COLUMN
9
COLUMNIST
CALVIN SAMUEL
Preaching and pain
Any preaching worth its salt needs to connect the preacher’ s world and experience with that of her audience. When that connection happens, especially when infused by the Spirit and rooted in the Word, then a potentially life changing sermon encounter occurs.
Preaching through adversity is one of those contexts in which such life changing encounters often occur. However, such preaching is almost always hard work.
Sometimes preachers are required to preach through their own adversity. I recall preaching at my father’ s funeral. My father died unexpectedly under unusual circumstances. He disappeared from home in the middle of the night and two days later his body was discovered washed up on a beach. To this day, we still don’ t know the precise circumstances surrounding his death.
He was a well-known figure and his funeral was a large one, even by Caribbean standards. To preach in that context, whilst working through my own grief and loss, simultaneously trying to be faithful to the text, and seeking to find a word of hope in the gospel for the hundreds gathered and the thousands besides to whom the sermon was broadcast, was a unique challenge. It was indeed hard work. But it was also a huge privilege.
Preaching with integrity through adversity requires searing honesty, willing vulnerability and openness to the Spirit. The great thing about preaching through one’ s own adversity is discovering for ourselves what Paul discovered:‘ when I am weak, then am I strong’ for God’ s strength is perfected in human weakness( 2 Corinthians 12:9 – 10).
However, as difficult as it might be for preachers to preach through their own adversity, this pales in comparison to the challenge of preaching into situations of adversity in which the preacher does not personally share.
The danger of preaching through adversity in which the preacher herself does not share is that such preaching can appear to lack authenticity. At worst, such preaching consists of little more than well-meaning but unsatisfactory platitudes.
Preaching through adversity, first, requires identification with and naming the adversity. The psalmists are masters at this kind of naming. They don’ t shy away from articulating frustration, anger, vengefulness or shame. If we are going to preach through adversity, both identification of and with the adversity, and the emotions that such adversity raises, need to be faced.
Second, preaching through adversity requires consistent and focused engagement. It simply will not do to make occasional veiled allusions to the adversity we wish to address, or to preach a single sermon on the issue before moving on to some other worthy topic. When we are preaching through adversity we need to address the issues head on and to address them repeatedly in a series of sermons as part of an overall diet of relevant preaching.
If we are to preach about issues related to injustice and inequality, for example, the impact of benefit sanctions, the scandal of the need for food banks in a rich country like the UK, or the debilitating effects of poverty, a single sermon on these issues is not what it means to preach through adversity. To preach through adversity requires repeated and direct engagement with the justice issues arising out of these contemporary challenges.
Third, preaching through adversity does not require that we provide easy answers. Preachers need to beware the temptation to provide easy answers. Indeed answers are often less helpful than questions because questions are open-ended whilst answers close down further conversation.
Adversity sometimes requires us to ask,‘ Why?’ or‘ How long, O Lord?’ The preacher able to ask these questions can often articulate the unspoken anguish of a congregation or indeed of a whole community.
Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, preaching through adversity needs to sound a note of hope. While the preacher may not have easy answers we do need to articulate hope. Hope enables us to face an uncertain future because we hope it will be better than the present, because we know the One who holds the future. Hope enables us to navigate our distress because we trust that our present circumstances are not our permanent address. Hope enables us to look beyond the cross and the grave towards resurrection and ascension. Hope enables us to endure hardship, because of the promise of a better day to come. Preaching through adversity, whatever else it may accomplish, needs to sound a note of hope.
It seems to me that it is precisely in times of adversity that preaching is needed. When all is well we might be able to cope with all that life throws at us without a steady diet of relevant preaching. However, when we are struggling with adversity, when we are tempted to give up or question whether our faith is sufficient for all that we face, it is then more than ever that we need a word in season to help us navigate our adversity, because we have been reminded of the One in whom we have placed our hope.
Rev Dr Calvin Samuel
Calvin Samuel is the newly appointed president of London School of Theology. He is a Methodist minister and previously served as Academic Dean of St John’ s College and Director of Wesley Study Centre.