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Denzel to Preachers – Just “Let It Rip”

The Talking the Walk Blog has an interesting post that seeks to derive help for preachers from an interview with Denzel Washington.

Denzel answers why he did a particular hand movement in a movie by saying:

Of course…it’s just rhythm. Acting is like music. You improvise. It’s like jazz. There is no rhyme or reason to it. It’s not a plan. I just did it. It’s a rhythm. Stanislavsky said that you cut 90%. You do all your research; and you prepare, and then you let it rip. And that’s how it is. You practice the music, you know, and then you just play it.

Now thinking about preaching, we have many tools for preparing. We exegete the text. We look at the text historically, linguistically, and theologically. We prepare by putting together a good outline and then add some good stories and illustrations. You prepare by practicing, but then when it is time to preach, Denzel encourages us preachers to just “let it rip.”

Trust the Holy Spirit, trust your preparation, and then “let it rip.”