Elation and Satisfaction

One of the things that always frustrated me about being a local pastor was the lack of joy one could have upon the completion of anything. For instance, there is a sense of joy that comes in the planning and preparation of a worship service (all the elements, including the sermon preparation and delivery). However, once it is completed, there is little chance to celebrate. You feel a sense of satisfaction at the completion of the task and you celebrate what God did, then you have to begin preparing for the next Sunday. You evaluate the service the next week and do what I used to call a postmortem on the previous Sunday, but you are already trying to put all your time and effort into the next week. Sometimes it is hard to find time to celebrate.
At other times you want to celebrate what God has done in people's lives. Decisions they've made, growth they have accomplished - but that was always terribly hard to measure. It's kind of like seeing a child grow up everyday. There doesn't seem to be nearly as much progress as when you live all the way in California and don't get to see your grandson in Illinois except once every six months and then you see a big change! But, I digress. (Just a cheap excuse to put in a picture of our grandson being held by grandma). Anyway, it is hard to celebrate progress when you can't always find the right tool by which to measure it.
However, in my Ph.D program I find that there are milestones that you get to achieve and there is time to celebrate. I finished my Comprehensive Exams today. Four of them over the past two weeks. I have spent more than 6 weeks preparing directly for them. I have been barely visible with friends and neighbors. It is the most intense thing I have ever done. Just before taking the last exam today (the fourth of four) I was informed that I had passed the first three. I think I did well on the one today (it was the easiest of the four) and I am confident that I passed them all. As of today, I am no longer a doctoral student. I am now a doctoral candidate. All I have left is the work that prepares me to write my dissertation and the actual writing of the dissertation. My goal is to have all my preparation work done by the end of next summer and to have completed the dissertation writing by December of 2009. That would mean that I will graduate in June of 2010. That means, from start to finish, I will have completed the Ph.D in 3 1/2 years. That is as fast as it can be done. I still don't know if I will be able to keep up the pace, but that is my goal.
But all that is in the future. For today, and the next few weeks, I am going to celebrate the completion of my Comps. I like that. It feels good to celebrate and to have a long, long party in which to rejoice. Amen.

Comprehensive Exams

Well, it is finally here. The next major hurdle in my PhD program. Comprehensive Exams. Four exams over the course of two weeks. Each exam is to show you have a comprehensive knowledge of the material for that area of study. It begins Friday afternoon (16th) and
they are scheduled for the following Monday, Friday, and then Thursday (29th). Each exam is one or two questions and you have three hours to take them. No books, no notes, not bible, no nothing. Just you and the computer and what it is that you know. So, this posting will be short and I doubt I will write anything until they are over. Here are the four subjects:
1. Practical Theology. I have to give a history of its development, an understanding of the major issues in the area, compare the work of two major theorists, come up with my own Practical Theology and apply all that to a specific case study.
2. Theology of Preaching. I am going to be asked about the meaning of being called to ministry, provide a historical background for it, tell about the call of women to ministry and use the case of an 18th century woman named Sarah Osborn to make an argument against the restrictions but on women in ministry by Martin Luther.
3. Word and Meaning. Two questions here. The first has to do with the 11 books and materials we read for class. I have no idea what the question will be but intend to be prepared to discuss several of the books. The second question is about the meaning and importance of metaphor in preaching and how it limits and expands preaching.
4. History of Preaching. Here I have chosen to deal with African American preaching. Specifically, I am comparing two scholars (Cleophus LaRue and James Earl Massey) and their views on what comprises the distinctiveness in African American preaching. I will be doing a comparison and a study of whether or not Massey's issue of festive preaching is part of the black hermeneutic. Sounds technical, I know, but it is interesting. I will also be analyzing a couple of sermons. One is from Jeremiah Wright. Might as well be contemporary.

Anyway, those are the questions. Pray for me. This is the last chance they have to flunk me out. I don't think they will but I must perform. Thanks.

Changing My Theology on Baptism

I've just had an epiphany reading Barbara Brown Taylor's book, "The Preaching Life." In talking about vocation, she is hitting hard the idea of the priesthood of all believers. I am in the process of studying to take a Comprehensive Exam question on the whole idea of the Call to Ministry and what that means. Doing the historical background, many interesting things have cropped up. Not the least of which has been the distinction in Martin Luther, John Calvin and in most theologians since the Reformation to recognize the fact that we are all called to be involved in ministry. Salvation is a call to become part of the Body of Christ and the Body of Christ is the Church and the Church is the ministering community of Jesus Christ. So, what was the epiphany?
Simply put, I have been teaching baptism incorrectly. I have not been teaching it in any heretical way. I have simply been missing an opportunity to tell others the full meaning of the baptismal event. In leaving out this important piece, I have missed a great chance to help new believers understand what it means to be part of the priesthood of all believers. Here is what I read in Taylor:
"Our offices are the 'texts' of our lives, to use a dramatic term, but the 'subtext' is the common vocation to which we are all called at baptism."
Baptism is the act by which a believer makes a public declaration of his or her commitment to Christ. In that sense, it is the witness and testimony of the believer that they have received the grace of God and "enlisted in His service." It this dimension that my teaching on baptism has lacked. I have certainly taught that it is testimony and a response to the salvation which God has given. I have talked about the symbolic meaning of baptism in the public witness of Christ's death and resurrection. I have used it to tell about how our lives have "died" to the old life and that we are "raised" to a new life. However, I have never subscribed to the idea that baptism is what saves you. I have spent some time making sure that candidates understood what baptism would not do and not nearly enough time telling them what baptism will do. It seems to me that one of the key features of baptism is that the candidate is ordained to ministry. Not to the Office of Clergy but to the Office of Ministry. If the world is going to be changed by the message of the gospel in a post-Christian world, it will be because those who are ordained to the Office of Ministry at baptism understand that they are accepting a call to minister in the name of Jesus Christ.

LIfe Changing

I've spent part of the day watching the NFL College Draft. I'm always fascinated by this weekend. Although I watch the draft because I am an avid NFL fan and Fantasy Football player, I watch it too because I am fascinated by change. When you believe in the power of conversion and the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation, change is a very interesting aspect of ministry and faith. I would even go so far as to say the very nature of God is change. The bible begins not with "creation" but with God "changing" nothing into something. The New Testament does not begin with the "incarnation" but with the the coming of the Word - and the Word changes things when it arrives. The one common denominator for Christians is change. It is the stuff of faith and the intent of ministry and mission. And yet, amazingly, the church (God's visible presence on earth) is hesitant to embrace change. We have become so concerned about orthodoxy that we spend all our time defending what we think we know and very little time investigating what is not known or needs to be changed from how we do things. If I have learned anything in studying Practical Theology at the PhD level it is that the idea of change is integral to the whole idea of what God is doing "on the ground." If we are not responding to the work of the Holy Spirit in the world today then we have lost the connection we must have with the Living Christ. We dare not substitute an "orthodoxy" for a real presence.
So, I watch the NFL draft. Not because I am a football fan but because I am a change fan. These young men will spend a couple of hours waiting to hear how their lives will change. Teams will draft them, sign them for millions of dollars (the first pick this year received almost 30 million dollars - guaranteed), and join a group of players whose lives may be changed by the contribution of this new player to their team. Change. It is a religious experience. I understand that change can be uncomfortable, even painful. Believe me, I have experienced more change in the last couple of years than most. Joanie and I have moved, changed lifestyles, gone back to school, and experienced an entire financial and relational change. It has even continued this week as Joanie has found out that her teaching position has been cut and she will not have a job next year. She has lovingly been the breadwinner for us in this venture at Fuller. I know she does not relish either the job search process nor the uncertainty of not knowing where she will be working in the Fall. But, change is a normal part of life that should be embraced as something that God produces or provides. Joanie has been considering looking for a new job and has been praying what she should do. This decision is the answer she has been seeking (maybe not the way but surely the answer). But it will require her to make some significant changes.
When change comes or is thrust upon you, one of the things you have to do is embrace the possibilities that God is at work. This does not mean we can be foolish with our choices but it does mean that when things happen you look to see what Christ is doing. And so, we are seeing how God's hand is at work in our lives.
Sure would be easier if I was drafted by the NFL and got a million dollar contract. Surely every NFL team needs a slow, old white guy to play for them. If they do , I'm ready. Is that God's hand? It would be if I got drafted.

The Presence of the Word

I am working on an understanding of a philosophy of practical theology. In May, I have to answer that question during one of my comprehensive exams. It is a fundamental question for anyone in ministry, though I had never quite thought about it in the terms I do now after taking a seminar on the subject. During the seminar I was quite affected by the writing and teaching of Ray Anderson. He is a semi-retired professor here at Fuller. He is a prolific writer and quite a teacher. His PhD is in Systematic Theology but he has spent the majority of his academic life working in the area of Practical Theology.
What Dr. Anderson has developed is a rationale for a praxis-theory-praxis model for Practical Theology. If you are interested in his work, the book I am using is called, "The Shape of Practical Theology." In it, he makes the case that Practical Theology (indeed all theology) must be based on the concept of what he calls Christopraxis. Now, let me try and explain all of this in terms I can understand!
First, praxis means practice. So, all theology begins with practice. This is very different than how Systematic Theology (the king of theological studies in graduate school). Systematics begins with theory. All theology begins with theory, philosophy. Anderson says that all ministry begins with practice. In other words, if the Holy Spirit is active and leading in all of life and ministry and if Jesus Christ is really resurrected from the dead, then God is still at work in our lives and in our ministries. So far so good? It sounds like good, solid Church of God theology.
What Practical Theology then states is that we interpret the movement of God in the practice of ministry (Anderson does say that the praxis he is describing is more than just practice but it it theory laden praxis - by that he means that our praxis already has a theological, biblical rationale behind it). Here is where his theology gets interesting. If we find that what God is doing "on the ground" differs from our theology, we should then begin to look at our theology and see if it is wrong. At that point your praxis informs your theory. If your theory (theology) disagrees with the praxis, you must be willing to look hard at the theology to see if it is accurate. That means you have to be willing to look at some very entrenched theological ideas in a very different light. Maybe, you will have to change your theology to fit the practice. I know of few church groups, seminaries, or ministers that are prepared to change their theological framework because they see something different going on in a local ministry situation.
When I spoke with Dr. Anderson about his theology, I told him that I thought his book was powerful, intriguing, and dangerous. He agreed. But up until this week, I wasn't quite sure how dangerous and difficult it might be. When Anderson diagrams this out he puts Christopraxis (the praxis of what Christ is doing) in the middle of the diagram. Theological reflection and determination are moved from their usual place at the center to one of the outer rims. For Anderson, Christ is at the center of everything. He supports this with the idea that the praxis of Christ will never be in conflict with scripture. But if it is, we should be willing to change how we read and understand the scriptures.
The dangerous part of this comes from the Reformation (No, not Warner but Luther). When the Protestant Reformation took hold, Luther based his stance on two things: salvation by faith (alone) and "sola scriptura" (scripture alone). I still believe in the first. The second one is in question. The Wikipedia article on sola scriptura defines it thusly: "Sola scriptura (Latin ablative, "by scripture alone") is the assertion that the Bible as God's written word is self-authenticating, clear (perspicuous) to the rational reader, its own interpreter ("Scripture interprets Scripture"), and sufficient of itself to be the final authority of Christian doctrine." If one is to embrace the theology of Anderson then you must also be willing to take the doctrine of sola scriptura out of the center of the diagram. Let me be clear. This does not mean that you either disbelieve or devalue scripture. Quite the contrary. It just means that the bible is not the center of your theology - Christ is. Scripture is both the Word of God and the voice of God. God's voice in praxis disagrees with God's voice in the Word, one of them must be wrong.
In his book, Anderson talks about the issue of gender. He details his journey through the women in ministry debate and how, through what God was doing on the ground, he began to challenge the accepted doctrine that women couldn't be in ministry. The praxis they observed caused them to challenge the accepted exegesis of scripture that women could not be accepted in ministry. After finding numerous positive biblical examples and problems related to how those doctrinal positions were exegeted, Anderson helped change the position of Fuller to allow women to study for the pastoral ministry. He believed the praxis and changed the way he viewed scripture. In another chapter he takes on the issue of homosexuality. He talks about how many homosexuals claim that they can be believers in Christ and continue to live the gay lifestyle. Anderson found that there were no positive statements in scripture nor was there one single example of a positive homosexual person or act anywhere in scripture. At this point, he disagreed with the praxis principle.
One final thought. By moving the principle of scripture from the center to the outer layer of Anderson's diagram, I think I am moving closer to the principles of the early saints of the Church of God. Warner was someone who believed strongly in the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit (certainly a form of Christopraxis). There are numerous stories of the pioneers of this Movement being led by the Spirit to act in certain ways that were contrary to the normally accepted theological idea. When we took things into our own hands (like when the brethren suggested that blacks might be better having their own camp meeting) we lose the movement of the Holy Spirit and get our eyes off of Christ.

Einstien's Brain

I just finished a paper for my seminar. It is on creativity and how the brain functions. Here is the opening of the paper. It is an unforgettable and true story.

When Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955 he was one of the most celebrated and respected men in the world. His scientific genius was recognized as extraordinary. Dubbed the greatest scientist of the 20^th Century, he was listed among the most influential people in the history of the world.[1] Time Magazine, on the eve of the new millennium, named him the most influential person of the century.[2] After his death, the body of Einstein was moved to the morgue of Princeton Hospital and Thomas Harvey, the pathologist on call that evening performed the autopsy. From that moment forward, the odyssey of Einstein’s brain would take a series of twists and turns that would not resolve themselves for more than four decades.

Harvey performed a routine autopsy that night, though without apparent cause or a request from the family (though permission was obtained after the autopsy was completed). Einstein had left specific instructions for the disposal of his remains. They were to be cremated and the ashes spread anonymously to discourage thrill seekers and souvenir hunters. Harvey, either unaware of these wishes or caught up in the emotion of the moment (or both), removed the eyes and gave them to Henry Abrams, Einstein’s eye doctor. But the strangest act that night was what happened to the brain. Harvey, apparently at the request of his mentor and Einstein’s personal physician Dr. Harry Zimmer, removed the brain from the skull and took it home. Harvey was not a neurologist nor did he have any training in the brain other than the normal pathological understandings related to postmortem disease, injury or atrophy. He took the brain for reasons that can only be speculated. Once the loss was discovered, Harvey refused to return Einstein’s brain to the pathology department. He was fired from his job as a pathologist. Not long after, he took the brain to Philadelphia where a technician sectioned it off into hundreds of blocks for study. Encased in celloidin (a substance used to embed tissues for microscopic examination) the brain was placed in a plastic container and Harvey took it home and put it in his house. It would remain there for the next 40 years.[3]

Periodically, Harvey would take out the brain to cut off a slice for some scientist who was requesting research material. He tried, unsuccessfully, to interest the larger scientific community in researching the nature of his prized possession. Finally, at the age of 80, Harvey packed up Einstein’s brain and put it in the trunk of his Buick Skylark. Accompanied by a writer named Michael Peterniti, they took off across the country to return what was left of the prized brain to its rightful heir, Einstein’s granddaughter. After traveling all the way to California, she refused to take possession of the gruesome artifact. In the end, the brain was finally returned to where this whole bizarre story began – to the pathologist at Princeton that held the same job Harvey had when he first took the brain some four decades earlier.[4]

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[1] Michael H. Hart, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (New York: Hart Pub. Co., 1978).

[2] Frederic Golden, "Person of the Century: Albert Einstein," Time Magazine 2000.

[3] Brian Burrell, Postcards from the Brain Museum: The Improbable Search for Meaning in the Matter of Famous Minds, 1st ed. (New York: Broadway Books, 2004).

[4] Michael Paterniti, Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip across America with Einstein's Brain (New York: Dial Press, 2000).

Dr. Gilbert Stafford

After commenting on the death of Horace Sheppard, Sr. I did not think I would have to return to eulogize another colleague and influential mentor so quickly. However, I received word the other night that another friend and person of great influence in my life, Dr. Gil Stafford, passed away after suffering from cancer over the last year. He spent more than three decades teaching at the Church of God Seminary in Anderson. He spoke for years on CBH, the radio voice of the Church of God. He wrote some of the most helpful and provocative books for the church to use. He was a voice of scholarship, faith, outreach, and unity. For years he served on the Faith and Order Commission of the Council of Churches - reaching out across the denominational divide. He taught and encouraged women in ministry - reaching across the gender divide. He spoke through radio to anyone who would listen and spoke in love - reaching across the believer-unbeliever divide. He spoke to both the laity and the student - reaching across the educational divide. Very few have done as much to live out the message of unity that was central to Gil's theology and to the theology of the Church of God Movement. And few did it with greater grace or humility.
The loss of Gil Stafford to the life of the church is a huge one. His voice and character will be greatly missed. My son, Jonathan, went to the funeral and called me following the service. He mentioned that he had trouble taking his eyes off the set communion table that was sitting conspicuously in the middle of the chancel. He knew it was there purposefully. Gil was one of the best I ever sat under in leading a communion service. The last time I had the privilege was a meeting of church leaders in Colorado Springs some years back. With 300 delegates representing the church across North America, it was quite a gathering of folks. Several papers were presented. Numerous presentations. But the highlight was Gil leading us to the Table of the Lord. He just had a way.
I know the Seminary is hurting at the loss of a friend and leader. I know that it is also in a transitional phase as they make decisions about new staffing for the graduate school. May I suggest that those who read this blog spend a few moments praying for the seminary community and the university community. In so many ways those places have been molded by the gentle voice of a giant of a man.

The Holy Spirit vs. Mothers

Easter is over and the next big Sunday on the calendar is Mother's Day in May. I have told students here at Fuller that Mother's Day is one of those Sundays that you must deal with in the local church. Recently someone challenged me on that thought. It has to do with the Lectionary and the Church Liturgical Calendar - two things you may not be familiar with in your church. We aren't in the Church of God. Maybe we should be.
The Lectionary is a resource churches use to help plan services - themes for preaching, themes for worship, scriptural texts, even appropriate art images. It is a resource created across denominational lines by numerous scholars to help assist churches and pastors on the local level. If you have never seen the lectionary, here is the link: http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/
If you look at the site, the first thing you will notice is that the entire site is based on the church calendar not the community or secular calendar. It may be a shock to some but there is a different calendar used by the church than the one used by Hallmark Cards. The Church calendar is based upon the seasons of the church - Advent (Christmas), Epiphany (the visit of the magi and the beginnings of Jesus' ministry), Lent (preparation for Holy Week), Easter (season of the resurrection concluding with Pentecost), Season after Pentecost (beginning with Trinity Sunday and going through Thanksgiving - it is a general season of various themes and celebrations). Interestingly, there is no July 4th, Labor Day, Father's Day, or (uh oh, here we go) Mother's Day.
This year, churches are caught in a bind. Pentecost Sunday occurs 50 days after Easter. Let's see. Easter was on March 23rd and 49 days after that is Pentecost Sunday and that is May 11th - Mother's Day. So, what do you celebrate? Mother's Day or the coming of the Holy Spirit? Most churches outside the liturgical circle will opt to either postpone their celebration of Pentecost or they will ignore it all together. But few if any churches will ignore Mother's Day. I wonder if that is a good thing?
What it means is that we are much more culturally centered in the church than biblically centered. Our concern is to celebrate whatever the culture is celebrating. That's why we hang flags in the sanctuary on July 4th weekend or make Children's Day a bigger Sunday than Pentecost. The problem is that the church is really designed to be counter culture. We have values that are different than what the culture commends. As Christians, we are not driven by consumerism; we believe in racial and ethnic equality; neither work nor family are our top priorities; we do not glorify the state; we believe in ministry to the poor and to those in need, whatever that need may be. The church has created orphanages, hospitals, AIDS clinics, food distribution centers, homeless shelters, battered wives homes, along with places to learn the faith and houses to gather in to worship the Lord. None of these are market driven nor do they smack of consumerism. We are centered on the biblical story and its implications and meaning.
Why then do we continue to use the secular calendar instead of the church calendar? The only reason I can think of is that we think having a celebration of family values and mothers specifically will add to our attendance. In the competitive world of church growth, Mothers beat out the Holy Spirit every time. The sad part about all of that is the theological statement we make. We think church growth is all about our programs to attract others. The reality is that the Holy Spirit is the only one who brings growth to the church. Quite ironic, don't you think?

The Deterioration of the News Media

I have watched with deepening sadness the media's fixation with Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and his sermons. For years I have listened to the Republican Party rail at the bias of the news media. I have heard conservative talk show hosts and politicians talk about the unfair treatment conservative public figures receive at the hands of the liberal, left-wing media. This belief has spawned a whole new news network (Fox) and created media stars out of Bill O'Reilly and Shaun Hannity. I have watched Fox News primarily because I was concerned that the news was not being shown "fair and balanced" on other news outlets. In my mind, they were the corrective for a liberal bias. The news media was out of control. I believe that was a correct concern then - and I believe it is a correct concern now. The story of Jeremiah Wright is a prime example.
I have met Jeremiah Wright (last winter in Minneapolis at the Academy of Homiletics Meeting where he was the Keynote speaker for the Academy). I have heard him preach numerous times on tape, where he is used in many seminaries as a prime example of the black preaching tradition. He is without question a dynamic and powerful speaker (you can hear that even in the clips and snippets that are being aired on the news networks). And, I disagree with much of his theology. Wright is an unabashed liberal in an extremely liberal Protestant denomination (UCC - the United Church of Christ). When he spoke at the Academy, he spoke about and to the liberal members of the gathering. He preaches a strong social gospel message and is a vocal proponent of Black Liberation Theology. I have embraced neither. However, to say that he is out of step with Christianity or that he is saying things that are so offensive that Barrack Obama should distance himself from him and that his judgment as a Presidential candidate is up for grabs is nonsense. What it does confirm is that Obama is a black liberal. Is that news? What it does confirm is that black preachers and black churches still believe that America is a racially prejudiced society and that the only way blacks will ever attain full citizenship and the equality that has been promised but not delivered by the government or the society is if blacks speak out against injustice. Is that news? Wright has said some very stupid things, charging the government for creating HIV as a plague against blacks, for instance. Of course, the government did inject blacks with VD during WWII at Tuskegee and denied it for years. So, as foolish as it sounds, there is precedent for believing it. Do I believe it? No, I think it's stupid. Do I think Wright is an idiot for making the claim. Hmmm. Not in the light of Tuskegee. Is it news to anyone that a black leader thinks that the white establishment would do horrible things to blacks? Wright has lived through the terrible days of the 50's and 60's where lynchings were common and nobody in the community did anything to stop it. If you grew up in that culture and prejudice, you could believe just about anything from those in power against those oppressed.
If Wright had said these things as a stump speech for Obama the media should be all over it. But as a 15 second sound bite from a sermon preached years ago? Is that "fair and balanced"? The media views these kinds of black ethnocentric preaching statements as being out of touch with reality. The reality is that this kind of sermonic activity is done in black pulpits all over the country in both liberal and conservative pulpits. Are they all this extreme? Probably not. Are those sermons filled with similar sentiments? Absolutely. Why? Because the white church pulpits are silent about these issues most of the time. We have left black churches to educate white churches and left them to get themselves out of a social mess that whites created. That's sad. And the weakness of the church today is in no small sense related to the ongoing issue of eleven o'clock still being the most segregated hour in American society. That was sad in the 50's and it is sadder today in the 21st Century.
So, in order to be "fair and balanced" here is what Fox linked their front page story on Wright to today. It is the statement of Trinity Church defending their retiring pastor. It is something you should read.

Chicago, Ill. (March 15, 2008) - “Dr. Wright has preached 207,792 minutes on Sunday for the past 36 years at Trinity United Church of Christ. This does not include weekday worship services, revivals and preaching engagements across America and around the globe, to ecumenical and interfaith communities. It is an indictment on Dr. Wright’s ministerial legacy to present his global ministry within a 15- or 30-second sound bite,” said the Reverend Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.
During the 36-year pastorate of Dr. Wright, Trinity United Church of Christ has grown from 87 to 8,000 members. It is the largest congregation in the United Church of Christ (UCC) denomination.
“It saddens me to see news stories reporting such a caricature of a congregation that has been such a blessing to the UCC’s Wider Church mission,” said the Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC general minister and president, in a released statement. “ … It’s time for us to say ‘No’ to these attacks and declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends.”
Trinity United Church of Christ’s ministry is inclusive and global. The following ministries have been developed under Dr. Wright’s ministerial tutelage for social justice: assisted living facilities for senior citizens, day care for children, pastoral care and counseling, health care, ministries for persons living with HIV/AIDS, hospice training, prison ministry, scholarships for thousands of students to attend historically black colleges, youth ministries, tutorial and computer programs, a church library, domestic violence programs and scholarships and fellowships for women and men attending seminary.
Moss added, “The African American Church was born out of the crucible of slavery and the legacy of prophetic African American preachers since slavery has been and continues to heal broken marginalized victims of social and economic injustices. This is an attack on the legacy of the African American Church which led and continues to lead the fight for human rights in America and around the world.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached the Christian tenet, “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Before Dr. King was murdered on April 4, 1968, he preached, “The 11 o’clock hour is the most segregated hour in America.” Forty years later, the African American Church community continues to face bomb threats, death threats, and their ministers’ characters are assassinated because they teach and preach prophetic social concerns for social justice. Sunday is still the most segregated hour in America."

Narrative Sermon Elements

There are a few basic elements that I teach about narrative preaching. I tell my students that I approach narrative from a storyteller's perspective. Whatever training I have in narrative is really training in storytelling. So, with that as a minimal background, here are some basic steps:

1. STORY - Story occurs when you take basic facts and put it into a communicative form. In the case of narrative preaching, what you are looking for is series of basic facts that come from a text of scripture. The easiest texts are those passages that are already narratives. The bible is full of stories from Adam and Eve in the Garden to the saints before the throne in Revelation. After choosing a story text, you have to put the biblical narrative into some kind of communicative form. For instance, if you tell the story from the point of view of one of the characters, you are choosing a particular form (first person narrative) to share the story. There are many other forms (I listened to one preacher read a letter from Mary to her cousin Elizabeth) and they are only limited by what you feel will fit the communication of the story.
2. STORYING - When telling a story about a past event (as biblical texts are) your goal is storying. Storying is enabling the listeners to suspend present reality and move into a different historical reality. In other words, you have to be able to tell the story in such a way that the listener finds herself transported back in time to the biblical event. Normally, this is a tall task for a novice storytelling. You have to research and find a good story; you have to gather facts and determine the plot twists; you have to learn how to keep things in tension and then resolve the story. Fortunately, the dynamic of the biblical event gives you all these details in such a way to weave a powerful story. If you can communication form that enables you to story, you can find a way to move to storying.
3. STORYTELLING - The crucial step is when the storyteller learns the key to storytelling. Telling an effective story means that you have to actually enter the story. You can't tell effective stories from the outside of an event. For instance, the telling of the birth of your first child or the day of your wedding is a far more powerful story than retelling a recent news article you read in the paper. When you tell a story you have to get inside the event. It's like what an actor does when he goes on stage. You can't say your lines as though you are reading them from the wings. You have to go on stage and immerse yourself in the character in order to perform the story. By doing so, the audience gets "caught up" in the event and experiences the story as a type of "first-hand" event.
   

This is just a brief glimpse into the whole world of narrative. More to come.

Ideas Are Fun - Ask Any Preacher

When I mention to people that the average term paper I write for each seminar is between 30-50 pages, they roll their eyes and go, "Better you than me." I smile and feel sad for them. I love writing these term papers. Let me tell you why.
As a preacher you live for "the idea". All the work you do in a preparing to preach on a biblical text is ultimately to find what Haddon Robinson calls, "The Big Idea." You read, search, think, pray, and write to find a single concept around which your understanding of the text can hold together. Saturday night can be a very scary time if you still haven't found that one idea. But the opposite is true. When you find that idea, the rest of task of preparing a sermon is a wonderful experience of seeing all your hard work fall together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. After 30 years of looking every week for that one big idea, you learn how to appreciate the fact that new insights, larger understandings, ideas in whatever form they arrive are things to celebrate. Ideas are fun.
As a student working on term papers, the same thing applies. You are looking for that one big idea around which to write your paper. The only difference between a sermon and a research paper is how deep you go to get into and then through the idea. Term papers are ideas looked at in greater depth. A dissertation (usually between 200-400 pages) is merely taking a big idea and doing as much in depth thinking and understanding of it that a year's work of time and effort can produce. All I know now is that 30-50 pages rarely gives you enough time to fully research and think through an idea. As a matter of fact where I am know in the process the term papers I will be writing from this point on are one part of one idea. The last four seminars I will take for my program will allow me to do directed readings that will result in a term paper and that paper is one chapter in the dissertation. So, if the dissertation is one big idea, these term papers are designed to be one part of that big idea.
To me, the discovery of big ideas is about as fun as it gets. Putting that understanding down on paper is providing the same kind of satisfaction that you get from preaching, but the work stays with you for a much longer time.

One Last Word on the Passing of Horace Sheppard, Sr.

There have been several people who have found this blog and commented on the passing of Bro. Sheppard. I received an email today that had a way to respond to Sis. Shepphard and send her a message. The following is what I wrote. I don't think she will mind me sharing it:

Dear Sister Sheppard and Family,

I am one of those thousands upon thousands who came to know the Lord through the ministry and preaching of Bro. Sheppard. He preached a Youth Convention at Boyertown in 1971 and challenged the group by asking to shake the hand of the first young person that would come to the altar to accept Christ. It was my hand he shook and my life that was changed. After college at Penn State and then at Anderson, and after several years as an associate pastor in North Carolina, I came back to pastor the Boyertown congregation. Not yet ordained, I finished the process while at Boyertown and the District ordained me during Family Camp. Horace prayed the ordination prayer over me. After receiving my Certificate of Ordination I noticed that it had been signed twice by Don Murphy (he held two positions that asked for his signature) I approached Shep to request that he sign the certificate. He did. The other signatures have faded over time but Horace's remains bolder and brighter, just as he stands in my mind.
I am 6'4" tall, white and upwards of 250 lbs. Horace used to put his arm around my waist and introduce me as one of his sons. With all due respect to Horace, Jr., Paul, and Kenneth I could not have been more proud to be introduced as his son, at least as his son in the Lord. My wife and I are currently living in Pasadena, Ca. where I am attending Fuller Theological Seminary and working toward my Ph.D in preaching. My three mentors have been Dr. Massey, Dr. Hines, and Horace. I promise to pass on to the next generation what I can of those things that I learned sitting under Shep. Please know that he will continue to live on not just in the memories of all of us who loved him and were touched by him but he will live on in the lives of the next generation of preachers that I will be able to influence in the classroom.
Tomorrow, the Church of the Foothills where I am the interim pastor will be remembering you all in prayer. I only wish I could have been there for the funeral as a witness to the incredible influence he had on me and my ministry. God Bless you all.

Jeffrey W. Frymire
Pasadena, Ca. 91104