Rogue Reverend

What Is This Preaching Thing?

In seminary, they tell you that preaching is “The Word of God mediated through the preacher’s personality.” That sounds so egotistical! It is, however, quite a responsibility: to be true to the text from which you’re preaching (for me, it’s the Bible), to be true to your understanding of who God is (remember! God is nicer than you think!), and to be true to the experience of your congregation.

So you write this manuscript (some preachers don’t do this, but I do), and you stand up in front of a bunch of people and preach. You don’t read the text. You emote the text. Sounds weird, eh?

And something strange happens when you preach, too. People hear things differently than you say them. I can’t tell you how many times people come up to me and say, “I really needed to hear it when you said, ‘______________’” and you look back on your manuscript and realize that you never said that. Now, I think that’s God. Because I certainly don’t have the right words most of the time.

I have two favorite ways of thinking about preaching. The first is as an event. Preaching a manuscript is not like a speech that you want to be read again. There is inflection and emphasis that you just don’t get in a written speech. And my goodness, the humor doesn’t come across in writing, either.

My second favorite way of thinking about preaching is as relationship. Preaching is one way that a congregation and a pastor get to know one another. It’s one type of conversation in that relationship. And just like a relationship, there’s room for change and growth, and it takes place over a long period of time. At first, when you preach to a congregation, it’s with timidity, but as you get to know them, and love them, your words are geared to them. Your sermon (when done best, I don’t always do this!) meets them where they are because you know where they are. At it’s best, I believe that preaching is pastoral care.

The words in your sermon are not meant to be universalized. They have to be heard in the context of a congregation and in the moment.

When I post sermons here, I worry. Not all of my blog readers have a relationship with me to understand where I’m coming from. Not all of my blog readers want to continue the relationship. And sometimes I say stuff that I don’t want to represent me for the rest of my ministry.

Jeremiah Wright is a good example of this difficulty. His preaching has to be understood first in the context of his relationship with the congregation to whom he was preaching. Second, he has to be understood in the context of African-American preaching. And third, his preaching has to be understood in the context of a WHOLE sermon. If you take just six words that he said in one sermon, say them over and over again, it’s just not fair.

I would never want to be judged on one phrase in a sermon. Just like most of you wouldn’t want to be judged on one conversation with a person that you have a long conversation and a long relationship with. Can’t you think of one phrase you spoke to a friend, that if it were repeated over and over again, you’d hate it?

I’m going to continue to post my sermons here, but sometimes they’ll be edited. They’ll be edited for private information and they will be edited for phrases that could be held against me, out of the context of a relationship and out of the context of an event.

Thanks for reading!

Umm… Mind Your Boundaries, Please

I led a discussion on boundaries today for a Peer Learning Group of ministers. It was a fun group, and they didn’t mind a little ribbing coming their way. But the topic, boundaries, really made me think some more about life and blogging. I’d like to be very clear about my boundaries.

Physically, you’re welcome to come into my space, if you are invited. Do you hear that, Mr. Kiss-Me-on-the-Mouth-on-Christmas-Eve-at-a-Church-I-Don’t-Even-Attend? Kissing is really something I only do with people I like, you know, that way. Don’t come any closer. Or I’ll do the karate chop salad mixer* on your ass.

Emotionally, I’m only going to be friends with people I want to be friends with. That leaves you out, Mr. I’m-Your-Ex-Whatever-and-Can’t-Figure-Out-Why-You-Don’t-Friend-Me-On-Facebook? Yep, you heard right. I’m de-friending you. And when you send me a note to ask why, I’m going to reply, “Really, are we friends?”

Sexually, I’m really only going to be sexual with people that I know, and that I already like. I’m sorry, Mr. I-Just-Met-You-On-OkCupid-and-Think-I’d-Like-to-Have-Phone-Sex-with-You. You’re not on the list today.

and

Spiritually. I have the right to believe what I believe and speak my mind on any issue. And so do my friends. Yep, that’s to you, Ms. I-Can-Shut-You-Up-by-Saying-You-Are-My-Enemy-or-Privileged-or-Demon-or-VICTIM. Your name calling doesn’t work, and I won’t be quieted.

*The karate chop salad mixer is best illustrated visually. Stand with both arms outstretched to your sides, parallel to the ground. Swing your midriff from side to side, swinging your arms. Hit anything that comes into your range.

Anam Cara

I decided today to get the website active, whether or not it’s ready. Why? Because I miss blogging. Many interesting (to me, at least) strands in the tapestry of my life have been threaded this week, and I just need somewhere to say it.

First, on the job front. I’m still wondering what’s next for me, following Star Light. I live in this strange dichotomy: the feeling that I’m supposed to preach, and the struggle that I really don’t like the institutionalized church. Not a whole lot of preaching that takes place in the corporate world.

Second, on the calling front. Are calling and job different? Well, yeah, perhaps. My friend Mart says that we should follow Paul’s (notice the shivers going up my spine) example and be tentmakers. From Acts 18:2-3, “Paul went to see them, 3and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.”

A friend recommended that I begin to see myself as an Anam Cara:

In Celtic Spiritual tradition, it is believed that the soul radiates all about the physical body what some refer to as an aura. When you connect with another person and become completely open and trusting with that individual, your two souls begin to flow together.

Should such a deep bond be formed, it is said you have found your “Anam Cara” or soul friend.

Your “Anam Cara” always accepts you as you truly are, holding you in beauty and light. In order to appreciate this relationship, you must first recognize your own inner light and beauty. This is not always easy to do. The Celts believed that forming an “Anam Cara” friendship would help you to awaken your awareness of your own nature and experience the joys of others.

The “Anam Cara” was originally someone to whom you confessed, revealing the hidden intimacies of your life. With the “Anam Cara”, you could share your innermost self, your mind and your heart. This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging. When you had an “Anam Cara”, your friendship cut across all convention, morality and category. You were joined in an ancient and eternal way with the “friend of your soul”. The Celtic understanding did not set limitations of space or time on the soul.

This art of belonging awakened and fostered a deep and special companionship. When you love, you open your life to an Other. All your barriers are down. Your protective distances collapse. This person is given absolute permission to come into the deepest temple of your spirit. Your presence and life can become their ground. It takes great courage to let someone so close. Where a friendship recognizes itself as a gift, it will remain open to its own ground of blessing….. When you are blessed with an “Anam Cara”, the Irish believe, you have arrived at that most sacred place: home. This bond between friends is indissoluble: “This, I say, is what is broken by no chances, what no interval of time or space can sever or destroy, and what even death itself cannot part”.

~ from “Anam Cara…Wisdom from the Celtic World“, by John O’Donohue

And third, on the money front. Can anyone teach me how to get paid to be an Anam Cara?

I’m glad to be back!

Fear Not!

Warning! I am posting a sermon here. You are under no obligation to read this…

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Luke 1:26-38; 46-55

A church member responded to my Ask, Seek, Knock sermon of last week, with a very interesting observation. He basically said that the things I was asking him, and each of you, to do, filled him with fear. If you’ll recall, the things I suggested were to Ask for what you need from others, Seek justice for others and the Kingdom of God, and Knock on doors, in other words, build relationships with people, cross the lines of your cubicle, your office doors, your neighborhood and begin to really get to know people.

I think that the church member’s observations were really correct. We’re all scared. But courage, as you all know, isn’t the absence of fear, it’s the willingness to do something in spite of the fear.

Let’s look, for a minute, at the text for today.  Here’s Mary, doing what she’s supposed to be doing, a young teen mother getting betrothed. She’s hanging in her tent one night and this happens:
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