I wouldn’t claim to be an authority in the traditional sense — someone with all the answers or the loudest voice in the room. But I’ve spent a lifetime learning how to listen — to people, to texts, to what lies beneath the surface.
My doctorate focused on preaching after Christendom: how to open the Bible in a world where the church is no longer the cultural centre. Instead, it is one voice among many within a community. In that space, authority isn’t about control; it’s about attentiveness. I’ve come to believe that the biblical text has its own voice — even its own intention. The preacher doesn’t speak for the text so much as make space for it to speak — and to speak with authority of its own.
Over time, I’ve learned to listen for the heartbeat of a message — whether in Scripture or in someone else’s preaching. Each Sunday, as I reflect back to a preacher, I try to capture the essence of what was truly said — not just the words, but the movement of meaning underneath.
When I engage with a biblical passage, I’m not mining it for ideas to support my own thinking. I want to be held by it, shaped by it, challenged by it — along with the community I’m part of. If I have any authority, it’s in knowing how to stay with a subject long enough to hear what it is really saying.
The Afterword 
Leave a comment