Good News Pretty Please!

I sometimes wear a tee-shirt that reads, "PREACH THE DAMN GOSPEL." This is a shirt commissioned by the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadephia's bookstore. It is a phrase that was coined by Professor Timothy Wengert. Attached to the tee-shirt is a tag that explains the saying. Wengert says, " That there are structures in the public ministry is a necessity, but what those structures are is a secondary issue and must remain that. Otherwise something other than the Word itself becomes central for ministerial authority, which then loses its authority completely. To hear . . . [others] arguing over the structures of church authority is like hearing carpenters arguing over which hammer to use to drive in a nail. To all . . . Lutherans must learn to say:'Cut the crap, and drive in the nail! Preach the damn Gospel!'"

I am telling you about this because I have a serious pet peeve. I bet you can guess. Yes, it is when the gospel isn't preached. You see as a pastor I don't get an opportunity often to visit other congregations or to hear anyone else preach. Every now and then I get to hear my intern. When I do get to hear someone else preach, I am excited and I am anxious to hear the good news of Jesus the Christ. For the most part this is generally what happens. But when it doesn't, I am sorely disappointed. Now,I do realize that I have a particularly nuanced understanding of preaching. As a Lutheran I believe every preaching moment should consist of a little law---that is an explanation of what is wrong with us and the world or what God wants from us---and a lot of gospel, the good news of what God has done, is doing or will do for us through Jesus the Christ. A sermon should never simply be about what we should, ought, or need to do.

Now, I am not opposed to a little instruction, it is good to challenge folks to live in response to God's goodness--God's Grace--but I don't want to hear a preacher use the pulpit, and the Word of God to berate their congregation or call people on the carpet for something they have done or have not done. As far as I am concerned that's what private counseling or confession is for. But to sit for forty minutes and hear a pastor's rambling and proof texting about his issues in a congregation is more than annoying. It is a downright shame. What is it about us preachers, that when we get a captive audience--a congregation in front of us--that we go a little crazy?

Now, I will confess that I am tempted to go a little crazy myself on occasion especially when I am preaching about poverty, hunger or injustice. Yet, I know I must hold back from telling people that they must do better. My charge, my call is to let the people of God know that God's love, and mercy, that God's forgiveness enables, allows and pushes them to do better. It is indeed, the good news of what God has done for us in and through Jesus that is the focus, the center, the object and the subject of all of our preaching.

Isn't good news what you want to hear?