The Kingdom of God has come near. . .

Eve after nearly 50 years in the pulpit, I admit that I am no expert on preaching but I do have some experience doing it and listening to it.  On the whole, most preachers make a good effort.  On the average, preaching is not all that compelling to listen to or to read.  It is to my great sadness that I say this.  To those who would charge me with arrogance in this judgment, I do not mean to suggest that my own preaching is absent of the same problems as others.  But it does seem as if we have on the whole forgotten what it means to preach.

I would echo S. M. Hutchens in the current Touchstone:  "I must add now, near the end of my life, after listening for decades to bad preaching from numerous pulpits, that Evangelicals have no corner on this market. Each denomination seems infected by its native strain of bad preaching —the Anglicans by preciousness, the Lutherans by formula, the Catholics by laziness and biblical illiteracy, the Baptists by great volume to no great end."  While not mean to categorize all, it does represent the tendencies among the denominations which contribute to the decline of the craft and the failure of its outcome.

If the folks in the pew dismiss what they hear or change preachers like they change channels or peruse the reels and memes of the internet, it could be that preachers no longer seem to be authoritative in their preaching, carrying this weight and fulfilling its duty as they should.  Nobody goes to church to hear some opinion from the guy in the pulpit.  They go as I do now to hear the kingdom of God proclaimed.  What seems common especially among us today is the proclamation that the kingdom of God has come near.  Instead, it is as if that kingdom were something we obtained by achievement, merit, or following a map.  The preachers today often seem to begin with what they do not know instead of what they do, what is the core of their conviction and what bears the authority of the One who is the Word made flesh.

We Lutherans love to debate Law and Gospel in preaching as if our job were merely to rightly distinguish them and then make sure that we spend more words on the Gospel than the Law.  Somewhere in this the text goes missing from the sermon.  Somewhere in this we presume that the Word of God is a tool to be used well but not, as it were, the efficacious voice of the Good Shepherd speaking to His flock so they might hear His voice, recognize it, and follow.  Following is often the thing missing in sermons.  Indeed, where are we to go and whom are we to follow?  There often seems to be great faithfulness in speaking at least one well-worn version of the atonement but not so much any application or compelling direction for us to take home and apply Monday through Saturday.

Of other denominations I cannot speak.  I have only marginal association with what passes for preaching in nearly every denomination but of the online sermons of the notable folk I have a bit more acquaintance.  That said, it saddens me that Charles Stanley still preaches on after death for this seems to admit that good preachers are not common today.  It positively sickens me to call what Joel Osteen says a sermon and that also includes many who, like him, seem at home in anything but Scripture.  So I can only assume that some of what I find disappointing in my own tradition also applies there.  But you discern it and understand that mileage may vary.

I only wish that sermons proclaimed the nearness of the kingdom of God, the presence of the Savior who died and rose again, and the power of Him who chooses mercy over all things.  Nearly every text of the Gospel reading for any given Sunday is abundant in opportunities to proclaim this present God whose kingdom is near to us in Word and Sacrament, and whose call for us to follow is compelling.  If there is another complaint, maybe it is that there seems to be less joy for now and less hope for tomorrow in what is proclaimed.  That is disappointing because joy ought to accompany faith and hope is the mark of faith living in us.  I cannot guarantee that folks who hear me preach will go home feeling better but I have striven to make sure that they encounter the God of joy and hope -- a joy and hope so profound it compels us to live new, upright, and godly lives even though they cannot and will not purchase salvation.  At least that is my desire.  

If you cannot say it with many points, then you ought to at least say it with one or two strong points that will bear home the text appointment within that context of God's abiding presence, the triumph of His mercy, the character of joy, and the mark of hope.  If I can say one thing more, let it be that the preacher's delivery actually display his own confidence in his conviction.  It is a sad thing to hear a good sermon spoken in a voice that appears to be indifferent to what is proclaimed.  Lastly, I will say this.  Before you begin writing a sermon, any sermon, you had better be well acquainted with good preachers and read their sermons.  Speaking sermons helps to make you better but it is secondary to reading and hearing good sermons from the voices and pens of others.  

There are many sins in the pulpit but I should not end this little rant without saying that the sin of being dull is a particularly vexing one.  It might be that most sermons do not excite the hearer enough for them to contemplate any action against the preacher but to admit that this is the case is also sad.  When one can read a passage from literature or a story from the news with more urgency than the Word of God and its preached application, we are all in trouble.  I realize I have rambled but that is how my meandering thoughts worked today.