Getting personal …

JOHN BUCHANAN'S confession that he and "a generation" of others were taught to eschew the personal pronoun in sermons reminds me of the gratitude I hold for my preaching professor ("The 'I' in sermons," March 6). I don't recall William Muehl of Yale Divinity School ever uttering the words "postmodern" or "postmodernity" in class, but he knew the role and value of a pastor's witness or testimony in proclaiming the gospel.

Every time the preacher preaches, he or she becomes for the people of God a "persuasive personal illustration" of God's grace. Muehl encouraged us to relate in our sermons how we are living out our faith and what effect God's grace and judgment are having on our seemingly prosaic lives. Not only did Muehl advocate using the personal pronoun, he exhorted us to "preach what we practice." In that way, Muehl believed, congregations would come to see us as more than just black-robed Sunday preachers. We, too, are everyday disciples of Jesus Christ.

Augustus E. Succop III

Charlotte, N. C.

COPYRIGHT 2007 The Christian Century Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning