The prevailing homiletic approach encourages preachers to identify the “main principle” or the “key idea” or the “big point.” So, for example, if I were preaching about the flood of Noah, I would identify the “main principle” as God’s judgment and mercy. This is not the goal of EPIC preaching. In EPIC preaching, we look for the “master metaphor,” the leading or controlling image that reframes the conversation or concept. This metaphor can be a character, a key moment in the story, an artifact or artifice, even a word that functions as an image. Metaphors are not the sermon’s seasoning; they’re
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