A couple of Sundays ago, I had a tickle in my throat whilst preaching. Actually, it was more like a coughing fit that threatened to derail my sermon.
Most preachers have experienced something similar but, nowadays, when you cough in public you are far more aware of it. I could see that the congregation were sympathetic rather than threatened by my predicament, but my biggest concern was that they were distracted. I was afraid that my cough was drawing attention to myself and away from the text I was preaching. I wanted the congregation to listen to my words and not to me.
Who do we hear?
I have since wondered if that is even possible – that is, to listen to a sermon and not hear the preacher. Preachers want the congregation to go away with the compelling truth of the gospel ringing in their ears, not their own rhetoric or delivery. Like John the Baptist, we say: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’ (John 3:30). We know that we are not the story. And yet when we minister the gospel, whether preaching, or leading a Bible study, or in any other form, we cannot leave our personality behind. For the most part that is a positive, because we aspire to be the same person in the pulpit as we are on the pavement.
