Ernst Lubitsch (who directed 76 films from 1914-1948, three of which received Oscar nominations) said,
“Let the audience add up two plus two. They’ll love you forever.”
This is brilliant. And I think it’s what distinguishes real art from propaganda, preaching, our approach to education, basically everything else.
Do you trust your audience (and your message) enough to not give the ‘answer’? Are you humble and flexible enough to create a dialogue (rather than a brick wall) with whatever it is you’re wanting to say.
Without doing the math for you, I will say that each of us is creating (or saying) something in our lives.
This does apply to you.
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The most memorable sermons for me have been those where the speaker freely empowered the audience to find a solution and “add things up” on their own terms. Not enough of that.
Posted by Theology and the City | April 15, 2012, 3:15 PM