“Before he begins to preach,” St. Augustine taught the would-be preacher, “he should raise his thirsty soul to God in order that he may give forth what he shall drink, or pour out what shall fill him.”[1]
It’s an image which has always haunted me, the first image of John Bunyan’s classic work, The Pilgrim’s Progress; haunting, as I said, but also strangely comforting.