How do you preach on the genres of scripture? Matt Woodley and Ken J. Langley, Senior Pastor at Christ Community Church in Zion, Illinois explore this topic. He is also an Adjust Professor of Homiletics at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. They also discuss a few COVID-19 preaching challenges, like preaching to a camera in an empty room.

Ken said “There are different types of literature. Some start once upon a time. Some start the White House issued a statement today. Some start with ‘thus says the Lord.’ He indicated that genre sensitivity in preaching would mean attentiveness to how different types (or forms of scripture) work.”

When preaching on the Psalms, it’s important to honor the form, and the emotion of the text. Ken draws attention to “the poet’s agonized scream,” from a commentary on the Psalms. This shows how emotion should be prioritized over form, when exegeting some Biblical passages from the Psalms.

You can visit Ken Lanley’s blog “Out of Our Minds” here.

Matt Woodley is the pastor of compassion ministries at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois.