The primary reason why I preach is because God called me to do this ridiculous and rigorous, exhilarating and exhausting work. So, I preach for God. But I also preach for myself and for others, for my formation and their liberation.
-Formation: The process of developing and delivering sermons can and should be formational for pastors. Preaching, for the Wesleyan pastor, is not merely a rhetorical task to check off the to-do list; it is a spiritual discipline through which the preacher connects intimately to Christ. Preaching should not only impact the listeners but the preacher as well. Sadly, too many preachers believe that they need to separate the devotional reading of Scripture from their homiletic/exegetical reading of Scripture. This is a result of Modernity which held that truth could only be discerned through detached, scientific objectivity. We are, I think, still spinning from the Modern Age. Imagine the spiritual formation that could happen in a preacher who engages the homiletic process as a spiritual discipline through which they not only get a sermon but they experience the presence and power of God.
-Liberation: Christian preaching in the Wesleyan Tradition is designed to “set captives free.” When Jesus preached his inaugural sermon in Luke 4, he quoted a passage from Isaiah that undergirded his theology of preaching. Preaching should bring dignity to the human race. Preaching should make a nobody a somebody. Preaching should elicit, in equal measure, conviction of sin and hope of redemption. Preaching should liberate people from addiction and affliction, loneliness and lifelessness. Christian proclamation is good news. John Wesley went out to preach “in the field” to the poor drunk masses of English society. These captives were set free and the Wesleyan movement was born. Our roots remind us that preaching has the power to liberate people from the bondage of sin and shame so that they begin to walk, like those former Hebrew slaves, “with heads held high” (Lev. 26:13). Wesleyan preaching should never sugar-coat sin; it should, though, move people past sin and shame and toward the grace and dignity that flow from relationship with Christ.
-Formation: The process of developing and delivering sermons can and should be formational for pastors. Preaching, for the Wesleyan pastor, is not merely a rhetorical task to check off the to-do list; it is a spiritual discipline through which the preacher connects intimately to Christ. Preaching should not only impact the listeners but the preacher as well. Sadly, too many preachers believe that they need to separate the devotional reading of Scripture from their homiletic/exegetical reading of Scripture. This is a result of Modernity which held that truth could only be discerned through detached, scientific objectivity. We are, I think, still spinning from the Modern Age. Imagine the spiritual formation that could happen in a preacher who engages the homiletic process as a spiritual discipline through which they not only get a sermon but they experience the presence and power of God.
-Liberation: Christian preaching in the Wesleyan Tradition is designed to “set captives free.” When Jesus preached his inaugural sermon in Luke 4, he quoted a passage from Isaiah that undergirded his theology of preaching. Preaching should bring dignity to the human race. Preaching should make a nobody a somebody. Preaching should elicit, in equal measure, conviction of sin and hope of redemption. Preaching should liberate people from addiction and affliction, loneliness and lifelessness. Christian proclamation is good news. John Wesley went out to preach “in the field” to the poor drunk masses of English society. These captives were set free and the Wesleyan movement was born. Our roots remind us that preaching has the power to liberate people from the bondage of sin and shame so that they begin to walk, like those former Hebrew slaves, “with heads held high” (Lev. 26:13). Wesleyan preaching should never sugar-coat sin; it should, though, move people past sin and shame and toward the grace and dignity that flow from relationship with Christ.
1 comment:
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