I remember how relieved I was when I read the first pages of John Stott's book, Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today. He wrote:
... I confess that in the pulpit I am often seized with "communication frustration,"for a message burns within me, but I am unable to convey to others what I am thinking, let alone feeling. And seldom if ever do I leave the pulpit without a sense of partial failure, a mood of penitence, a cry to God for forgiveness, and a resolve to look to him for grace to do better in the future.
My first response to that remarkable confession was, "Whew! Even John Stott feels that way about preaching." My second thought was, "If that's how Stott feels, I don't stand a chance."
I have a love/hate relationship with the enterprise of preaching. The truth is that preaching is more of a problem for me than a pleasure. I do, however, consider preaching to be an exciting problem. More than a challenge, I consider preaching to be a sacred privilege. I take it seriously.
My approach to preaching is more about faithfulness than talent or skill. I simply try to be faithful to the text, faithful to the people, and most importantly faithful to Christ and the Gospel. This inclination toward faithfulness does not always result in preaching success, but I hope and trust that it does produce something God can somehow use.
Recently, Ben Witherington, Asbury Theological Seminary professor, has been posting about "The Problem with Preaching" on his Bible and Culture Blog. These short posts have some helpful thoughts for those of us who are preachers and for those of you who may be interested in better understanding and appreciating the preachers in your life.
Here are some links and excerpts to get you started:
From "The Problem with Preaching" (Part 1):
Whatever Biblical preaching looked like in the first century, and
whatever caused Eutychus to fall out of his window as Paul waxed
eloquent, it isn’t much in evidence in churches today. This word just
in, preaching in the NT era was not based on a lectionary of NT texts
blended with OT ones. There was no NT in the NT era, and the word
Gospel applied quite specifically to the good news about Jesus himself,
not about abstract concepts or theological ideas found in letters
written to people who were already Christians. We have four Gospels, they all tell the story of Jesus.
From "The Problem with Preaching" (Part 2):
It’s no good giving people an exhilarating experience and buzz in worship if there is little or no Biblical substance to chew on thereafter, little or no sound exposition of God’s word. Without Biblical and theological literacy you have no means to properly interpret your worship experiences, say, being able to tell the difference between a heart-warming experience and heart burn!
From "The Problem with Preaching" (Part 3):
...God can use you to convey his Word even if you are a blunt instrument, even if you are Balaam’s donkey! But frankly, God would rather not. He gave you a brain for a reason. He’d rather you have increased your knowledge and honed your skills, so you will be the sharpest knife in his drawer. Would you rather be like the two-edged sword referred to in Hebrews, or be like an ole blunt battle axe bludgeoning the congregation for the Lord?
From "The Problem with Preaching" (Part 4):
For preaching to be ‘good preaching’ it needs to be a word on a target. But if the preacher doesn’t know the target, he is unlikely to hit it. What this in turn means is that he or she must know his or her people. The more one knows one’s people, the easier it is to know what a word on target will amount to. Of course some preachers prefer the buckshot method– spray a variety things out on the audience and hope something strikes home. It’s like a game of paintball where you are aiming at moving targets and hoping something will hit them and leave a mark.
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