JD, this EXACTLY the quandary I have dealt with in my preaching. Do I stay in the clouds and hope that my audience catches what falls through, or do I come down to their level and lose some of the majesty that is contained in God's word? What I elected to do, and I pray it is working, is to stay in the clouds but reach down and bring the hearer up to that level. I will take opportunity to explain certain comments that may tend to confuse or lose those listening. I do so while remaining cautious of pride. I tend to define terms. This summer I preached on justification by faith and spent a great deal of time defining these terms. I think it helped to bridge the gap between where I was going in my preaching and where the hearer was at that moment. This type of preaching will eventually result in the hearers getting used to that type of preaching. Their ability to listen and comprehend will increase and the work of the Spirit will become clearly evident.
...of course I could be completely wrong and have a flock that just nods their collective heads to humor me.