TJieodore W. Jennings, Jr. The Meaning of ... - Quarterly Review

Starr Bowen
From the South:
The Road to Perales
T
he story is the stuff of preaching. If it does its work, it arises
Zout
of the minister's own experience and grabs hold of the person
in the pew. It is a moment of relief from anything abstract or too
much moralizing. The story drawn from the preacher's own life can
help people remember something about the sermon. It says, "Hey,
I'm not just the face behind the pulpit. I sweat, too. I know what life
is like where you live. And God knows how you hurt!"
A good story does not a good sermon make. At least not
necessarily. But sometimes, we might just as well tell the story and
let the sermon take care of itself.
####
Winter is wet in Chile. This year, the rains came after drought
threatened the land for too long. And this year the church at Perales
didn't get a pastor. I was appointed a kind of "circuit rider" to
attend the church once a month. Instead of a horse, I used a 1969
Land Rover. When it rains, the coast road from Concepcidn to
Perales is closed. But the road that runs from Coelemu along the
Itata River is usually open, as long as the river doesn't rise too high.
Starr Bowen is a missionary with pastoral responsibilities in the Methodist Church in
Chile. He also teaches at the Communidad Theol&gica Evangelica in Concepci6n, Chile,
FROM THE SOUTH 71