'It's about God' - August 26
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 22; Job 9:1-15,32-35; Acts 10:34-48; John 7:37-52
Today’s Reflection
“‘He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’ While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.” Acts 10: 42-44
“On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’” John 7: 37-40
On our end-of-summer road trip, our last stop was Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. We went to North Carolina to see a good friend of mine from college, who works as a software engineer in the Research Triangle. While we were there, we also spent some time at Duke University because I cannot stay away from a beautiful college campus. I brought a couple books back amongst my souvenirs—the two I picked from the campus bookstore are both by Will Willimon, who for 20 years was Dean of Duke Chapel before coming here to Alabama, where he served as a bishop in the United Methodist Church.
Willimon is a gifted preacher who for many years has taught courses and written books on preaching. I’ve been trying to read a bit each day from one of the books, Preaching Master Class: Lessons from Will Willimon’s Five-Minute Preaching Workshop. Each chapter is just two or three pages, truly a five-minute dive into some of his experiences and observations over the years as a preacher and as a teacher of preachers.
Yesterday I read a chapter titled “It’s about God.” On one level, this should be obvious: When we write or plan a sermon, we should be orienting ourselves toward God, we should be opening ourselves to proclaiming what God would have us to proclaim. When we preach, we should be pointing our hearers toward God. And yet, in contemporary preaching, there are pressures both from outside and inside to keep things safe. As Willimon argues,
As I consider many of the sermons that I hear and many of the sermons that I preach, I hear a decidedly a-theistic tendency. Many sermons are essentially ‘self-help.’ … I hear sermons that are little different from the advice one could receive from any self-help book. I fear that these preachers have allowed the seekers and their limitations to determine the content of the message. We Americans are a ‘do-it yourself’ society, a people who generally believe that, if our lives are going to be better, then it is mainly left up to us to improve them. We no longer want salvation, or conversion: we want self-improvement. Jesus becomes another helpful technique, among many other techniques, for getting what I want (97).
Too much talk about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit, or salvation or sin, or so many other things), and we might make some people feel uncomfortable. But we want people to stick around. We want people to keep coming back. And so, sometimes, we preachers may be tempted to play it safe. To say only what is reassuring. Comfortable words. Words that won’t offend. Words less likely to challenge.
But look at today’s Gospel passage from John and the New Testament passage from Acts. Jesus’ preaching did not make people comfortable. Peter’s preaching did not make people comfortable. Jesus and Peter challenged people in their preaching. They challenged people because always, always, always they were faithful in orienting their audiences to be turning toward God—and finding their true salvation and their true identities not in the love of self but in the unending, unquenchable love of God.
In the words of Will Willimon, “Christians don’t believe in self-help. We believe that we cannot help ourselves, exclusively by ourselves. We need a God who saves, who reaches in, and intrudes and acts to do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves” (98). Thanks be to God.
Becky+
Questions for Reflection
When have you heard a sermon that challenged you? What did you feel challenged to do or to reconsider after hearing that sermon?
Is it possible to be at once challenged and comforted when the Gospel is preached?
Daily Challenge
When you have heard a sermon that you wanted to listen to again or share with others, what was it about that sermon that resonated so strongly with you?
How might you conceive of your own actions and words as a sermon that you are preaching through your daily life?