Relevance in Preaching (Part 1)

Kary Oberbrunner said, “Being a relevant Christian is about four words: Love God. Love people”. Spiritual formation through preaching must address relevant issues of people’s real lives. David Buttrick said of preachers, “We must engage in a kind of rediscovery of actual lived experience so that homiletic images are in touch with how God may impinge upon inter-human awareness.” Relevant does not mean relative. The message of Christian preaching is not relative to the whims of contemporary culture. And, preachers do not make it relevant. It is intrinsically relevant to this or any culture whether individuals recognize it or not. Relevant, means “prophetic” in the sense that God’s Word must be addressed to the relevant issues of this contemporary age and in the relevant language, culture, and history of this age. One must prophetically relate God’s revealed truth to one’s contemporary existential reality.

Recently, a friend complained that on the Sunday following the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States, his pastor preached a sermon without once mentioning those events. It was probably the thing that most occupied people’s minds that morning, yet his sermon did not relate to it at all. To be relevant is to be aware of and involved with what our community is aware of and involved with. Like the men of Issachar, all preachers need to be men who “understood the times and knew what (God’s community) should do” (1 Chr. 12:32 NIV).

This is not about merely using scenes from “The Simpsons” to demonstrate that  one is “hip” to today’s trends. One may use “The Simpsons,” current events, or other items from popular culture to relate the eternal WORD to this present cultural experience. The distinction is that one will use anything from popular imagination to help one understand the logos of the Scriptures. One does not start with the message of “The Simpsons” and look for a Bible verse to illustrate one’s point. One begins with the Word of God and looks for any way to relate its message to the real lives of one’s congregation.

            

Christian preachers must know the language, culture, and history of their communities to help people listen to the Word of God in their context. Christian leaders live in two worlds: God’s revealed reality and their own existential realities. It is the former that must define the Church and be the measure of the latter. This has always been the case for the biblical community. Eugene Peterson writes, “God does not put us in charge of forming our personal spiritualities; we grow in accordance with the revealed Word planted in us by the Spirit.”

Humility in Preaching (Part 2)

The Scriptures, which the Church preaches, are themselves full of the humus of life. The encounters between God and humanity are often humorous stories, simply because, like a good joke, they are full of juxtaposition and shock. To truly understand the message of Jesus’ parables, one must encounter the funny shock of the story: a camel going through the eye of a needle, a man building his house on sand, a rich man running to meet his wayward son. Jesus, what a joke! But then the punch line, and wham! The story of God’s grace, understood for the ridiculous shock that it is.

There will always be a surprise because one is always dealing with a strange being (the God of the Universe) encountering strangers (real, humorous people). The divine comedy is about a stranger who is completely other (Holy), courting his unholy creatures. It is the juxtaposition and shock of the unexpected that catches one off guard. It grabs one’s attention and has one reacting with laughter and awe. Shocked into laughter and then silenced into awe, one recognizes one’s true self and the true God himself. This humble realization is a true appropriation of revelation. God initiates with his revelation, and his creatures respond with realization or ignorance.

            

The postmodern revolution can teach the Church to communicate the humility of the proper approach to listening to God’s Word, as well as the humble content of that Word. The authentic postmodern, Christian preacher will utilize the pathos of humble, humus, human, humor in her proclamation of the Scriptures.