Rev. Reed Lee Pedersen's
Two things I disliked the most about going to church as a kid was long intercessory prayers and sermons. I did not like either because in my mind they were both extremely long and dragged on the church service which was getting in the way of me getting to go home and play video games or golf. I do not want to talk about prayers today (why mess up a possible future rambling?!), but I do want to talk about the importance of sermons to be listened to and to be listenable. Preaching is the spoken Word of God which is meant to inform, inspire, and guide followers to follow Christ and to reflect on where God might be calling them in their own lives. Preaching is not merely a speech, but rather an act of the Holy Spirit to make what the preacher speaks into something that instills faith. If you have ever felt inspired by a good sermon it is not the preacher who did this. Instead, it is the Holy Spirit working through them and through you that has brought on this spark. Last week’s rambling was focused on 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. While researching that same text I came upon this quote from The Interpreter’s Bible: “The preacher cannot do [their] work effectively unless [they are] given to serious study of the implications of the gospel in the life of the times, and is bent on making it as effective as [they] can in its impact on [their] fellow [humans]…and preaching misses its mark if it not relevant both to the content of the gospel and to the trends of the times, either as an inspiration or challenge or both.”[i] This quotation is very clear that sermons must be relevant unless one plans on missing the mark. A sermon must be informed by Scripture, but it cannot exist in a vacuum as if our daily lives and all its problems and joys do not exist. Karl Barth puts it this way: “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.” So where is the Holy Spirit in a boring sermon or an irrelevant sermon? This is a question that really began to bother me as I witnessed a church I love unable to take away anything from the pastor’s sermons. The big theological answer is simple: The Holy Spirit is everywhere. This answer is all in good but it still does not answer the question of why no one feels the Holy Spirit stirring inside them as they fall asleep through another boring sermon. Here is my take: God works through all things, but it won’t be noticed if you do not pay attention. The summer before my freshman year of college the pastor at my church got up in the pulpit and delivered a powerful sermon which I could no longer ignore. Through his sermon the Holy Spirit grabbed and inspired me to live out my faith. (It also was the first time I ever thought about becoming a pastor.) Since then I have had more open ears to those preaching. I follow better even when a preacher may be lobbing up a really boring and irrelevant dud. The point I am getting to is that God’s work through the spoken word must be tended to by both the preacher and the listener. The pastor must take their job seriously and interpret Scripture into today’s contexts, because (shocker!) the Bible is actually relevant! Also, the listener in the pew must not bury their head in their hands, watch the clock tick by, or tip their head back for a good snooze. Listen to God’s word and witness to Christ walking through the aisles of the church as the sermon is being preached. God is in our churches. God (should) be in the sermon. This is a call for both pastors and parishioners too seek it. Points to Ponder:
[i] The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 10, Pg. 106. I have made the language gender inclusive for this quote.
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AuthorPastor Reed is a first call pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover, Illinois. Archives
July 2019
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