Preaching

June 2, 2020

It’s been a long time coming and I’m getting itchy. Since last September, I’ve been on a preaching rotation that got me into the pulpit for two Sundays every six weeks. We had barely gotten started when COVID broke out, cancelling Easter, one of the Sundays I was scheduled for. We just passed Pentecost, and I’m on tap for Sunday, June 7, the day after our 50th wedding anniversary. It’s not like we’re going anywhere, so preaching it is!

I was wondering what it would be like, what my topic would be, how I would get back into the swing of things. Sermon preparation is different than devotional reading, and I missed it. For the past week or so, I’ve been getting back in the groove, and I’m getting excited...and nervous. I never take it lightly. Handling the Word of Life is no laughing matter, and no small responsibility. Every time I stepped into the pulpit for the past fifty years, I felt the weight of it. Proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ is much more than merely preparing a lecture. I am not the originator of the Message; merely the conduit. But if I fail to communicate clearly and accurately what God is saying and doing, people will miss out on grace and salvation. It is even possible to lead people astray, proclaiming a gospel that is skewed. Such a word may be powerful, but it cannot save.

“Lift High the Cross,” says one of our Methodist hymns. To do otherwise is to pervert the Message. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up, I’ll draw all men to me.” All I have to do is lift him up. Platitudes cannot do that. Good advice cannot do that. People can get good advice anywhere. The only place they can get Good News is at the foot of the Cross. THAT is the message; THAT is what excites me tonight; THAT is what I intend to proclaim Sunday.