Left-Brain Preaching

During these years of my wife’s illness and eventual passing, we’ve listened to and watched (thanks to You Tube and TV) a lot of worship services. I have been fascinated by the diversity of preaching. It seems to me most preaching is a left-brain activity. The left brain is where our logical or rational work takes place. It is important that our theology be rational. We want to understand (a left-brain desire) the scriptures and make sure that we are right with our beliefs. Emotion seems like a second thought to a sermon. Emotions are usually activitated by stories. Unfortunately, the stories are usuall given to support the logical or rational conclusion of the sermon. Emotions are how people connect with each other. Jesus’ stories or parables contained a lot of emotions if we can ‘feel’ his parables and not only understand them. The worship services that my wife and I kept returning to were a balance of left-brain and right-brain. The music stirred our emotions, and they contained good theology with their words. The preaching was a balance of left and right brain activity. Those worship services challenged our thinking and touched our hearts.