Listening is the new preaching. . .

We all know that preaching is not as popular as it once was.  The voices of those who have predicted the demise of preaching are many and they are working to make sure their prophecy comes true.  For many, preaching is being replaced by the ear -- listening not to the Word of God but to the mind of the world expressed in the voices of the many.  We hear so many different calls from those outside but also from those inside the Church that we need to preach less and listen more.  If that is the case, preaching is no longer relevant.  It is true.  The vocabulary of proclamation and the dogmatic basis for that proclamation  has shifted and it is being replaced by listening groups in which the people get a say so in what the faith is and how it is lived out. 

Historically, the Church proclaimed because it was given a message to proclaim.  It was not about politics or even exclusively about works of mercy but the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that this redemptive work has accomplished.  It was less about the need of the great unity and equality of all before the merciful act of Christ in suffering and dying for our sins than the vocation of those whom He has redeemed and the eternal future He has prepared for those who love Him.  It was not about the freedom of the individual but about the new obedience that is a reflection of this new life lived not in pursuit of self but Christ.  It was not about the indulgence of self but about sacrifice, taking up the cross and following Christ.  It was not about our opinions but the submission of thought and mind and will to voice of Christ revealed in His Word.  It was not about creating a better world in this moment but about living faithfully the today He has given us so that we may found worthy of eternity.  It was not about pleasure or self-fulfillment or happiness but about life and death.  

The reality is that we seem intent upon listening for something new as if the Spirit will contradict what He has revealed in Christ or betray what the Scriptures have said.  The mood of the present is to focus on the horizontal, on what people are thinking and saying instead of what God has said once for all eternity.  So long as this prevails, preaching will be in trouble and preachers will mount the pulpit embarrassed or uncertain of the very things that are our life together and our mandate to the world.  No one will be converted by a listening Church but the Lord has promised that hearing comes by the Word preached and taught.  That is our future and our only future.