Well, its finally over... the Thanksgiving holidays. For whatever reason, the week leading up to and including the weekend of Thanksgiving is so frantic for me. And, the crazy thing is that I seldom ever go back home for it so its not like I have an excuse that I am spending time with my family.
Fortunately this year I chose not to participate in the madness of a Friday afternoon shopping spree (or, here in NYC, that madness begins at 6am). I don't think I could've taken the bajillion people within BestBuy or the loons at Macy's (that place is truly insane on the Friday after Thanksgiving).
Tonight's church service went very well. We kicked off a week-long art show showcasing South African artist Shui, who is one heck of an amazing artist. All the proceeds of the art sale are going to benefit the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, so that's really special to us.
And, the sermon was well received even if there were parts in it that I am still mulling over. I find it wild when I preach and the sermon speaks to me even as I preach it. This particular one focused on using hope as a motivator for obedience rather than the fear of being "left behind," when Jesus comes "like a thief in the night." I don't like using fear to draw folks into a relationship of faith with God--and the sermon gave me an opportunity to talk more about that. You can read it, if you're interested, by going to my church's website, and clicking the Sermons link. The title of the sermon is, "Must We Be Afraid?".
Tomorrow I am going to lay around the apartment, write more in my blog (most likely), and begin my Christmas shopping. See you tomorrow.
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Thanksgiving Weekend
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4 comments:
Man, I like that line that your message was well received. I was wondering...are you ever conflicted about that?
I am. Last night one of our ladies (whose husband was a long-time pastor) told me that my evening message was one of the best she's ever heard. They had to open wide the double doors to fit my noggin through.
And I've gotten quite a few complements especially the past two weeks. And I love hearing it. It makes me feel like I've done my job well.
At the same time the back of my mind is telling me that if I'm really doing my job well, or at least if I'm speaking as Jesus did, there will be some who leave pissed and ready to hang me. And therein lies my conflict. Am I "tickling" ears? Am I not speaking boldly enough? Am I prettying it all up? (I know, I know, that's probably not a word).
Maybe I'm just one of those preachers who can find something to criticize himself for on Monday mornings.
You make a good point, one that sometimes comes playing back in my ear from my days as a Southern Baptist. For a long time I felt that it was my responsibility as a pastor to "shake things up" as you say and people weren't supposed to "like what I said" if I was really preaching the word.
Lately though, I've come to the place where I think that it really isn't my job to shake things up as much as it is the Holy Spirit's job. If I preached like it was my responsibility to convict people of their sins, then yeah, I am probably not doing my job well enough. However, I like to think that convicting others of their sins is the Holy Spirit's job and mine is to present the Word as clear as possible.. and to make people think hard about what I am saying. Maybe I am being affected by liberal-ness of my congregation; but I like to think that I am simply doing my part in the sermonic process.
Lately I've completely changed the way I prepare my sermons- I am giving myself more form options as well as interesting ways that make sermon preparation more concise (for me). In doing so, I've created a new manuel for sermon preparation. The comments I've been getting pretty much reflect the new organization of my sermons- and the variety that is preached. I am happy my new system seems to be working with the church folk, that they enjoy being prodded, and that my sermons are more clear. We both know that I am not always as clear as I intend to (or should) be. ;)
Well...I'm not primarily thinking about convicting them of their sins. I certainly agree that is the work of the Holy Spirit. But when I look at the results of Jesus' preaching, surely there were those comments, "Lord, where would we go. You alone have the words of life."
But it was his preaching that ended up getting him hung up on that cross. Same for the apostles, for Paul, for Luther. I just can't imagine Luther seeing those indulgences being sold and thinking, "I'll preach another sermon they'll all like."
The way the world operates and the way God's kingdom operates are radically different, and I know that even many in our churches are still steeped in life according to the rules of the world (consumerism, success is either lots of money/possessions or status or both, hate your enemy, two eyes and a nose for an eye, etc.). When those notions are challenged it will certainly be uncomfortable.
My dilemma is this: for those who come in thinking that it's okay to hate my enemy and to curse those who curse me do they leave still thinking those things are okay because I didn't say anything that challenges all of that?
It is tough to preach against ideas and sins that people commit who think they're not doing anything wrong. Heck, its tough for me to challenge myself and ask, "How am I contributing to the overall mess?"
The folks where I serve are generally good Christians- heck, they have so much to teach me when it comes to right relations and how to get involved to help end the suffering of the disenfranchised that I'd bet they should do more preaching. (Which, by the way they are, I've started a lay preachment series whereby one lay person from the congregation preaches once a month.)
Still.. there are things that need to get said and I say them; pretty much around issues of discipleship and developing a spiritual discipline for personal growth. We liberals are great with social justice but lack in the arena of personal spiritual care. I can't say I've ever beat anyone over the head though and while sometimes I've said things that have ruffled feathers, they weren't ruffled so much that I felt persecuted.
Say, I have an idea. How about we swap pulpits for a month? Given how our congregations come at faith from different angles, I'd bet both our congregations would surely stone us (just in one another's parishes!). ;)
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