While the virtual evangelical world and his brother continue to work towards fever pitch over the headline `Charlie Sheen occasionally broke the speed limit when driving' -- sorry, I mean `Emergent pastor advocates universalism' -- back in the real world of the local church, where the pressing issues are tight budgets, the usual slew of unemployment slips, broken marriages, sin, dysfunction, and more sin, the age old question remains not so much `how do I get on CNN?  Or appear on The Piers Moron Show?  Or how do I sell more books?  Or how do I tell the world how persecuted I am by nasty conservative Reformed types?' --  worthy questions though they all are, I am sure.   Rather, it remains this: how do we minister God's grace week by week to people who need it?  Central to that answer is the act of preaching.

Thus, I want to bring to readers' attention an excellent little book by Christopher Ash, entitled The Priority of Preaching.   the world is awash with how-to books on sermon preparation and delivery; but here is a great read that talks about the theology of preaching and how and why it is central and, most important of all, effective. 

For those who do not know Ash's work, he is also the author of what is arguably the best book on the theology of marriage ever written, Marriage: Sex in the Service of God.  This is a serious theological tome, covering biblical and theological approaches to marriages (though I should add as a caveat that Mark Thompson, of Moore, told me that he thinks the author is a little too hard on Barth.  I am not qualified to comment on that, but I would typically trust Mark's judgment on such matters).  A popular version, of use to pastors in premarital counseling situations is Married for God.  Both are excellent resources.  We should give thanks to God for the gifts he has given to Christopher Ash for the church's benefit.