A language of hope from a homiletical perspective

Abstract

The purpose of a sermon is to give hope when it appears that there is none. This hope must be like a light, breaking through the darkness. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music is a transition from darkness to light. His music helps us to look further than darkness, suffering and death. In the Old Testament, there is a reference to Psalm 42/43 and also the perspective of hope in God, despite the dark circumstances in life. The hope that bubbles out of Romans has christological, pneumatological, cosmological and anthropological dimensions. From this theological foundation, a sermon becomes a messenger of hope. In a sermon, language is the key to hope. In order to understand the language of the Bible, (especially the Old Testament), consideration needs to be given to the origins and function of mythological language. The language of a text and the language of a homiletician is further woven together by metaphors. The language of the homiletician must also carry the language of love. Imagination is an undeniable part of a sermon and imagination can create hope.