History and poetry are linked at the hip. Side by side they show us what was and what is yet to come. The preacher, grounded in the present, must serve as one who brokers history and poetry to the people. Such brokering is not of the Wall Street variety, but there are certain dividends that accrue along the way, not the least a literate and educated community of faith.
One important purpose of the church and its ministry is education. From the Latin educatio, education is 'e' out of and 'duco' I lead, I conduct. To educate is to lead from all the facts and preciseness of what has been to that place of creativeness and anticipation for something new. Even the wise one of Ecclesiastes had such a longing. Having searched for and accumulated all the possessions of the mind and body [Ecclesiastes 2:1-10], the text concludes, "Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun [Ecclesiastes 2:11].
The facts alone will never satisfy the one who hungers for more. Jesus knew this when he went up the mountain, sat down, and taught them saying that only our hunger and thirst for righteousness will fill us [Matthew 5:6].
It is that very link between history and poetry, that link between what was and what is yet to come, that link between facts and future, that leads the preacher into the pulpit Sunday after Sunday with a word of grace from God.
A word that has the potential to lift, to help us look over the horizon and see that new, unfinished creation that is being birthed. The preacher is called to lead us out to this new place and point us in the direction of our new home. Such education is crucial not only for the welfare of the church and its people, but for the welfare of the world.
Aristotle said all this much better than I. He said:
"The difference between a historian and a poet is not that one writes in prose and the other in verse - indeed the writings of Herodotus could be put into verse and yet would still be a kind of history, whether written in meter or not. The real difference is this, that one tells what happened and the other what might happen. For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts."
Disciples preachers, refresh us by pointing us in the direction of what might happen. Everything else is just vanity and vexation of spirit. You have been called to lead and to educate. The church and world needs you unlike ever before.
Scientifically and seriously yours,
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opportunity for leadership development for both clergy and lay leaders. 
