Going to hear the Rev.!

I came across this during sermon prep this week and thought that it might be interesting to consider, especially since I have done a lot of itinerant preaching in my early years o ministry. I give thanks for my current parish whom I have know for some time know and for the ways in which we have conversed over the years. It is helping me to perfect my craft as a preacher. 

One of the main things we do as a Christian community, is gather for worship. Ideally, the one who is pastor to the community should also be the preacher.Of course, pastors need Sundays off for a variety of reasons and so around this neck of the woods, I often get invited to preach.I call it “preaching around” which sounds vaguely promiscuous.” That’s because it is. I've always understood preaching as an intimate act between pastor and the gathered community. Preaching at its best happens when the preaching springs out of the life, the hurting, the joy, the passion of the community. It’s almost in the category of pillow talk.I don’t feel good about preaching except in my own home congregation. In other congregations, I go in, have my say and leave. That’s it. I don’t know who they are. They don’t know who I am. And I’m not there afterwards to pick up the pieces.Do I enjoy it? Of course I do. And the feedback I get from the congregations where I preach is that they like it too. I can whomp out a pretty good speech.

But when they discreetly hand me an envelope with a cheque in it, I wonder if there’s a bit of a gigolo in me. I get my jollies. They get their strokes. I take my money and leave. Wham! Bam! Thank you Ma’am.

Of course that’s overstating the case. But every theology of preaching I’ve ever read says that preaching is not entertainment and it’s not education. Preaching is not a sacrament, but it is sacramental in that through it the Word may happen. When a sermon is faithfully preached and faithfully heard, there is the Gospel. I’m not convinced that happens when I go into a strange church and do my thing. I've wondered about that when I find myself worshipping in another congregation. When I’m traveling, I visit lots of different churches and I've heard sermons that were mostly entertainment, or mostly education.

Some are almost caricatures. High profile preacher. Lots of pizzazz. Lots of jokes. Lively, entertaining sermon. “You gotta come and hear our Rev,” the folks are saying. “Really good!” So people come and “hear the Rev.” The best two-buck show in town. Those churches are full on Sundays. But the people in the pews are an audience, not a congregation. The other extreme. Sermons are well-researched, reflecting the latest relevant social concerns. Every point is tightly argued. A few in the congregations find this very helpful. Most shut off their minds. The sermon dies on the steps of the chancel. It’s all good, worthwhile stuff but it gets nowhere.

On the other hand, I have worshiped in congregations where I felt like a guest in someone else’s home. That’s exactly as it should be. There were in-jokes and references and history and relationships I didn’t understand. The sermon was not designed to impress me. I was welcome to listen but the preacher was in conversation with the community. The sermon sprang out of a deep and caring relationship. On many of the faces I could see deep participation. I recognize this and warm to it. I know it from my home congregation. A community confronting the Gospel together.

From “Sermon Seasonings,” Wood Lake Books, 1997