As I posted yesterday’s reflections online, the heavens opened up. No, it wasn’t a revelation from God or an announcement of divine approval of my writing. It was a Minnesota thunderstorm. It rolled through between one and two a.m. this morning and drenched the city in a short period of time. But, at least the storm had the good sense to come when most were sleeping and save the 1,600 preachers wandering the streets of Minneapolis from a soaking. Who says that many proclaimers of the Word don’t have a little divine favor? Or maybe it’s good luck. Either way, most of those I asked during the day if they heard the storm said no. They, at least, were sleeping. And so as not to be up too late again, let me get to a reflection of Day Three of the Festival of Homiletics.
We began again with worship. I decided to head to the second venue, Westminster Presbyterian Church, for early worship with the Right Rev. Rob Wright, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta. Bishop Wright asked us to engage in “Reimagining Leadership” and took as his text the story of James and John and their mom asking for special places of honor at Jesus side in the Kingdom. Jesus took that occasion to talk to us about what it means to lead in the Christian Context. “It shall not be so with you,” He said. The “lording over” or the “tyrant” leadership. No, ours is about service, about giving life away. A different approach. One of sacrifice. But can we cast a vision, through preaching, that counters a world of lording? That’s the question.
One minor quibble with the good bishop’s message. As he concluded and was moving into praise, he quoted from an “old Anglican who wrote “O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemers praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumph of His grace.” Except that old Anglican was Charles Wesley, part of the founding duo of the Methodist movement. Old Anglican indeed. Technically correct, but oh so wrong!
After our break we reconvened in the sanctuary for a sermon and then a lecture by the Rev. Brian McLaren. McLaren has been a provocateur for years, challenging the way we do church, the way we do faith communities, asking us is it time to rethink everything about who and what we are. It is my personal belief that the past few years and now months in our denomination at least are proving him to be not merely a provocateur, but a prophet.
His sermon was titled “Scaring the Hell Out of Rich People.” And he walked us through five parables that we’ve usually taken individually, but argued that they are a case that Jesus was building to help people, his audience at the time - pharisees, rich people - to understand a fundamental truth about life, namely that you can’t serve God and wealth at the same time. We’ve convinced ourselves that you can, and we’re destroying ourselves because of it.
So, how do we begin to think differently. From sermon we turned to lecture and McLaren suggested that in order to begin to think differently we need a shock, a new reality. As a teacher of preaching I know about the inductive and deductive methods of constructing sermons, or of teaching. McLaren suggests there is a third, which he called the Abductive. We need to see the world differently. And in order to do that we have to be taken out of the world as it is, so that when we return everything looks different. For example, he argued, we receive a cancer diagnosis, we are abducted into a new reality and suddenly what seemed so important before no longer does so. Everything has changed. We preach to abduct the hearer into a new way of seeing the world. Which is exactly what Jesus was doing. He wanted us to see truth so that we could live truth rather than persisting in the lie.
But we are slow learners. Because there is too wide a gulf between truth and the lie. Dr. Frank Thomas, Professor of Homiletics at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis was our next preacher. He preached on the “Great Chasm” in Jesus parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Thomas challenged us to bridge the gaps that exist in our society, seemingly insurmountable. But that Jesus parable was less about the afterlife and more about this life and how we cross the chasms between rich and poor, left and right, urban and rural, and on and on and on.
Then back at Central Lutheran, Dr. David Lose, former professor, now pastor of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, asks “Why Preach?” In a world of so many words, spoken and written and tweeted and posted, we are drowning in words, why add to it with sermons that fewer and fewer want to hear anyway? He admitted he wasn’t about to suggest we stop, but wanted to ground his encouragement in scripture. Taking a look at Luke’s Gospel, Lose suggests that like Luke our message is ultimately to Theophilus. Luke is the only Gospel that begins with a subscription. He writes to “Most Excellent Theophilus.” There are many guesses as to the identity of this person. Including the suspicion that it might not be a single person at all. Theophilus translates as Lover of God. So, this might be, Lose suggests, Luke’s church. The people he knows who love God. On the other hand, Theophilus could also be translated as the Beloved of God. In which case Luke and we are announcing to the world that they are loved. A message worthy of continued proclamation.
After our dinner break we gathered back at Central Lutheran for a Jazz/Gospel worship, where Sarah Renner and her gathered musicians sang Marvin Gaye and Andre Crouch and Aretha Franklin and gave us a taste of the heavenly choir. And Rev. William H. Lamar, Senior Pastor of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington DC welcomed us to Central Lutheran Holiness Church and encouraged us to let Jesus ride on and then join the parade. It was an invitation hard to resist.
One more day and a half to go. And by the way, more rain is predicted. But not until the preachers leave town. Another blessing of the Spirit? Or simply coincidence? You decide. Ride on King Jesus!
Shalom,
Derek C. Weber
#Homiletics2019
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