Devotional musings from a pastor of more than 35 years who has just completed his PhD in Practical Theology with an emphasis in Homiletics. I have just begun a two year Post Doctoral Teaching Fellowship at Princeton Theological Seminary in the areas of Preaching and Speech Communication. I will be teaching Creative Preaching, Introduction to Preaching, Narrative Preaching, and Speech Communication courses at the Master's level.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Overwhelming Texts
I listened to two sermons this past weekend. One was on Saturday night at a megachurch that I visited with some friends. The other was at my home congregation where the Associate Pastor preached. In both instances, the subject of the sermon was Mother's Day. Now, with all due respect to mother's and their children, it is hard to find Mother's Day in the bible. As a result, neither one of them were very successful in their sermons. It wasn't that what they said was bad (though the Associate did far better than did the staff member at the megachurch - far better!) but that what they said had more to do with their view of mothers, motherhood, and family than it did with who Jesus is or what the Christian faith is all about. Both of them employed scripture but in a way that made the text(s) ancillary to the real subject of their sermon - Mother's Day.
Now, don't get me wrong, I like Mother's Day. I am married to one and, counter to the rumors out there, I came from one. I think it is culturally important to celebrate Mother's Day. I'm just not sure it is crucial to preach about it each year in May. I say that knowing that the prevailing idea is that you have three times you cannot ignore in the pulpit - Advent, Easter, and Mother's Day. I guess I'm saying that it should be acknowledged, celebrated, and responded to in the service. However, I'm not sure it ought to be preached about each Mother's Day.
One of the problems with what my Associate Pastor called, "Hallmark holidays" is that they tend to overwhelm the text in preaching. Both preachers had great texts for Mother's Day, appropriate for the celebration. The megachurch staff member choose the story of Moses' birth and the Associate Pastor chose the text in Matthew 12 where Jesus does not receive his mother and brothers. Both were rich with possibilities about Mother's Day or some issue related to motherhood or family. Neither were really developed well. Again, the day overwhelmed the text. If there is one rule in preaching that I find violated consistently it is the one where you should pick and text and mine it for preaching material rather than impose on the text what you want to say. Holidays can overwhelm texts and turn potentially rich texts into pretexts for preaching something the preacher wants to say rather than what the Holy Spirit wants to say.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Sad State of Dissent
Perez Hilton: “Vermont recently became the 4th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit. Why or why not?”
Carrie Prejean: “Well I think its great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you very much.”
Not a stellar reply. In the heat of the moment; in front of the cameras and the television audience; in front of a live audience; in the moment before what you hope will be the biggest moment of your life; in the excitement of a competition - you try and formulate an answer. You try and give a sense of your own self; a window into your values and beliefs. Maybe not the best, most reasoned argument I've ever heard but a true statement about her values and beliefs. She didn't put anybody down. She didn't ask God to kill all the gays. She didn't call lesbians sinners. No, she stated an opinion in a beauty pageant. They asked her what she believed and she told them. And then the firestorm caught on and the stakes got higher.
The man asking the question is described as a "famous celebrity blogger." He is an outspoken gay man who makes his living as a kind of paparazzi. He posts their pictures and blogs about the lives and loves of celebrities. When he gets to hard news (real news) he gets lost. He announced on his blog one time that Castro had died. He has been sued and reviled. Then he asked this question, got an answer he didn't like, and blogged vile things about Carrie Prejean. Suddenly, he's the hero and she's the villain.
It all sounds like a set up to me. He got the one person he wanted to ask the one question he wanted that would get the one response he wanted so the media could go bonkers about it. And it worked. In part, because of our prejudice against women, in part because of the cultures growing dislike of Christians and Christian beliefs, in part because California voted against gay marriage in November, and in part because the gay and lesbian lobby have boosted their media presence to ram through their agenda for gay rights.
Sadly, the voice of this issue has now become Carrie Prejean. She was unprepared for it on the night she asked the question and she is unprepared to be the spokeswoman for the cause. No one is. If you say you are against gay marriage you are libeled as a hate monger. If you say you are for it you are being tolerant. In this culture there is no room for dissent. If you oppose President Obama you are an obstructionist. If you believe in gun control you are rejecting the Constitution. If you speak out about your faith you are imposing your beliefs on others.
If I have learned anything during these last several years at Fuller it is that the Christian message is rarely popular. The disciples were originally in favor with the people but in short time, after Stephen's stoning, they grew out of favor. The Christian message is counter to the culture. We speak truth and, like Jesus to the Pharisees, we speak truth to power. In an age where everyone wants to be politically correct we have a message that is intended to rock the culture and speak prophetically to the politicians in power. We have joined faith with nationalism. Now, the nation is fighting back through its cultural changes. One rallying cry will be to "take back our nation." Maybe the better cry is "speak what we know to be true."
It's not the Prejean is failing to speak the truth. I believe she is. I would go even further to suggest that, if you take the Bible seriously (and I do) you cannot find a single instance in scripture where homosexuality is seen in a positive light. Not in the prescriptions against it nor in the characters who desire it. The Biblical view seems clear - homosexuality is a choice. If you choose to be gay, you choose against a Biblical injunction. That is your choice. God has given you that freedom. Once you've made the choice, you must also accept the consequences. That is, by the way, the same argument being made against Prejean and her comments. She now has to be responsible for them. So does Perez Hilton (whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira). So do I. So do you.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Women in Ministry
http://www.anderson.edu/sot/wim/index.html