It has been suggested by quite a few people that I “write a book”. Indeed, I have three files with exotic titles representing failed attempts to do so. My problem is that my understanding is in a constant state of change and quickly becomes “out of date.” I reconciled myself years ago to the fact that I would never write a book.
On the 30th March 2018, I ceased preaching – an activity in which I have been engaged for over seventy years. Failing eyesight, hearing and memory are making it impractical. I have been on this planet for ninety years and the signs of an impending decease are now becoming apparent. This does not particularly concern me. Nor does it greatly concern others, two of whom (independently of each other) recently said. “Just make sure some of your sermons are around.” I admit to being quite touched by their requests, and this web site is the result.
I have also included some personal details in a “bio”, not because my life has been of particular significance, but because I believe that every reader has the right to know something of the life of the person who is writing. I, for example, am not an academic. I am a lawyer by trade, a Minister by calling, and an activist by nature – and have spent my life trying to bring the three together. I have little time for those who live in the past, the present or the future. The past, present and future are all part of the one reality.
You have to say it as you see it, knowing all the time that tomorrow you may see it differently.
I am an admirer of the Australian author Val Webb and an avid reader of her books. In a recent one she says “Faith is not about believing something but about living …..To be alive is to be constantly challenged with new information, doubting the old, throwing out some, retaining some and reconstructing our collection before another challenge arrives”. She believes that “uncertainty is a gift to our age”.
With respect to the latter statement, I beg to differ with my learned friend. I see post modernism as a ship without a rudder. I have no problem with the rudder being continually adjusted but to have no rudder is a recipe for disaster. One of Australia’s best theologians, Bruce Barber, criticises me for “making it up as I go along”. In no way does this disturb me. I take his comment as a compliment. You have to say it as you see it, knowing all the time that tomorrow you may see it differently.
I am reminded also of the words of William Sangster, the great English preacher, who on a visit to Australia shocked the Church authorities by saying he wanted to meet the young lawyer who had been appointed to the one horse town of Mullewa. We duly met and he informed me that lawyers have great potential for preaching because in preparing a court case they had to work out what was important and what was not. He also suggested that I keep all my old sermons as “they will keep you humble”. Notwithstanding failure as far as humility was concerned, it certainly was good advice, and what follows is offered in the light of his perceptive comment.
Within the sermons and journalling, there is a significant degree of repetition. At one point I thought of editing it out, but I decided otherwise. One reason was that repetition is indicative of what one considers important. The other reason was that it was just too onerous. I suspect that the latter may have been my real motivation!
Some of the sermons are quite short. They are ones preached on our “Liturgical Sunday” – a Service conducted by the congregation in which there is a three minute sermon and ten minutes of silence. It is a Service that prompted a world renowned scholar and preacher, Bernard Brandon Scott, to remark “This is the first time I have been asked to preach for three minutes!” He made a very good job of it, and the ten minutes silence that followed enabled us to fulfill Simone Weil’s great definition of prayer as “Attention taken to its highest degree”.
In some of the sermons I have included hymns and prayers that were used in association with the sermons. I have done this to remind us that sermons are not lectures but an integral part of expressing the worthship of God.
Neville Watson
December 2018
