The Odd Grammar of Christian Speech

...it is surely one of the tasks of preaching to free us from our self-absorption by offering a compelling vision of the world Christ's cross has made real....

Another way to put these matters is that rather than trying to translate the Gospel into a different but allegedly more accessible language, I seek to help us learn again the odd grammar of Christian speech and how that grammar helps us to see the sheer contingency of our existence. Ivan Illich observes that the contingent character of our existence means we must learn again that we live in a world that does not carry within itself the reason for its own existence. Illich maintains, "The cat over there as well as four red roses which bloomed during the night, is a gift. It is a gift from that Creator who keeps beings in existence and, by understanding things in this way, we can also see our own activity in an entirely new light." From such a perspective, preaching is the ongoing exercise that allows the Gospel to shed light on the oddness of the everyday."
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Stanley Hauerwas, Without Apology: Sermon's for Christ's Church, pp.xvii, xviii.