Thanksgiving 11.28.2024

     For all intents and purposes this post is the last word, at least from me for 2024. I just finished my sermon for Sunday December 1, which is of course the first Sunday of Advent 2024/5. As far as I’m concerned, it’s next year. You may not operate that way. You may find it odd that I spend obsessive amounts of time considering the processes and practices of preaching, and that’s OK. 

    Ministry is personal and each preacher must work out his or her own best practices and an individual path forward each week. My purpose in writing these words is less to provide a model for how you work than to encourage you to see that this divine task to which we are called is serious business. I provide an orderly way forward. If you have a different way—that is fine. If you don’t…why not? Does the word not “burn like a fire within you?” Serious people do serious things, and they take a serious approach to their life’s work. 

    My purpose right now is not to begin next year’s work but to end this year. It is always right and proper to give thanks. I am getting as much work done as possible today—Tuesday November 26th because tomorrow Mrs. Beckman and I will begin our Thanksgiving travels. I will have a laptop with me but considering how hard it is for me to get much done at the Parsonage on the Hill…let’s just say that one anticipates distractions.

    So, to close this space out for 2024, to begin the process of moving forward into a new year with new opportunities let me clearly state a couple of things for which I am thankful. 

1. So great a Salvation. 

2. My wonderful wife.

3. My children, grandchildren, great grandchildren.

4. The call to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.

5. The Body of Christ, His Church here in Grayville.

6. Colleagues, friends, and collaborators who make the life of ministry interesting, rewarding, invigorating. 

7. It is November 26…the Minnesota Vikings and Illinois Fighting Illini have not broken my pea-picking heart. 

    OK, more than a couple. Now, you know that I am (clearly) a list-maker. I’ve made mine, but I can’t make yours. The day set aside to consider our blessings and give thanks is right around the corner. Might be a good idea to start on that list. 

Telos 11.21.2024

     The “Tel-” words are an interesting root family in Greek. In our literature we have verbs, nouns, and various oblique forms. The baseline idea seems to indicate “goal achievement. When translated “be perfect” it would frame that “perfection” in terms of an entities intended purpose. Perfection in this sense means “hitting the goal.” Frameworks such as complete, finish, or end all share the same general notion. Each implies that to “telos” something is to bring it to a satisfactory close, whether that means achieving maturity or ending a task, or arriving at a destination.

    I begin this week’s essay with the above because I have just arrived at the Telos of my preaching preparation for 2024. The last sermon is written. The only remaining task is this blog and my Sunday School lesson. November 24 is the last Sunday in the “year.” December 1 is the first Sunday in Advent and that brings the shift to the first sermon of the 2025 sermon calendar. 

    I will wax a little nostalgic over the next few days as I review, reflect, and reexamine my preaching work in 2024. There are several ways to determine whether a course of preaching has been “successful”. There are a couple of things that immediately jump to mind 

Has it been Biblical?

    Any review of a year’s worth of preaching needs to ask this central question. Have I been faithful to the text in preparing messages for this congregation? This is where we begin. Biblical preaching should combine accuracy with accessibility. Biblical preaching has theological clarity and historical presence. Biblical preaching works. And Biblical preaching is the call.

     If it is not Biblical you are not preaching. There may be other areas that require attention but this is the first priority. Fix this first. 

Have the people been challenged both to learn and apply the scriptures?

    The purpose of preaching is discipling the Church. Preaching that does not challenge people to grow, to serve, repent, and celebrate is mere speechifying. A review of the year now ending helps the preacher to be certain that the next years preaching is appropriately designed to teach and deploy God’s people in the disciple making process. 

Have I learned anything? 

    There is nothing quite as boring as a bored preacher. The work of preaching should fill us not only with information to tell others but a deeper personal understanding of our own faith. A year’s worth of preaching, teaching, lecturing, and writing should be the opportunity for each of us to hone our skills at research, drafting, editing, and presenting the truth of scripture. We read and study to teach others. If we discover and present truthful information but never allow it to have an impact on us, we will eventually deplete the supply of refreshing water we can deploy. 

    My last series this year is from Hebrews, I will preach Chapter 13 this Sunday. I think the messages have been Biblical and challenging. I know for certain that I have learned a lot. I have thought through exegetical conundrums, reconsidered conclusions, and assessed long-held positions. Because of this sermon series my framework for understanding this important New Testament book has been forever altered. 

Have I told hard truths with compassion and humor?

    It is no secret that Biblical preaching requires us to discuss issues and consider matters that range from the complicated to the delicate, the heartbreaking to the infuriating. The Bible confronts us with our sins and calls us to repentance. There are hard truths we are required to preach every year but that does not require us to become hardened to the humanity of our congregation. 

    While we cannot make hard truths any softer, we can treat the people who must hear them with compassion and humor. Compassion and good humor are signs of our humanity, reminding our congregation that we travel with them and serve them. There is nothing more tragic than someone who tells hard truths about sin, righteousness, and the judgement to come with a stoic look and air of enjoyment. Remember--compassion and humor are signs of our humanity. 

Has the sum been greater than the parts?

    A well-constructed, properly researched, appropriately executed preaching plan should not consist of 52 isolated sermons. When you look back over your plan have you done a good job of describing an overarching theme for the year? Does it seem natural or forced? Do the individual sermons build upon one another or does each shift the congregation’s focus in a new direction? 

What next? 

    My sermon calendar for 2025 is set. I already have preliminary outlines for each Advent/Christmas sermon and have already put in 10-15 hours of research. After advent I will continue preaching from Matthew for 6 months, so my research program is set until June. 

    Preaching is always looking to the next week, the next sermon, the next text. One of the central tasks of the preacher is to work diligently so that text and sermon flow from a redeemed and joyful heart. Each week dedicated to the service of prayer and the Word. It is a duty yes, but most assuredly a delight. There is nothing sweeter than looking back over a year and saying…”finished”

Tradition 11.14.2024

     We were not the first ones here. We did not magically appear out of nowhere with a fully formed understanding of scripture that came to us unmediated by our ancestors of faith. Churches like individuals descend from someone, who came from somewhere that did, something. The collective memory of who our ancestors were is called tradition. Traditions can be informative (what we think and know) or they can be performative (what we do). The best traditions are even transformative. (They change or define who we are.) Obviously, it is possible that this sort of transformation can be negative. Information, likewise, can be constructive or destructive. What we do can be good, bad, or benign. Often the impact of traditions is determined by the intent of those who maintain the tradition. 

    The 21st century has been challenging for traditional expressions of faith. Doctrine and practice are under constant pressure to conform to society at large or the dominant ecclesiastical model. The best traditions, the ones that have and will endure are those which are constantly evaluating their own origins against emerging expectations and expressions. At times we find something more enduring in contemporary  expressions beyond novelty or entertainment. Those new expressions may eventually assume a place among the cherished traditions of the faithful. 

    Jesus lived in a traditional society. His issue was not tradition itself, but traditionalism which elevates man’s desires over God’s. The best traditions orbit God like the planets orbit the sun. When we lose that orientation, we lose the distinction between our will and God’s. 

    There is not a more traditional time of the year than the period we are entering. Much of our attention over the next 5 weeks will be centered on traditions of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love this time of year and part of that affection and emotional satisfaction comes from celebrating treasured traditions. 

    We humans can be tragic creatures. We are as easily tempted by good things as bad—and easily distracted. Traditions which should only strengthen us often undermine our faith. The shiny new things of contemporary culture—both within and without the Church too easily displace the hard-won faith of our ancestors. 

     It is essential for us to be reflective. Reflecting upon scripture and historic Christian practice reminds us of the hopefulness of the past. Such a moment of reflection is at the very heart of Christian worship. Around His table of thanksgiving, we join the great cloud of witnesses celebrating His atoning sacrifice and empowering resurrection. Around the table we consider the whole body of Christ; past, present, and future. Around the table we embody not only Biblical thinking but traditional. The place-settings may change but the tradition endures. There is a place for us all around the table of His blessing.

Transition 11.7.2024

    

November is a month of transitions. It began with the weather.  There were hints in October that Autumn meant more than days on the calendar. Even the warmer days began with a different kind of crispiness. Then as we slept Saturday night, we bid farewell to Daylight Savings Time and the hour we “lost” in the Spring was returned to us. Halloween is the prelude to the rest of the fall-winter holidays. For Halloween dressing up meant costumes. In the coming weeks dressing up may mean wearing something nicer to Grandma’s and eventually dressing up gives way to bundling up. 

    November is the month where we begin to assess this year and become increasingly focused on next year. We prepare for the long winter to come and start to make plans for the central celebrations of the Christmas Season. In the Church we think of Jesus every week. The Christmas season means that many others—some who have ignored Him all year will be thinking about Him as well. Some of those people will be hurting, or lonely, or sad. Some will have gotten through such drastic transitions that our shift from late summer to autumn seems quant and harmless. The Church must minister through these transitions as we shift our focus to a different season with different challenges. 

    The Transitions of our current time and place may make people nostalgic for a past that shaped them, hurt them, bent them, or scarred them. They will appear in my congregation and yours and one of our tasks during this intense, emotional season of transitions is to remind every listener that “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it but to redeem it.” 

     Some will come haltingly and leave your assembly joyfully. Others will come with pain and find a way to leave it there at the foot of the cross. Others will come with debilitating grief and discover comfort. Some will come from a world that is discolored with shame and leave with a renewed appreciation for the myriad colors of life. 

    Now, I’m sure that you have good, well laid plans for Christmas. You are ready for people who will only make that occasional holiday appearance. Are you ready for those who celebrate early? Some snowbirds make this time of year a period of preparation for leaving cold weather behind for the winter. How will you encourage them? Sometimes families have several “Thanksgivings”. You may be catching some of them before, after, or during #2, or even #3. Will you be ready to help them experience the gratitude felt by the entire Body of Christ during this season of transition? 

    Christmas is coming but Thanksgiving will most likely get here first (Trust me on this). What a chance we have! To help people see Jesus with greater clarity and to hear the Word proclaimed with purpose! You have been called not only to lead your Congregation through this transition but to help them serve others joyfully in those transitions.  One November Sunday is past—in fact only eight Sundays remain in the year. The transition is upon us, opportunity awaits. Let’s prepare well to do that work to which we are called.