This is going to be one of those Jesus Blog entries for my co-religionists. I don’t do this often, but every now and again I will take a more “so how then shall we live” tone. I know that this will turn some people off. I don’t really care all that much, but rest assured that I’ll be posting on Jesus’ digestive system again very soon.
There is a question that I get from seminary students once and a while that I like very much. It goes like this: “How does somebody who has spent their life studying 'these things' ever sit through a sermon again without cringing?”
I like this question a whole lot for two reasons. One, it means that the seminarian has reached a level of intelligence that has ruined them for any sort of Joel Osteen/Kirk Cameron/Mike Huckabee tomfoolery. Two, I get to offer one of the few answers that I know of that is both pithy and true at the same time. Normally with fortune cookie wisdom, you get what you pay for - but not always. Here is my answer:
Whenever I sit in a sermon, or lecture, or presentation of any kind, I try to allow myself to be challenged by at least one thing.
I have had the privilege of learning from some fine preachers and teachers in my time, so perhaps it is easy for me to say this. I have highly intelligent friends who use the sermon time to read Game of Thrones. We all have our own survival mechanisms and all that I’m saying is that mine works for me. To each their own, but do my best to engage with the sermon on some level.
I say this because it is far too easy for critical minds to deconstruct. I often feel this way in films. I find myself critiquing the placement of a scene toward the development of the plot, or the delivery of a line, or the motivations of the character, etc. ("The Hobbit" almost broke me.) And if I’m doing this, I wonder how trained film critics ever “lose themselves” in a story. Well biblical scholars and theologians have a similar problem at church (and I imagine at synagogue, temple and mosque too, but I wouldn’t know).
By focusing on finding one acorn of nourishment, I am able let most of the other stuff drift past. Now, on occasion, I find myself blindsided by some bit of premillennialism, American exceptionalism, or anti-Semitism that I cannot let go. If so I become Dr. Grumpy in car-ride home as my wife can attest. But I try.
Another bit of advice that I’ve appreciated comes from a friend of mine. He says that “Church really isn’t about feeding you; it really isn’t about you at all.” I take this to mean that Church is about worshipping and worship is an act of forgetting oneself long enough to focus upon something beyond you. This, of course, is easier for some than others.
This may or may not be helpful as you find yourself deconstructing traveling stars and Moses typology this advent.
Any thoughts on this? What is the best advice you’ve heard on this topic?
-anthony
Early in my theological education, I asked this question to a trusted professor. He said simply, "You are now forever behind the pulpit." His point was that, once you start pursuing advanced theological studies, you cannot return to something akin to Ricoeur's first naivete, listening to sermons as you did prior to your studies. That helped me to stop expecting sermons to be aimed at me and focus on other aspects of ecclesial life. All in all, that was a good thing.
ReplyDeleteHi Anthony,
ReplyDeleteI believe the modern church claims that the Bible is inerrant. we know the fiasco with Galileo so that says a lot about the church's fallibility. most people are not interested in the details of the Bible. And you should not worry too much about them. it's the overall picture which is important and whatever path gets you there all the better.
I think this is a great post as a pastor, someone who has some formal theological education and continues to study.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I think it is important to be a part of a community that makes sense for you. One where you do not cringe during the sermon. If you are you may not be in the right place. This is harder in some traditions than others. Especially in mine.
Second, I think you raise a perfect point when you talk about picking one thing. The point of the sermon, at least in my view, is not to overly educate the people in put them in the classroom, rather it is about taking the information to transform the Biblical text for them, invite them to participate in the narrative of the scriptures and challenge them to act on it. So if the educated can realize this more functional aspect of the homily, quite possibly than can come to appreciate it. I know it has helped me.
and sometimes that acorn will germinate and produce at some later point, and we'll not even remember when acorn.
ReplyDeletethanks for the positive words as a humble reminder we are not the center of the universe, or even worship.
All the better, perhaps, to find or help found a community where the sermon isn't necessarily the centerpiece of each service. Some churches, of course, will say it isn't -- it's the Lord Supper, Prayer Concerns, etc. -- but twenty-five to thirty minutes of your life listening to the three-point outline of another person suggests otherwise. The sermon seems the most artificial of an already very artificial practice, while also being the least formally ritualistic. Perhaps the latter is what so many find appealing about it, but this certainly wasn't the case for me.
ReplyDeleteAs one of your devoted Jewish followers, I encourage you to write more posts like this.
ReplyDeleteThis post reflects some of my own feelings when I visit a church. That's strange, don't you think? As I don't have your education and I don't share your faith perspective, how could I possibly share your experience? I don't feel like what you've described is something I experience in synagogue (hooray for religious asymmetry!), but your post leads me to reconsider what I DO experience in synagogue. Is what you describe something like a tension between our desire to belong to a religious community and the personal (necessarily individual?) growth we experience as a member of that community? Is this tension a good thing?
I push back against the advice you say you've "appreciated". Church isn't "about you"? Who else could it be about? The idea behind worship may be (as you suggested) to escape the confines of the self and focus on the divine infinite - amen to that! But aren't you and I attending Church and synagogue to experience a PERSONAL connection with the divine infinite? If not, why not spend our Saturday/Sunday mornings at a planetarium?
How odd, and marvelous, that your post got me thinking like this! Things happen in interfaith dialog that don't seem to happen elsewhere. Thanks for writing, and for listening.
Well, I don't suppose that I'll be able to say much about this, but I find that when I'm focused on me... or if I'm "just in my head" that I'm not fully present to the experience.
DeleteAnd I think that there is some analogue between the planetarium and the worship service. While not the same, I have used the example of witnessing a masterpiece at a museum. I don't know about anyone else, but I find that (at least for a moment) I am beyond myself and entirely projected toward something "other".
This, of course, is only one element of religious life, but it is an important one and (methinks) the purpose of the "worship" service. I do not doubt that this is why lots of folks claim to be closer to God in nature.
-anthony
Dear Anton,
ReplyDeleteThe "modern church" is a very broad term and I believe is detrimental to any good conversation. It would the same as saying all Italians are good cooks or all French are snobs and all Black people voted for Obama. I believe the latest Pew survey has 65% of churches are conservative and 35% emergent, progressive or liberal. The spectrum of inerrant to inspired to moral literature to historical text is pretty wide.
Dear Anthony,
You might remember the episode of The West Wing when President and Dr. Bartlet are returning from Sunday and he is complaining to his wife about "hackery" on the part of the preacher and his wife is calling him an "oratorical snob." I find myself in this category quite a bit, as I have been listening to sermons since before I could walk has left me pretty critical, but I like your idea of trying to find on thing to challenge you. I usually try to LEARN one new thing about the history, about the Greek or Hebrew or text itself.
I think finding a church that doesn't leave you pissed off (or feeling pissed ON) at the end of service is imperative. If you find yourself feeling either more than once a month, it may be time to move to a new church.
That said, worship for me comes more through the music than anything else, so while I rarely feel empty because I missed hearing a sermon I do miss the worship music if I'm gone more than one week from church.
I was struck yesterday after a pageant in the morning at one church and a carol service at another by one phrase - 'and all Jerusalem with him'. So I could ignore, wrong notes, out of tune singing, impossible to hear words, and in this context reflect on the current chapter in Isaiah LXX on Facebook - chapter 2, the indictment of Jerusalem, and idolatry as injustice, the failure of the economics, religion, and mortal power (gold, frankincense and myrrh) to submit their power to the child.
ReplyDeleteIt's like golf - one good stroke keeps you coming back.
Hello all,
ReplyDeleteJoe Six pack chiming in with some acorns. Did it ever occur to anyone that "regular" mortals w/o their MDiv. ALSO experience questions of relevance in certain sermons? (not quite cringing.. but still uncomfortable). That said.. it seems a problem of memory. Props to Bobby Nemeth.
"rather it is about taking the information to transform the Biblical text for them, invite them to participate in the narrative of the scriptures and challenge them to act on it."
Isn't that hard enough trying to live with honor as Christians without pouting about a bruised ego?
" thanks for the positive words as a humble reminder we are not the center of the universe, or even worship."
Thank you Myron. Blunt perhaps...but as the resident Joe, I will employ my prerogative in doing so. Peace, and Merry Christmas.
Thanks Joe, it did occur to me that people without an MDiv might relate. This is why I used the moniker "educated" quite broadly. I tend to get this question from seminarians most often... for whatever reason.
DeleteThere is, I think, a difference between recognized a poor or uncomfortable point in a sermon and the consequences of training one's mind to (or not to) deconstruct ideas constantly.
-anthony
Jamie Smith wrote this on facebook:
ReplyDeleteOkay, my basic point on this is that getting something out of a sermon is a discipline in the same way you get joy out of life by choosing to. I think it is a form of mental laziness to fail to get something meaningful, and the irony is that if you're smart enough, you'll find something. So, for those who can't find anything because they think they're above it, then I'd just wonder whether they have the mental acuity to do so.
2 hours ago
As somebody who preaches weekly, my first thought was about humility. When the preacher approaches the text and the task with humility, and the listener approaches the same way, the Spirit works to transform and it can be pleasant. Even if the messenger makes mistakes.
ReplyDeleteAs somebody who preaches weekly and has sat through lectures, papers, classes, and even sermons by scholars, my next thought was wrought with sarcasm and pride: The same way the rest of us sit through your crap. :)
...I feel all warm and fuzzy. thanks Christian.
Delete-anthony
I often feel the same way. A few weeks ago our pastor sat in the pews and called up four regular members to talk about what God has been doing in their lives.
ReplyDeleteOne woman had been through some very heavy shit and, by her account, her trust in God clearly brought her through it.
Another guy had been going through an equally tough time and God spoke to his heart in "El Diablo," a local burrito shop, through a modern painting of a hand reaching to a scar in someones abdomen.
Then another girl spoke about how she'd grown in her knowledge of God and in her own confidence in her identity as a woman through leadership in campus ministry (lots of college kids at our church).
And, honestly, I don't remember the fourth.
But after they all spoke, the pastor got up for a few minutes and said something like this: "You can't hear personal stories from your friends about God's faithfulness in the mountains. That's why the mountains aren't church. Because church is a collection of God's people meeting together, sharing grace for one another in heavy stuff, and encouraging one another in love. The other stuff, like sermons and worship, are important, but they aren't the main meal."
That's why I go to church. That's why when the pastor says something historically inaccurate--which he rarely does, I am fortunate to have a fantastic pastor--I am able to let it pass. Because I'm there to meet God through the other people there. Otherwise, why not just put a really good sermon on my iPod and go for a hike on Sunday morning?
Having swallowed my first response of "learn humility, twerp!", I would have pointed out to the student asking the question that the service was about getting in touch with God, not about admiring the pastor. And then the Lutheran in me would go on to argue that the "getting in touch" is initiated by God, not by you. So, first of all, listen for the Word of God that effectively does what it says. And second, remember that the service is not about the sermon, but rather about Word and Sacrament. If you're at a real church, the Word will be there somewhere, perhaps dressed in humble clothes.
ReplyDeleteIt may well be true that I'm the smartest person in the room. Certainly, with a PhD in hand and decades as a professor, I know a lot more than my pastor. So what? Wisdom isn't taught in schools.
Now, it's perfectly true that sometimes the thing is so bad that one has to go elsewhere. But if so, let it be because the Word isn't coming through rather than because someone is inaccurate, or ungrammatical, or unsophisticated.
"wisdom isn't taught in schools"... I hope that you're wrong about this, at least on some level.
Delete-anthony
Well, it's true that wisdom can be learned in school, but after three decades of teaching it's clear to me that it is not taught there. Certainly not in college or graduate school! In fact, in most institutions of higher education attempting to teach wisdom (or character, or morality, or virtue) is positively looked down upon. We try to teach them some facts, to model certain attitudes, to lead by example, and then we hope for the best.
Deletehey, this is the first time i have posted on here, but been reading for awhile. finally, i have something i feel like i can talk about (ha ha). I am a pastor, and a pastor through and through. there was one short stint in my undergrad where i thought i really wanted to be a bible scholar, then i quickly realized that God didnt make my brain that way. so, as a pastor, a damn good one at that, i certainly value good strong biblical education and teaching. i stay as far away as i can from felt needs sermons, silly catch phrases, and making my teaching fit the latest cool movie scene. however, as i said, i am not a scholar. what i do have is a good list of solid friends who are scholars. and i treasure them deeply in my church community. they keep my sermons smart, and i, on occasion can remind them of more mystical and naive times. so, i guess for the people who read and contribute to this blog, the best thing you can do is find a pastor and pour into him. the church needs scholars, in a bad way. so instead of sitting back and reading Game of Thrones (amazing books by the way), it would be great to get to know a pastor and teach them how to think better. God knows the church needs it.
ReplyDeleteWright's Paul for Everyone series has interesting comments on preaching in the 1 Timothy section. I am trying to teach critical thinking to my congregation through my preaching; most have been around too much preaching aimed at getting cheap amens. The down side of that is they can get snooty about it, so you have to teach humility, too. Discussing doctrines that I am in disagreement with I generally say something like, "Look, these people come to these conclusions honestly and here's how they got there and I repsectfully disagree because..." I would love to have a couple of scholars around to pound tables with.
ReplyDelete