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1 Samuel 20:1-17.

Article Excerpt
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--



Success in Circuit lies. --Emily Dickinson

Dickinson's advice to poets and artists applies to those who preach from 1 Sam 20:1-17. This text has a truth to tell about friendship, but like Dickinson's dictum it is a truth refracted through the lens of narrative. Hebrew narrative does not discuss a concept like friendship directly. Instead, it depicts a concrete example. Success in communicating the theological nature of friendship conveyed in this text lies in following the circuit of its narrative form.

ENGAGEMENT THROUGH PARTICULARITY

Narratives engage their audiences through the particulars of their characters, settings, and actions. Some preachers shy away from such particularity for fear that references to specific people, places, and events will not appeal to a wide audience. This fear misses the paradox that stories about particular people and events attract greater interest than generalizations. There are many explanations for this appeal of the particular. People and times that are different from our own have appeal because of their otherness. They engage our imaginations in order to bridge the gap between our own experiences and those portrayed in the story. Most people enjoy a brief trip to some distant place with unknown people, even if the trip is only an imaginative one. The particularity of narrative also allows hearers to observe other...