AFFLICTION AND COMFORT
Many years ago, I was manuscript editor at a religious publishing house in Chicago. One of the projects for which I was responsible was a book about preaching to which several prominent ministers contributed. Each minister wrote an essay on how to prepare a sermon and submitted a sample of his own work. Although I read the material many times as it passed from the many original typescripts to a single, unified manuscript to galley proofs to page proofs and finally into the final bound version, the contents of the book is a blur in my memory–except for one sentence. It is a sentiment I have quoted a thousand times. One of the ministers explained the preacher’s job as follows: “Our task is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.” By Lowell Streiker, Ladera Community Church
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