything and connects everything together. But sometimes we need a break from series. So this summer the sermons will be on the Old Testament text for that Sunday. That means that every sermon will be a stand alone sermon, but there is some advantage in that. If you didn't like a particular Sunday's topic well next week will be totally different.
I choose the Old Testament because it is not something I preach from a lot. I spend most of my time preaching on the Epistle's and the rest on the Gospel. I have tended to stay away from the Old Testament through the years for a number of reasons. When I preached on the readings for a particular Sunday I found that most of the time the Epistle and the Gospel had something in common, where the Old Testament reading never seemed to connect with either one. Many times the Old Testament reading is kind of the odd man out. The second reason I didn't preach on the Old Testament was, to be honest, because it was harder to do. There is many times a depth and richness to the Old Testament that is hard to get your mind around. The Old Testament is a challenge because in some ways you have to connect it to the New or show how it is fulfilled in the New.
So I am taking this on this summer as a challenge. I am trying to wrap my mind around some of these Old Testament texts and bring out what they have to say to New Testament people like us in 2009. I hope that you will join me on this journey starting June 7th with Isaiah 6:1-8.