PREACHING

I had planned on writing a blog on preaching for this week. In one of those happy coincidences–serendipity, as I have written about earlier–an added dimension to my thought was raised by my good Presbyterian colleague, Brady Seeley. Pastor Seeley and I are working on a training program for lay visitors. In our conversation, Pastor Seeley mentioned his own training in homiletics (preaching). His class used as a text book Design for Preaching. I knew the book at once, for it was used in my homiletics class. It was written by H. Grady Davis, Professor of Functional Theology at the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary in Maywood, Illinois. It was the book that transformed preaching in the 20th century. Even though it was first published in 1958, it continues to influence preaching today.

I had the great good fortune to take the last class that Grady Davis taught before his death, “Ethnic Backgrounds of Liturgical Music.” The course had little to do with that title, but it didn’t matter. It was a tremendous experience to learn anything at the feet of the master preacher.  He was also kind enough to sell me a copy of his book The Gospels in Study and Preaching. This was the first volume of a proposed series that examine the texts for the Sundays of the church year from an exegetical standpoint by New Testament professor Arthur Vööbus and preaching notes by H. Grady Davis. It was a tiny sample of what the five-day-a-week preaching seminar must have been like at Maywood with Vööbus, Davis, and theologian Joseph Sitler each speaking on the lessons. Unfortunately, Fortress Press did not continue the series even though they had the manuscript for ten more Sundays in hand. What a loss! I wonder if any Maywood grads still have notes from their presentations?

What was so great about Davis’s idea of preaching? Maybe this will give you an idea. He wrote:

A sermon should be like a tree. . . .
It should have deep roots:
As much unseen as above the surface
Roots spreading as widely as its branches spread
Roots deep underground
In the soil of life’s struggle
In the subsoil of the eternal Word.
 
Sounds like poetry. Or take this except.

The Word of God is a call to both these persons, to broken and divided selves who stand swaying giddily on the edge of life. It is a call both to mind and heart at once and equally. At such a time, the form which strikes directly and silently below all rational defense may make the difference between a hearer’s redemption and his despair. The truth can reach him best through its imagined forms: beauty and compassion, strength and courage, regret and forgiveness, faithfulness and love, pain and hope.

I doubt that I have come close to preaching with the depth that Davis imagined a sermon should achieve. I have never preached a sermon I have been totally satisfied with. Nevertheless, I strive to root my sermons in the “Soil of life’s struggle and in the subsoil of the Eternal Word.”

A brief story: I was in college when this happened–a music major, not a religion major. I had not the slightest inclination to be a pastor. The current pastor of the church had riled up a good many people in the church. I think in his view the church was mired in the past and he was going to drag it into the 20th century kicking and screaming. He was probably right, but he had no people skills. He tried to lead by demands and threats, which doesn’t work in the long term. Many of his sermons were nothing more than scoldings. Even when he preached on love, he scolded people. I couldn’t have explained then what was wrong, just that the preaching was completely ineffective. One Sunday morning I went to his office before the service to ask him something. He was at work at a table writing on a stack of paper, a large, old book open before him. When I got close enough, I saw what the books was–a collection of sermon illustrations. He was writing the sermon he was going to preach in less than an hour. Now maybe this was a one time occurrence. It can happen that a preacher isn’t ready on Sunday morning. But I got the sense that this was a regular practice. No wonder there was no depth to his preaching. It didn’t have any roots in the Word.

I have never used canned sermon illustrations. They would never work for me because they don’t come out of my experience. Davis wrote: “Only an idea that comes alive in the preacher has power to expand into a living sermon.” Absolutely right!

Many years ago as a seminary student I faced the dread Synod Examining Committee. This was the group that decided whether or not you should be recommended for ordination. I was worried and frightened and some of my examiners had serious doubts about my worthiness to be a pastor.
One of the questions put to me was, “How do you prepare a sermon?” Although I had never formally thought about that, there was a very clear pattern I always followed. Usually on Monday I read the texts for the next Sunday to let them simmer in my mind. Almost all of my sermons are text based. For me they have to be or else I risk talking about any old thing and not what God’s doing. As the days go on I check for variations in the text, read commentaries, and ask myself (if it is a Gospel) what did this mean when Jesus said (or did) this? What did those around him understand? How did people understand this story when it was told later?  What did the Gospel writer see here? What does it say to me now and to the people I know, their experiences, their needs, their questions and struggles? I look for a germ of an idea that can grow the sermon.  And if I don’t learn everything I should from the text, don’t say everything that I could say, that’s all right because it will come around again.  

Late that afternoon I was informed that I had received an enthusiastic endorsement. Later it was explained to me that I was the only person examined who could explain how they wrote a sermon.

I am still learning how to preach. Over the years I have continued to read books on homiletics, Preaching by  Fred B. Craddock, Homiletic: Moves and Structures by David Buttrick, The Witness of Preaching, by Thomas G. Long, and the seminal The Servant of the Word by H. H. Farmer, a book that strongly influenced H. Grady Davis. And currently I am reading a collection of Karl Barth’s early sermons–powerful stuff. 

As helpful as these are, however, the real food for my preaching is my daily encounter with the Word of God, both in my devotional life and in study. I’m teaching an adult class on Acts, so I have had to study that book in much more detail than I ever have. Good thing, too, since this year’s Easter readings come from Acts. The Office of Readings that I pray every morning is taking me through Revelation as it took me through Exodus during Lent. That’s what I need.

From April 30 to May 2 I’ll be at the Florida-Bahamas Synod Assembly. (Please pray for us.) The important thing will be the sermons I hear because one of the greatest lacks a solo pastor has is hearing the Good News proclaimed. Listening to yourself on Sunday mornings is not enough and more than it is enough to hear yourself pronounce the absolution on others. You need to hear it said to you.  

Well, this came out rather differently than I had anticipated, but that often happens in the sermons that I write.

May the Lord God bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne






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WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Last week I wrote about a somewhat dumb move my denomination made recently. This week I’m writing about something much more serious. A few years ago the Powers-That-Be produced a new service book and hymnal. Unlike the previous one, this book was done in house by staff at the publishing house and at headquarters rather than appointing a special commission. In many respect it’s not a bad book. It has lots of resources and option, ten musical settings, plenty of hymns–some of which are an improvement on earlier books–with a fairly wide range of styles. What slipped through, however, was a theological shift which endangers a fundamental principle of Christian theology. Here’s what I observe.

Our liturgy has an optional order for confession and forgiveness, something we have always had. It begins as have all our liturgies with an invocation: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” However, there is an alternative to these words: “Blessed be the holy Trinity, one God, who forgives all our sins, whose mercy endures forever.” Naturally a confession ends with an absolution. Here is the ending of one familiar to many: “I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father , and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  There is a alternative that ends “In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Almighty God strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, that Christ may live in your hearts through faith.”

There is a familiar Eucharistic prayer that ends: “To you, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be all honor and glory in your holy church, now and forever.” Again there are alternatives like this one: “All praise and glory are yours, Holy One of Israel, Word of God incarnate, Power of the Most High, one God, now and forever.”  At the end of the service is a familiar benediction: “Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever.” And a familiar option in a new form: “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord’s face shine on you with grace and mercy. The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.”

Anybody notice something odd about the alternatives?  Every one is written so as to avoid the words “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” The only time those words can’t be avoided is in the Creeds, although use of the Creeds is optional. The Lord’s prayer is not optional and they haven’t substituted anything for “Father,” but give them time. Something terribly wrong has happened. It probably started with avoiding masculine pronouns for God (I have even heard some radicals tamper with the service so as to remove masculine pronouns referring to Jesus), but it has now progressed to removing masculine nouns. The result is to make optional the formula given in Scripture (Matthew 28:19) and used in the Creeds to describe the Holy Trinity–Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Is it just a coincidence that the options skip those word? No way. The book contains the orders for Morning and Evening Prayer also. Morning Prayer begins in the way it has for centuries: “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise,” followed by the Gloria Patri, “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever.”  Aha! There are there traditional words. Except there is an option: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, O God, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Praise to the blest and holy Trinity, one God, who gives us life, salvation, and resurrection.” There we are: a way to avoid the dreaded language. Next comes the Venite which always ends with the Gloria Patri. Not any more. The Gloria has been banished here and with the psalms and with the canticle Benedictus. Father, Son and Holy Spirit do appear in the benediction, but one can choose to do the Thanksgiving for Baptism and avoid them. Now I don’t know how it happened, but the Gloria Patri IS included with Psalm 141 in Evening Prayer, but you can use something else if you want. There is also an alternative blessing at the end so as not to say “those” words. Compline also provides ways to avoid saying Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As far as I can tell, the only time the words Father, Son and Holy Spirit have to be said is in Baptism, first in the Apostles’ Creed and then in the Baptism itself. As I recall some years back the Lutheran Bishops issued a statement in no uncertain terms that no other Name could be used in Baptism.

Oh, but we’re just talking words here, some protest. No we aren’t. We are talking about the words that express a central Christian doctrine. We are talking about language that goes back to the very beginning. Others whine, but it’s only in the worship service. The way we worship, the words of our prayer shapes and determines our belief. If we stop praying to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we will stop believing in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

So far including or excluding the Trinitarian formula is a matter of choice. I worry about the time when the choice will be taken away. Until then I am putting in the Holy Names every chance I get. I expect I’ll get dirty looks from the Powers-That-Be if they discover what I’m up to. Maybe not. They’ll probably just shake their heads at my stubbornness knowing that it can’t be too long before all us old traditionalist fuddy-duddies retire or die. Then they can get rid of that old junk and bring things up to date. Will we pray: “To whom it may concern wherever you might be, if you exist at all”?  Think not? Just a reminder that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is already in full communion with another body that has congregations with dual membership in the Unitarian-Universalist Association. That went through with barely a whimper.

I consider myself an orthodox Christian, orthodox in the literal sense of “right-praise” for if you praise God rightly you must hold right beliefs. I hope I go forth from this vale of tears with the words of the last stanza of “For All the Saints” on my lips:

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gate of pearl stream in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: Alleluia! Alleluia!

May the Lord bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne




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HERE THEY COME AGAIN

I’m conducting a survey. Please list the top three concerns of members of your congregation. What did you put down? Spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ? Helping people in the current economic crisis? Teaching the faith to children? Making sure children have food, clothes, shelter, and health care?  Anybody put down genetics? What! No one?

Or how about this. Suppose you had $140,000 to spend at a time when money was hard to come by. People are losing jobs. Their pensions are being taken away from them. Funding to church missions has fallen precipitously. What would you do with the money? Anybody put down a six year study for a statement on genetics?
What! No one?
Or how about this. It is Holy Week, the most solemn time of the Christian year. What would you send to the congregations? A devotional guide to the Passion of Jesus? A message of hope in the Resurrection? Anybody put down a 50 page “Draft Social Statement on Genetics”? What! No one?

From now until October 15 you are going to lead a study in your church. What will you choose as a topic? The Augsburg Confession? Paul’s Letter to the Romans? How to pray? What! Anybody put down the “Draft Social Statement on Genetics”? What! No one?

Boy, are you folks ever out of touch with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America leadership. (Or maybe it’s the other way around.) This Holy Week saw the arrival of the “Draft Statement of Genetics” prepared by the ELCA Task Force on Genetics, Church in Society, © 2010, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. And, yes, indeed, the final cost of this study is only $140,000 - $150,000, much less than most people think, I am told. That cost is about what my congregation has sent to the wider church in the last 20 years. Somehow, this is not what I imagined was the top priority for our benevolence dollars.

This is one of the most outrageous boondoggles I have seen from the ELCA in at least the last six-months. I think people stay up late at headquarters thinking of foolishness to get the church involved with. First, I am suspicious of any official church document with a glossary to explain the terms nucleotide, oncogenes, and single nucleotide polymorphism. What does the Church know about these things? Second, even after reading the document I have no idea what this church thinks about genetics. In side bars various issues are raised that are related to genetics. They are interesting problems sometimes posing moral dilemma. I would like to see how this Statement on Genetics helps a person decide the issues raised. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t. In fact, it warns that the side bars are for illustration only. That sounds like a lot of what I get from the powers-that-be, no clear guidance on issues.

There is this pomposity: “The Word became flesh, took on a human genome, and lived within the abundance and sorrow of the earth and human culture” (8).  I liked it better the way St. John wrote it: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.” (I don’t think we’re allowed to say that anymore because it implies God is a Father.)

One of the few useful gems in this verbosity is this: “This church rejects the ‘technological imperative,’ that is, it rejects the prevalent practice of belief that we are free to use any knowledge that becomes available to create any technological application if the market will support it” (21).  Well, I’m glad to hear that. It is the type of issue that you discuss in a beginning ethics class.  In practice this means that this church rejects human cloning, although if we do it successfully, we will, of course, baptize the cloned individual like any child of God.

What I’d like to see is a few succinct statements of what the church teaches or proposes to teach and not 50 pages of impenetrable prose. I have no idea what we would be endorsing if we adopted this statement. Of course, that doesn’t matter because we always adopt Social Statements, usually by huge margins–and then they fall still-born to the ground. The exception was the statement on Human Sexuality which has created a division in the church that may not be healed for generations.

Oh, a warning. There is already ANOTHER Social statement in the works to follow this one.

From ghoulies and ghosties and church Social Statements, good Lord deliver us.

May the Lord bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne







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EASTER SERMON OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

Is there anyone who is a devout lover of God?

Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!

Is there anyone who is a grateful servant?

Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!

Are there any weary with fasting?

Let them now receive their wages!

If any have toiled from the first hour,

let them receive their due reward;

If any have come after the third hour,

let him with gratitude join in the Feast!

And he that arrived after the sixth hour,

let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.

And if any delayed until the ninth hour,

let him not hesitate; but let him come too.

And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,

let him not be afraid by reason of her delay.

For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.

He gives rest to those who come at the eleventh hour,

as well as to those that toiled from the first.

To this one God gives, and upon another God bestows.

God accepts the works as God greets the endeavor.

The deed God honors and the intention God commends.

Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!

First and last alike receive your reward;

rich and poor, rejoice together!

Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!

You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,

rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!

Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.

Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith.

Enjoy all the riches of God’s goodness!

Let no one grieve at his poverty,

for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one mourn that se has fallen again and again;

for forgiveness has risen from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.

Christ has destroyed it by enduring it.

Christ destroyed Hades when He descended into it.

Christ put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.

Isaiah foretold this when he said,

"You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below."

Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.

It was in an uproar because it is mocked.

It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.

It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.

It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.

Hell took a body, and discovered God.

It took earth, and encountered Heaven.

It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.

O death, where is thy sting?

O Hades, where is thy victory?

Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!

Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!

Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!

Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!

Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;

for Christ having risen from the dead,

is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!