This is such a useful approach to take in the training of preachers. It always has an impact.
A few years ago I illustrated this from a performance of Stairway to Heaven, with Led Zepellin in the audience. Watch their faces carefully, very carefully. That hint of a smile. That satisfied glance to one another. They are loving this new performance of their song. This is how I’d love Peter or Amos, Moses or Paul, to respond when they hear me preach from their books.
Well, this year brings another example – this time for those who may not be Led Zepellin fans. How about the composer, John Williams, and the way Harvard University’s Din and Tonics acapella men’s group perform his music at their graduation last month?! This time it is a bit different from the Led Zepellin example. Here the singers take so much more liberty with the original score. But still they are faithful to the original meaning. Listeners – and the composer, more importantly – recognise this and can hear this going on. And yet the contribution they make is that in their creative performance they render the orginal significant for a new setting.
About Me

the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
Just when I thought that it could not be possible to have another first-hand account of the impact of John Stott’s life (d. 2011), along comes this book by his close friend, John Wyatt. I am always ready to learn more about John Stott, but also about friendship. It fascinates me. It keeps coming up…
Reading stories to grandchildren over Christmas reminded me again of how powerful they can be. They are so compact and simple in presentation, and yet so clever in construction. There are just so many features at work in an effective story. It is some years since I taught narrative preaching, but when I did I’d…
Apart from the eight years in which we were based overseas, Barby has been working at the Refugee Resettlement Center in Auckland since 2002. This year she is a ‘release teacher’, spending one day each week in three different classrooms, with three different age groups. Impressive—and demanding. One day is spent with 11-13 year olds—from…
I'd love someone to name all the pieces of music – because I can't pick them all!