Cool Preaching

Lincolnshire. Made by the Good Lord for the growing of crops and the revolution of pedals. The sun shone and a slight breeze blew as I cycled around South Lafford last week, inspecting its medieval churches, only one of which was locked. I used the same ladies’ bike as last year: everything squeaked including its brakes, its chain and its seat, so no pedestrian could accuse me of sneaking up on them like some sleek, electric car. It was a warm 28 degrees centigrade, and my 23-mile round trip was beginning to weigh on me as I reached my final church, St Peter ad Vincula at Threekingham, at about 3.45pm. Old churches are usually too cold in the winter, but, God be praised, they are pleasantly cool in the summer, too. St Peter’s also had another advantage: a marble pulpit. Can you guess what is coming?

Yes, indeed. I went and put myself against it, first the forehead, then one cheek, then the other; then the right arm, then the left. It probably looked a peculiar sight, but no-one else was about, and I refridgerated with impunity. That cold, white marble quickly absorbed my skin’s excess heat, leaving the said exposed areas feeling chilled and refreshed. I had another six or so miles to cycle home, so this was a pleasant recuperation. As I stood there hugging that old stone furnishing, I reflected that I was almost certainly not the first to have done this, and nor would I be the last.

The pulpit represents the preaching of God’s word, for it is the place in which the parson stands to deliver his sermon. Many believers today are scripturally starved and many churches are spiritually weak, so God uses preaching to stir them up and renew their zeal. Occasionally, however, good preaching will cool the emotions, restrain the hasty and hinder those inclined to charge about, fired by the heats of desire. Some Christians are naturally inclined to overreact, to mistake their own energetic inklings for God’s Spirit, or to rashly act without thinking. God’s word will often lower such feverish ambitions, dampen excessive eagerness and lower the temperature of the mind. Although a lack of zeal better characterises British Christianity than its excess, some of us need to hear this:

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

Ps 46:10