A Primer For Prophetic Preaching
Bill Ireland, Pinnacle Associate
While the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic collapse required pastoral preaching, the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers and the ensuing protests and violence demand a prophetic word from the pulpit. Doing so is not easy; for most of us our default setting is to preach messages full of hope and encouragement. Taking a prophetic stance moves us out of our comfort zone. With that in mind, I offer the following as a primer on prophetic preaching.
Be angry, but don’t sin. I hope the developments of the last week have made you angry. I hope you have sensed that this is not what God has in mind for humankind. If you’re angry about the fact that things are not all right, good. Nevertheless, when it comes to preaching, let’s take care that the sermon conveys our anger at the way things are and not at the congregation itself. Here’s where our self-awareness is vital. We have to be on guard lest our anger over societal ills serves as camouflage for our displeasure over unresolved issues between our church and us. Our task is to arouse our people to see that things are not as God intended and inspire them to do something about it, not use an issue as an excuse to vent our frustration and hammer our people.
Lower the shields with indirection. When in the full flush of righteous indignation, we may be tempted to tackle an issue head-on. Call it out. Name it. Thunder away. Certainly, there are occasions when this direct approach is warranted, but in the case of crises such as the one we’re now facing, our congregations have already had an overload of see-it-now reporting via the media. Their defenses are up, and an overly direct sermon may not get past the first pew. In this regard, let’s take our cues from Jesus. He was a master teacher, and to get his message across, he frequently told stories to make his point instead of hammering away with iron imperatives. By telling stories, our hearers relax a bit and are more willing to give us a hearing. Stories possess enormous power to disarm our hearers so they can get a fresh understanding of what God desires.
What are you after? If we are certain that most of our congregation will agree with our assessment of a situation, is our sermon really prophetic? What does a sermon in this context truly accomplish? It’s tempting in these circumstances to feed people’s “confirmation bias” by presenting something most will agree with, something that will generate some “amens” from the faithful. Who among us wouldn’t want to hear our folks telling us we preached a great sermon? Applause is seductive. Before we step into the pulpit, we have to ask ourselves a hard question: “Who’s needs are being met?” If my congregation shares my viewpoint, then I have to find another way to challenge them so they may continue to grow as followers of Jesus.
Choose words carefully. Preaching on difficult issues requires an added measure of thoughtful preparation. We must weigh the words we use so that we foster understanding and reflection rather than confusion and overreaction. In that light, I think such circumstances demand that we spend a lot of time at the writing desk. Writing and re-writing are essential for clarity. If we can’t sum our message in a sentence or two, then we haven’t got it. As well, if an issue is particularly contentious, preaching from a manuscript may help rather than hinder. We can’t control what people hear; we can control what we say and how we say it. Our aim is to offer the right words at the right time and in the right manner.
Give the congregation a chance to respond. Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that once we preach the sermon our job is done. Far from it! Sermons, particularly prophetic sermons, are the beginning of a conversation and not the end. Whatever we say from the pulpit is definitely not the last word. Follow-up is essential. So, here’s an idea. Set aside time for the congregation to talk balk and talk through what you said. I admit this is a risky; such conversations can easily degenerate into a “here’s what’s wrong with our church” or a “here’s what’s wrong with you” free for all. Still, unlike TV shows, the most difficult challenges we face are not resolved in the space of an hour or a half-hour. Let’s be careful in assuming that a single sermon can carry the full load. Follow-up conversations give us a chance to hear what our people heard and to reinforce the sermon we intended to preach!