Frederick Buechner once wrote about two kinds of preaching that just don't work very well. One form is what he termed "tourist preaching." You know how it is if you are in a foreign country as a tourist but cannot speak the native language: what do you end up doing when you have to ask for directions? You speak in English but each time you repeat yourself, you say it a little louder. We operate on the assumption that if only we speak English loudly, slowly, and distinctly enough, everyone in the world will be able to understand us. It doesn't work that way. The only language people understand is their own. We need to be sure that when we talk to people about God, it is in speech they can comprehend.

The other kind of preaching that fails to connect, Buechner says, is "algebraic preaching." x + y = z is a pretty typical algebra formula. If you know what number is represented by just the "y" of that problem, you know a little something but still won't likely solve the whole equation. If you know what both the "y" and the "z" are, then you can get the "x" pretty quickly. The problem with some preachers is that they lace their sentences with words like "atonement" and "righteousness," thinking that this will lead people to love Jesus. But for a lot of people, theological vocabulary is like an undefined "x" and "y" in an algebra problem: they are going to need something more to grasp the meaning of it all.