CHAPTER
1
WHY
KEEP PREACHING?
Some are suggesting that preaching has run its course. They say the craft served its purpose back when we were a word-based culture but today a monologue seems like an outdated mode of communication. The proclamation of words from one talking head to a nodding (or sleeping!) crowd for 20-30 minutes or, worse, 40-50 minutes, is a bygone byproduct of a different era when words mattered. Today, we are an image-based culture. The plethora of words we encounter every day, online or in print, has caused words to become meaningless. Music and other art forms have greater potential to impact people than the traditional sermon! And why should the pastor be the authority on matters of biblical interpretation? Dependence on the preacher was appropriate back when many people were uneducated and illiterate. Today, however, biblical resources abound and are accessible to everyone. Why limit ourselves by listening to only one voice week after week when there is a multiplicity of voices in the Church? Simply put, preaching is a useless and, therefore, unnecessary tool for the development of disciples. An internet blogger named Kevin says it all when he writes, “We have hardly had any preaching at Grace Church for the last 3 years - haven't missed it!”
Why would anyone keep preaching in a 21st century American context that seems to value preaching less today than ever? While I believe preaching must change in substantial ways, here are a few reasons why I keep on preaching and encourage you to do the same:
preaching is biblical
According to the biblical story, words matter. God did
his best work through words. Through words God formed the world and everything
in it. For centuries, the Old Testament prophets communicated messages from God
to his people essentially through words. The primary ministry of Jesus and John
the Baptist was preaching (Mark 1:4, 38; Luke 8:1). Jesus recruited the
apostles to preach (Mark 3:14; Luke 9:2) and the first century church,
according to the book of Acts, focused significant attention on the ministry of
proclaiming good news. According to the Bible, words about, from, and for God
proclaimed to a group of people through a called and anointed person will
always be meaningful, relevant, and powerful even when considered passé. That
is why we preach!
preaching is a portal for God
Will Willimon, seasoned pastor and prolific
author, reminds us of the impossibility of preaching: “Getting up to preach was
like trying to put out a thousand acre forest fire with a garden hose.” Thanks Willimon! Preaching is crazy. Arranging choice words in
the right order because of a call from God, knowing full well that those words
are dead bones unless God speaks through them, is utterly ridiculous. While we
study and work diligently in our homiletic craft, we recognize that the power
of preaching is more dependent on God showing up than the preacher.Ironically, the ridiculous nature of preaching may be the very rationale in support of its ongoing practice in the life of the Church. The practice of preaching reminds us over and over again that God can accomplish the impossible through impossible methods and means, that he just might decide to show up through the so-so words of a so-so preacher and transform so-so people into disciples who change the world! It makes sense that God might do this through music, a dramatic sketch, or an inspiring piece of art. It doesn’t make much sense that God would use something as common as words to come to us, but he does. Just like he comes to us through the common bread and wine of Communion, so God comes to us through common words strung together by some common being we call preacher. That is why we preach!
preaching sets people free
The preaching of Martin Luther King Jr. enabled
African Americans to re-imagine themselves as people set free by Jesus Christ. Because
of that re-imagination, an oppressed group sought for the liberation that they,
through Christ, believed they already possessed. The act of preaching, words
woven together to passionately proclaim the Gospel, started the Civil Rights
ball rolling with so much momentum that nothing but God could stop it. And why
would he, since he is the one who got that ball rolling in the first place! Preaching inspires middle aged women and men to leave lucrative careers and go to the most frightening places in the world to build schools, hospitals, and orphanages. Preaching does that! Preaching rescues couples whose marriages are hanging by a thread so that instead of calling it quits they hold on “for better or worse.” Preaching does that! Preaching brings hope to a lonely and lifeless teenager so that she resists the temptation to commit suicide. Preaching does that! Preaching causes a high school drop-out alcoholic to believe that God just might use him as a pastor. Preaching does that! Maybe we haven’t seen as much liberation as we long to see, but perhaps we’ve seen it often enough to convince us that preaching still has the power to bring freedom to the prisoner and recovery of sight to the blind, to set captives free by proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor (See Luke 4:14-21).
preaching purifies the preacher
The practice of preparing and presenting
sermons on a regular basis has done wonders for my soul. God used the practice
of preaching to breathe the winds of hope back into the deflated sails of my
life on many occasions. The act of preaching has, over and over again, given me
the audacity to believe what I am tempted to stop believing about God, myself,
and the world. Preaching helps me to imagine a whole new world that is more
real than the “virtual reality” within which I am sometimes compelled to live.
The practice of preaching keeps bringing me deeper into the church, gets me
more involved with the church, causes me to give sacrificially to the church,
and prevents me from giving up on the church. The call to preach stimulates me
to move toward purity and away from self-centered narcissism. I’m still not
“all that,” but you should have seen my life before the practice of preaching
laid its hands on me!
CONCLUSION
I know I’m preaching to the choir. Maybe you don’t need
to be convinced that every moment you spend preparing to deliver your sacrament
of words, as heart-wrenching and nerve-racking as it is, will be well-worth the
blood, sweat, and tears you pour into the homiletic task. I, on the other hand,
need convincing at times. Does preaching still matter? If you’re a preacher, you
better believe it!
EXERCISES
1. Decide which one of the reasons for the ongoing
practice of preaching listed above is most compelling to you and why.2. Add some other reasons to the list in support of the ongoing practice of preaching in the life of the local church.
3. Reflect on how preaching has changed your life. What impact has the practice of preaching had upon you and/or through you?
