Preaching is a Dangerous Thing

The ministry of preaching is ever-challenging.  There are weeks that I sit down with a text, and the ideas just come flying.  Then there are weeks like this one.  I am preaching through Luke -- not verse by verse, but selected passages.  I am now to Luke 9.

This chapter has a number of separate, yet interconnected, stories.  I am only going to overview "the sending of the 12," "the feeding of the 5,000," and "the confession of the disciples."  The theme of this chapter seems to be "Who is Jesus?"

The text I have settled on for this week is "the transfiguration."  It is one of my very favorite passages of Scripture -- especially as one connects it with John's words in John 1: 14:  "We have seen his glory   . . ."  But I am sitting here on Thursday -- still not sure of what to do with the passage.  It is definitely one of those that one must be careful not to get in the way of.  And that is my concern.

Can you even imagine what it must have been like to see that?  Peter, James and John got to see Jesus the way He now appears in heaven -- in all the splendor of His glory!  And we will get to see Him that way some day, too.

But I'm still wondering:  What needs to be communicated to my church on Sunday morning?  I LOVE the challenge!  But texts like this also make me aware of the danger.