reading, as Stephen H. Webb points out, is by its very nature an interpretive act: “The inflection of one’s voice determines the meaning of words written on a page.”12 Consequently, preaching is by its very nature an exercise in inflection. This involves more than pitch, volume, and tone. In the sermon, the preacher makes God’s written word incarnate by speaking the biblical author’s words into the contemporary context. This is an inflection of the text itself, a responsibility