Required reading
Lectures to my students by Charles Spurgeon (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 7 (Posture, action, gesture, etc.(Second lecture)).
My summary
Today Spurgeon continues speaking about the movement of the body in preaching.
Firstly Spurgeons rules out action and gesture that is grotesque in preaching, such as actions that are:
(i) stiff;
(ii) regular and mechanical;
(iii) laborious;
(iv) martial;
(v) ill-timed;
(vi) ugly.
Secondly Spurgeon encourages preachers to be natural in action, shunning all appearance of studied gesture.
What grabbed me
I appreciated Spurgeon's comment that excessive thought to action is not appropriate: 'Our object is to remove the excrescences of uncouth nature, not to produce artificiality and affectation; we would prune the tree and by no means clip it into a set form. We would have our students think: of’ action while they are with us at college, that they may never have need to think of it in after days. The matter is too inconsiderable to be made a part of your weekly study when you get into the actual battle of ministerial life; you must attend to the subject now, and have done with it. You are not sent of God to court smiles but to win souls; your teacher is not the dancing master, but the Holy Spirit, and your pulpit manner is only worth a moment’s thought because it may hinder your success by causing people to make remarks about the preacher when you want all their thought for the subject. If the best action had this effect I would urge you to forswear it, and if the worst gestures would prevent such a result I would advise you to practice them. All that I aim at is to advocate quiet, graceful, natural movements, because they are the least likely to be observed. '
Action should only be considered if it is obviously hindering the message.
Next week's reading
Read Chapter 8 (Earnestness: Its marring and maintenance).
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
No comments:
Post a Comment