Today begins the New Testament Challenge and with it the 40 Day Blog Challenge. In the very opening verses of today’s Challenge we read of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. This reading of the beginning of Christ’s earthly lineage together with the beginning of the blog challenge allows me the chance to ponder on the beginning of my blogging experience and why I choose to blog as an Orthodox Christian Priest.
So here are a few thoughts about why I blog….
For over three years I have been maintaining a public blog. “Be Transfigured” is dedicated to expressing thoughts and sermons on Orthodox Christianity. In my blogging experience I have come appreciate and benefit from the use of this valuable technology and I pray that those who take the time to read the blog are also somehow blessed by God. It isn’t so much that I believe my blog to be so fantastic. On the contrary my posts are simple and often short statements that challenge the normal everyday American concepts in which the Orthodox Church find herself. I strongly believe the blessing is gained not be reading but by contemplating the challenges I routinely lay out for my readers. I find this possibility a great blessing to me as a Christian specifically and as an Orthodox Christian Priest in general. But I receive a much greater blessing by my blog experience.
As part of my weekly sermon preparation I often take the time to blog thoughts during the week as reactions to something I read, whether from a Church Father or the Holy Scriptures themselves. Sometimes I blog a few thoughts about something I heard on the radio or even saw on the side of the street. The fact is, that each week, as part of weekly sermon preparation a general theme begins to develop (based upon the Sunday Gospel lection of course) that directs not only each of these blogs, but bible study preparation and reflections that I must offer during the various meetings in which I find myself during the week. This theme tends to frame everything I read during the week.
This process has been a great help directly in sermon preparation because it has helped to focus attention thematically each week narrowly. The most obvious benefit to this focus is seen (or heard really) each Sunday as I am blessed by God with the opportunity to ascend the Pulpit and proclaim the Truth of the Gospel of Christ. By the time Sunday arrives, the theme for the sermon has been internalized to such an extent that, by the grace of God, words flow.
A common challenge for any preacher is to subdue the, “preacher voice” that is lurking beneath our lapel microphone. To the extent that I have been somewhat successful in subduing this voice, which I must admit still plagues my weekly sermons more than I would like, the permeating of this general theme developed during the week has allowed the sermon to sound more “conversational” rather than “preachy.”
Over the next 40 days I invite you to stop by and take a few moments to reflect upon the challenges as we travel the Advent journey toward Christmas. I welcome any comments on the thoughts I present and pray that together we will enjoy a brief dialogue on the importance of living a life transfigured by the Light of Christ.
Until then….
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