As you may know, the PNCC considers the hearing the the Word of God, and the preaching on it, to be a sacrament. Samuel Giere, Professor of Homiletics at the Wartburg Seminary writes on Preaching as Sacrament of the Word at WorkingPreacher, a project of the Luther Seminary.

Certainly there are a number of important vantages from which to view this question —“ biblical, theological, ecclesial, historical, liturgical, etc. What follows is a swipe at the question from the theological perspective with implications that can inform other perspectives on the whole. In addition, it may impact how we as preachers envisage what we do and what it is that happens Sunday after Sunday, sermon after sermon.

To help crack open the nut of this question, let us explore a few insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1948). In his lectures on preaching, given at the Confessing Church seminary at Finkenwalde (1935-1937), Bonhoeffer rooted his homiletic in the incarnation of the Word. Furthermore, he emphasized the real presence of that same Word in the ordinary words of the preacher. In his own words:

The proclaimed word is the incarnate Christ himself. As little as the incarnation is the outward shape of God, just so little does the proclaimed word present the outward form of a reality; rather, it is the thing itself. The preached Christ is both the Historical One and the Present One… Therefore the proclaimed word is not a medium of expression for something else, something which lies behind it, but rather it is the Christ himself walking through his congregation as the Word…

The question, of course, remains: What is preaching? While not wrapped up neatly with a pretty bow, we can say with respect and confidence “that Christ enters the congregation through those words which [the preacher] proclaims from Scripture.”

A very good source of reference which supports the PNCC’s declaration on the sacramentality of the Word. It would also seem that the PNCC had this down before Bonhoeffer considered the question.

Also see Theology of Preaching by John McClure, Charles G. Finney Professor of Homiletics at the Vanderbilt Divinity School for some insights.

Theologies of preaching ask questions such as: What is God doing during the sermon? What is the nature of the Word of God in preaching? It is important for preachers to consider how to understand preaching as God’s Word.

Recently, the homiletic conversation about the theology of preaching has revolved around the type of theological imagination developed by the preacher. Mary Catherine Hilkert speaks of two basic forms of theological imagination in preaching: a dialectical imagination which locates God’s redemptive work more narrowly in the redemptive actions of God in and through Jesus Christ, and a sacramental imagination which locates God’s Word more widely within the whole of God’s creation…

WorkingPreacher has a lot of great resources on homiletics and some wonderful insights on the art of preaching.