When we read our Bibles, where do we find the meaning?  Is the meaning of our Bibles in what the author is saying or doing?  If the main point of the scriptures is primarily in what is being said than the classical approach is more than adequate.  All we need is to understand the words and listen to sermons in which the words are explained to us and then we can say that we know the scriptures.  But what if the meaning is primarily in doing what scripture is doing?

Jazz is an interpretive art.  The goal is to be so familiar with the originals so that one can then produce new interpretations…new variations.  If you listen to a classical piece on a CD and then go to the concert hall, you expect to hear the same song done in the same way, no matter who plays it.  Jazz is different, when you ask a jazz musician to “play that song” you don’t expect it to sound just like the way you remember it.  Rather you are asking for that musicians interpretation of that song.  So much of preaching is approached classically and we wonder why it is so boring and lifeless!