"Alas for the unhappy man that is called to stand in the pulpit, and not give bread of life."- Ralph Waldo Emerson, July 15, 1838, Cambridge in his Download Divinity School Address .

Emerson, though out of the mainstream of evangelical thinking, offers some critiques of his contemporary church and preaching that may be instructive to us today.

As usual, keep your salt shakers handy for the scattered grains you will require for discernment purposes.