All Talk

It was the opinion of one commentator a few years back that I revealed too much of myself in my preaching. This is an issue worth looking at, since I hope not so much to wear my heart on my sleeve as to reflect my encounters with the living God. The former could disenfranchise a congregation, or give gossips ammunition: the latter, which is to say my own encounters with God, ought according to David Day (A Preaching Workbook) give hope to others through the authenticity it adds to my hermeneutics.

It has long been my view that my clergy colleagues are denied through their workload the chance to join with rather than lead their congregations. One hopes that they are more rigorous in their daily devotions than many of us, but in the end congregational worship is a boon to one’s own spiritual nurture. Here it is that the surprising nature of the Gospel, and the call to confession, contrition, and contribution, can be experienced to the full.

A less obvious reason for me until now has been that the pew is simply a great position to learn from as a preacher. To physically inhabit the same space as a congregation, to suffer the same numb backside or cold draft that they do, but also to hear Scripture dissected differently and to experience someone else’s gift of rhetoric, is all very useful.

This weekend I went to church as a worship leader from the perspective of someone wanting to know more about the congregation by worshipping with them. It turned out that I learned more of myself and my preaching style because of the privilege of hearing an ordained colleague.

Which is to say, on some level her sermon worked on me and I heard God moving me to action. She preached on Candlemas being a turning point in the church year, and it became for me a turning point in my leading of worship.

I still don’t know, I haven’t concluded either way, whether I reveal too much of myself in my preaching, yet I do feel God’s presence with me as he equips me to prepare and to deliver them. My hope is that the warm words of support I get from my listeners is because God speaks to them too, for in that lies the possibility of the Kingdom here on Earth.