This book grows out of an enduring conviction. Right preaching is the interpretation of Scripture. There is much excellent Christian speech that is not preaching Christians, even Christian preachers, entertain, inform, inspire, and opine. Often these presentations help the faithful and edify the community, but they are not preaching. They are not what every congregation has a right to expect when its members wait for the preacher to preach. The sermon they hear may be a carefully constructed oration or an apparently less formal conversation; it may consist mostly of stories or mostly of world studies; it may draw deeply from the experience of the preacher or deeply from the theological tradition of the text or texts that the congregation has just heard read aloud, it is not preaching.