Sabbatical 2025: Day One

 

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Winchester, KY has given me a sabbatical with some financial support this year. It runs from AUG 18 - OCT 18. I have an organizing idea that has helped me set up some travel and experiences during that 60 days. That organizing idea is to look at art, specifically Impressionism, Fauvism, Pointillism, and Modernist paintings, to learn about the creative process of painter/artists. Is there something I can learn from their processes that helps me develop a creative process for crafting sermons?

 

The first experience is to travel to Chicago with Kelly to visit the Chicago Institute of Art and its Special Exhibit of Impressionist painter, Gustav Caillebotte. Today, Kelly and I spent 3 hours walking the galleries of the museum. What a collection. The interpretive signs next to the galleries and paintings were well-written and helpful. The Caillebot Exhibit was especially interesting since the paintings spanned his career and one could see a progression of the artist's style and a clear movement into Impressionism. 

 

I am an Inductive preacher. My seminary Homiletics professor taught a deductive style of preaching whereby you state the main point of the sermon at the outset, then in outline fashion you should make three main points adding a poem or a joke. Seriously. That's what I was taught. Inductive preaching may well hint at the main point early, but the listener is asked to go on a journey, reflect on the passage of scripture, look for intersections with their own lives, and the main point is certainly at the end. Sort of like reading a novel or watching a movie. And the listener is expected to draw their own conclusion.

 

According to Wikipedia, Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience. Impressionism originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s. The Impressionists faced harsh opposition from the conventional art community in France.

 

Inductive Preaching is a movement which intends to be dialogical, and includes the listener to add to the sermon journey through reflection. It arose as a reaction to preaching that was monological and proclamatory. Inductive preaching has nuance and visible brushstrokes. Deductive preaching has clear lines and clear progression. Inductive preaching allows form and color to blend. Deductive preaching is angular and fixed.

 

Yes, that’s some mixed metaphors, but it encapsulates why Impressionism is of interest to me and my preaching. And that’s why we started with the Impressionist exhibit in Chicago today. Plus, it was Kelly’s birthday last Friday and this helps extend the celebration.

 

Here are some pieces that spoke to me today.

Thanks for following along. I will post every day (mostly).

Jerry