Realities of Preaching
Preaching is alot like Art…you get what you are saying, others rarely do, and it cuts to the bone when someone criticizes it.
One would argue that preaching has lost its value. In some ways, I would agree. It can be watered down, opinion-driven, outdated, and inherently boring. The reality is most people who argue for the relevance of preaching are those who do it, and those who challenge its value are those who have to listen to it. I am one of the first category.
While I preach weekly to a college-group in Eugene, I am one of preachings most ardent critics. I do it, believe in it, but believe it is by and large failing more now than it has since its inception two thousand years ago.
We can’t do away with it. Preaching can change the world.
While preaching might in some ways be a burr in the side of most church-goers, its necesity is clear. The next couple of weeks I will explore this topic.
Dom wrote:
Like art? Is art.
I was talking to two young twenty-somethings (seasoned churchgoers, both of them, and close friends) last night and asked them about a sermon they had heard the night before. It was “good, he was funny, but it was really long.” I asked what he preached about.
“Song of Songs,” they said.
But what did he preach about?
“Song of Songs,” they repeated again (conversational quagmire)
What did he talk about? Was it expositional/topical, self-help, culturally relevant, any Gospel content?
“All of that, he talked mostly about dating. It was really long.”
But what did he say?
“That you should be responsible, grow up, get a job.50 minutes. It was really long, like ”
Did he talk about Jesus at all?
“No.”
That would be Gospel content.
“But it wasn’t one of those ‘I’m gonna get you saved’ sermons.”
From what I gathered, the guy talked to 350 people about dating for 50 minutes without mentioning Jesus and told some jokes along the way. And it was “really good.”
).
I oftentimes fear that happens because “it’s supposed to,” as opposed to because the preacher actually has anything to say.
It can be as though preaching (proclaiming and expounding the Word of God) has become another religious ritual which must be observed. This becomes painfully obvious when preachers will do the “I’m assuming you’ve heard this story/passage and won’t bother explaining it” routine (itself a poor assumtion http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-03-07-teaching-religion-cover_N.htm).
It’s almost as though we’ve forgotten how good the news is… or that we’ve forgotten that it’s news… or that we’ve forgotten to present it like it’s news… to paraphrase Wayne Cordeiro, “it is high crime to present the Gospel in an uninteresting fashion” (and if Wanye said it, it has to be true
What is preaching, then?
Is it the highly formalized method of public speaking that we have made it (picture a pulpit, a Bible, and a seated congregation… to be “contemporary,” “relevant,” “edgy,” or “emergent,” sprinkle in enough jokes, video clips, powerpoint, and personal stories to keep people’s attention… still same basic stuff, though)?
Or is it communicating the Word of God (however that may be)?
Given that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God,” it’s safe to say that communication has changed a lot in the past 2000 years. Can we communicate the Word of God (in such a manner that faith can be born) in a way other than pulpit and speaker?
Posted on 11-Mar-07 at 5:08 pm | Permalink