This has got me thinking about WHY preachers go on and on. I have thought of a number of reasons:
- Quietly, we think we hear from God more than others do and need to communicate His Word to the masses. I think it is delusional on the part of we preachers to believe this!
- Some preachers are VERY, VERY good communicators and CAN go on and go on. They are engaging and entertaining so their listeners even enable them to blab;
- Preachers some times ask the question, "What do I have to say" rather than "What do these people need to listen to and wrestle with." This can also causing blabbing on;
- Unchecked EGO on the part of preachers. I suffer from this, so do many others. If you are a preacher and you are saying to yourself right now, "I do NOT have an unchecked ego," you have just proven my point;
- Our congregations feed unchecked ego. People become fans of a pastor/preacher and the church becomes identified with the preacher. "I go to Mark's church," "I go to Jim's church." This messes with a pastor's soul.
- Protestants have sometimes made an idol out of the preaching task. The sermon is the most important element in a worship service. That's definitely the case when you have a good communicator. I cannot find this "model" of worship as the norm in the Bible.
I do not mean disrespect for the role of preaching in a church. It is important; Paul's letter to Timothy tells us that elders who teach and preach deserve even more honor. And yet I am concerned that we have distorted the role of the preacher and are in danger of making the message and messenger into an idol (something good that we twisted into something ultimate).
Here is 7: Bringing the same point across 15 times because:
ReplyDeletea) you feel you failed the first 14 times and need another shot at it,
b) it is a very important point and the congregation just don't seem to be getting it.
... and another: The service has to be an hour and half. That's what we do. I have to speak to fill that time. It also works the other way, which I've also experienced: I only have 10 minutes to speak, so I can't unpack this more, or go deeper.
ReplyDeleteAnton and Phil - I feel strangely self-conscious since you were both part of Xrds when I was pastoring ... and blabbing on and on!!! Well I agree with both of your points and hope I don't do these things.
ReplyDeleteIn our church, the sermons are 12 minutes long, and loaded with more than enough substance to digest for a week
ReplyDeleteBrian... knowing what you (often) go through to prepare a sermon, I have confidence you don't blab! Coming from a church family, I've heard a more than a few sermons where my only thought was, 'What was that all about?!?'
ReplyDeleteKeep confidence in yourself. Your own self-awareness has prompted you to ask this question, and will keep you from erring. Its only when we know we're not good enough that we actually are.
I always valued your openness and honesty, your willingness to share your struggles, rather than provide pat theological answers. That's not blabbing. Its making the Gospel relevant to the real, messy, hard world we live in, and it opened up Jesus to me in new and surprising ways.
Blessings, my friend.