Blah Guy

I have more than ever taken the theological stance that theology as a whole is a conversation, not a science nor system. In reality, I submit, in some way it must always be to some degree one of the two. For what is science but watching the wonders of the thing you are studying. Jurgen Moltmann writes, with eloquence, about this concept in “The Trinity and the Kingdom”. And to be big headed enough to consider your own voice in the conversation as being the final say, is well, what shall we say, absolutely dumb. When I talk theology, with anyone, I am entering a conversation that has been ongoing for thousands of years. Why is the title of this entry “Reformed”?

My concern lies with the very nature of “Reformed”. Neither did Luther nor Calvin expect us to think that this new “Form” which they “re’d” would be complete. Rather, I would argue they both (Especially Luther who wanted “reformation”, not “separation” from the Catholic church) saw their own contributions to theology as part of a longer conversation, not one that they ended with their own voice.

Here is my point. The reformed faith has one problem, its past tense-ness. It is reform-ed. Past tense. It was reform, not is, not will be. I would like to argue a new name for the reformed brand of theology. Reform(ing).

Why?

Luther sought to create change from the inside, a change which he no doubt saw being a beginning, not an end with himself. And if he were here, I think he would remind us:

“You ain’t done yet bucko”.

His nails weren’t the ones that solved the world’s real problems.

Take some time and read the conversation over on organicjesus.org There are some excellent thoughts on the reformed faith you would do good to read.

So then, what is the preacher’s job?

One guy at our church was famous for saying, when he saw a brother or sister in the faith, “The Jesus in me sees the Jesus in you and says, Hello Jesus!” That sums up preaching.

The preachers job is to find out what Jesus is doing in people and say something about it. That is why a preacher must have a relationship with the people he is preaching to. If he does not, it would be like a fly fisherman loading up his bag, tying a fly, driving to Montana, casting his line in the water, pulling up a big ole’ stick and saying, “Whew! Imagine that”, because he has no dam blabbed idea what a fish looks like. We can’t be fishers of men until we learn to be men and know what they look like. But when we know the struggles of the people, the dirt, the skinny, the jokes, the laughter, the frustrations, those are all things Jesus is desperately dying to teach the people about. So when we preach, we first find what Jesus is doing in people, then have the guts to say something about it.

Practical preaching for the sake of practical preaching is a sin. But practical preaching because the preacher knows that is what Jesus is doing and that is what He told you to talk about is obedience. The difference cannot be told except by the preacher. That is why some of the biggest churches in the world get bigger while the smaller churches in the world keep getting smaller. When people can make their consumeristic choices between some message that is going to be safe and contain something that can help them live better over a very unsafe message that was born out of obedience, they will make the same choice every single time. Not because they are bad, but because Western consumerism is branded into their brain. Buy the best product out there. The problem with prophetic preaching is it is rarely the best product on the market. At least not in their minds because “best” equals “feels or tastes best”. Best does not mean any more “Best” in terms of the truest. Prophetic preaching can be a message of hope like Jonah or a message of wrath like Isaiah. Our job is to be what God has called us to be, no more no less

Here is what I think. I think that God can put a Jonah and a Isaiah in the same city. What? Wouldn’t God want the whole city to hear about salvation or their coming destruction. God has a way of putting more than one preacher in the same city because it will be Jesus inside of them who will draw the hearer to where they need to go. We must stop focusing on how to get people into our doors and focus on what Jesus is telling us to say and he will do the job of drawing people (The Apostle John…”I draw people through the Father”). The magnetism of the Holy Spirit works and we should let it.

Here is a wonderful article written by Bart Campolo. He offers a balanced approach to what I would call a dangerous “sea of salvation” confusion offered by evangelicalism today. He finds a way to see salvation through the gracious eyes of a frustratingly loving God and our own, a balance few strike well. Read and taste.

I must say it is hard to imaging a divine encounter with the Lord Jesus with a sign holding my last name (like a limo driver and the airport) to take me no where else but hell, all the while along the drive telling me he loves me. Hmmm.

But it is also hard to imaging a God who lets his children run nilly-willy with free evil with no level of eternal accountability. That would just be stupid.

The relationship between the preacher and the one being preached is weird. First of all, the preacher always assumes (as I do) that the one preaching is more important than the ones listening. This is an inherent problem with preaching. It sets everyone up (including the preacher) to think that he/she is the most important one in the room. This keeps me up at night. When Jesus came to the Synogogue, he was the least educated and “learned” person in the room. He made chairs and coffee tables. But he was the one person everyone should have shut up and listen to. Secondly, Jesus doesn’t come to church anymore. At least not in person. He comes in persons. He does come, but very differently than he used to. Today, Jesus comes to church inside the people. When we gather, lets stop asking the presence of the Lord. He is there, in you. And when you ask, it’s like saying to your little daughter at her birthday party, “Hey, why don’t you think about coming to your birthday party.” Jesus does not need our invitation to show up, and He really is already there. And thirdly, if Jesus is going to be heard in the community of the church, the preacher must realize that Jesus will fully come out of his costumes if everyone can participate and give their word. Jesus hides himself in the whispers of the pew-warmers. It is in them that he waits, to be heard. It is in them that he yearns to be listened to. Not in the preacher.

Jesus cares about the people that cut us off. Don’t get me wrong. And if people don’t get simple, easy, little things they can do to make God happy, they will go to another church. But…

If my preaching little practical truths is done at the expense of the very large impractical one that nothing I can do will make God love me any more than he does through Jesus, then my preaching has left the building and gone down to the park to pee in the bushes.

“Speak the truth in love”. My problem is I do one and not the other. I once made this mistake. One time I finally spoke the truth that had convicted me for months, but saw people leave so offended they would never come back. To speak the truth in love means that I will speak the truth in such a way that the people I am speaking to know more than the truth that I am speaking, I love them. That is why the guys on the street telling everyone they are going to hell is in as much trouble of hell as the people they are preaching to. Will hell be filled with preachers? If so, I am convinced hell will be for them, a place of unending perpetual preaching, where everyone else is wrong and hell-bound, while they at the same time stand between Lava Ave. and Minion St. in downtown Hades.

I hear more complaints about sermons than anything else. You would think it is the most important thing to Christians in their simple existence, when in reality, preaching takes a much lesser place than preachers like to think. Because preaching is the craft of the preacher, to complain or argue is like standing in front of a builder and his completed home and saying, “Wow, my kid could have done better.” It hurts, no doubt. We take it seriously. And for some odd reason we never seem to learn the all important lesson that preaching was invented by God not to placate or please, but to deride and piss off. Little preaching today does this. And of course it doesn’t have to upset the entire congregation to be effective or “God-breathed”, rather, it appears that preaching has become less and less about the very offensive nature of the gospel than it has about cute little stories of how I can stop cussing at that guy that just cut me off.