'The preacher is only the half of the Church's activity of proclamation...The assumption seems to be that, whereas the preacher is really doing something, the people have a passive role, like so many jugs waiting to be filled...Anyone who has regularly preached over many years but then then has been a member of a congregation for some time, would (if he had strong views on preaching) be hard put to decide which was the more demanding, preaching well or listening properly.'
THL Parker in Christopher Ash, The Priority of Preaching, p.11.
