Four Sentences: The Big Idea

We are both convinced that the preacher’s particular hell is trying to be ‘original’ each week with the text before us, trying desperately to squeeze some new and creative edge from the old, old story in order to impress the masses.

So, we are both committing to trying something quite old in order to continue doing something ever new.

Our Big Idea: each week, we will offer Four Sentences for a particular lectionary text from the coming Sunday.

Learning from the patristic and medieval voices in our tradition, these Four Sentences will speak to the Four Senses of Scripture:

1. The Plain Sense: the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture, calling upon the historical and literary contexts
2. The Allegorical Sense: the meaning revealed under the surface of the text, through the ways that the written word points beyond itself
3. The Tropological Sense: the meaning that speaks to how we ought to live according to the story of God, Israel, Jesus, and the Church
4. The Anagogical Sense: the meaning that shifts our focus to the future, toward the fulfillment of all that Scripture witnesses to and the consummation of creation

We hope this tool can be helpful to others who share in this wonderful, awe-inspiring proclaiming work. At the very least, may it lead us all deeper into the beautiful mysteries of Scripture and life with the Word-made-flesh.

+Jacob and Cameron