PREACHER TO PREACHER

From the Editors

In this issue of Preacher’s Magazine, it is our privilege to be guided by some colleagues from around the country. The material for the first several weeks of this season come from Mary Rearick Paul and are based upon the Lectionary texts. Mary is senior pastor of the Bethel Church of the Nazarene in Quincy, Massachusetts. The next set of preaching suggestions comes from Carl Leth, senior pastor of the Detroit, Michigan First Church of the Nazarene. Finally, the three mini-series for the balance of Ordinary Time are offered by David Pendleton, senior pastor of Christ Community Church of the Nazarene in Olathe, Kansas.

One important skill of effective preachers is the ability to learn from other preachers. Each of us has our own way of going about the sermon. We certainly are varied in our approaches to delivery. No matter how we may differ, however, we should be willing to learn from and be challenged by each other. This requires a spirit of teachability.

Following the Promise Keepers Pastors Conference in 1996 in Atlanta, there was a great cartoon in Leadership Journal. It depicted the stadium event, with over forty thousands pastors listening to one of the famous speakers. The cartoonist placed one of those “thought-clouds” above the heads of all forty thousand preachers who were thinking the same thing: “I could do as well as this guy.” Most preachers don’t lack for confidence and that is good, but we should also not lack a willingness to observe how other preachers go about their work. We hope that your preaching will be challenged and helped by the influence of these three good preachers.

The sermons for September 1 through November 24 presented by David Pendleton are also based on the texts prescribed by the Lectionary. Several of our readers have suggested that the Preacher’s Magazine be entirely organized around the Lectionary. We have not done this because we want to present varied avenues to preaching, but we do believe that the Lectionary is a very useful tool for a balanced approach to preaching. These suggestions by David demonstrate how the lections can work together in any given week to provide rich resource for effective preaching.
William Willimon makes a significant statement about lectionary preaching in his book, Calling and Character. He says:

One of the most ethically significant aspects of preaching is disciplining oneself to preach texts prescribed by the Common Lectionary. We thereby demonstrate our subservience to the Word, preaching what we are told by the community of Christ to preach, not what we or our people at present may want to hear. In a culture that stresses liberation, freedom from all attachment, and rebellion against communal formation, it is important for clergy to demonstrate their attachment to the church. Our job is not to speak for ourselves as individuals, not primarily to share our personal feelings with our people. Our job is to demonstrate that lives ordered and ordained into the faith of the church are better than lives formed elsewhere.
We preachers are at our best when we avoid the Lone Ranger mode and make ourselves accountable to the community of faith. Preaching is clearly a community event and we will be much better at it when we do the work having listened not only to the Spirit of the Lord speaking through the text, but also having listened to the conversations of God’s people (including preachers) about the text.