I have been wrestling recently with the different roles that I have played in the different sermon series of 2013.

Not that I have been different people or that I am merely acting a part.

It's just that different series demand distinct aspects of the pastoral calling.  This may be old news to you, but in my recent self-reflections, it's the first time I've been able to put language to it.

For example . . .

In the Home series my role was to be the leader of a movement.  With a little bit of prophet mixed in -- if you remember the seat-squirming sermons on the ways Christian men have contributed to the rise in domestic sex trafficking, you know what I mean.  To see how that particular series and the movement it inspired turned out, check here.

For Constant Contact, the messages took on more of a pastoral role.  After being urged to give sacrificially to the Home campaign, the people of the church needed some TLC.  And some practical steps towards increasing their union with God through prayer and quiet.

Next came Journey Of Stones.  There, my role was simultaneously keeper of the calendar and preserver of tradition.  Those may sound like odd roles for a church like Good Shepherd, but we designed that series to walk us together on a path through Lent and to the Holy Weekend. 

After Easter, we tracked with Jonah during Man On The Run.  This is my favorite one so far, and I would say I had two primary roles:  evangelist and prophet.  Jonah offers much material to reinforce our "full color" nature (prophetic role) as well as some clear opportunities to invite people to salvation (evangelist role). So we did both.

Now it's Old School.  As the name implies, my role here is that of teacher.  Each week contains some history, some geography, some theology, and even some homework.  I certainly was not expecting a collective yawn in response, but the enthusiasm with which the people of the church have approached Old School has taken me by pleasant surprise.

And this subject is on my mind because I'm working hard on the next series -- to be called The Storm Before The Calm.  In that one, the nature and direction of the messages will pivot dramatically from Old School and I'll be all about offering peace, serenity, and hope.

In other words, I'll be preaching like a pastor all over again.

The categories I've described aren't exclusive.  The Jonah series, for example, had quite a bit of teaching in it -- many of you still come to me to talk about the Ninevites as "Dead Head Displayers." 

Nevertheless, the types of series a church has and the role the preacher assumes in them is worthy of planning, prayer, and conversation.





 

Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" (John 18:38)

And true to form, Jesus doesn't answer the question.  He leaves it hanging there, still to be wrestled with 2,000 years later.

In the world of church, truth matters.  A lot.  We try to decipher it so we then can proclaim it.

And the chilling thing is this:  some things are true whether you believe them or not.

Or even more to the point: some thing are true whether you want them to be or not.  There are a number of contentious issues about which I long to cater to conventional wisdom, changing social mores, and even peer pressure and say, "OK, you're right; I'm changing my mind & falling in with the (apparent) majority!"

But then due to a combination of the bible's witness, church history, and even personal experience (veering precariously close to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral!), I reconsider and land again on the side of certain truths that, while uncomfortable, are still . . . true.

So here they are: five things that a large part of me wishes weren't true, but I believe they are.

5.  Infant baptism is a doctrine built on a "maybe."  The household baptisms of Acts 16:15 and 16:33 may have included small children and infants, so we build a doctrine around it.  More than that, the denominational doctrine we've built in the UMC has grown increasingly inflexible.  In contrast to the "maybe" of Acts 16, witness the "definitely" of believer baptisms in Acts 2, Acts 9, Acts 10, Acts 19, and Romans 6 among others. 

4.  While Hinduism has many elements that appeal to Westerners who value spirituality over religion, its net effect on the people of India is the elevation of the elite and the subjugation of the masses.  Given our church's connection to the people of Odisha, India, I have more than a passing interest in the subject.  And according to one Russian pop singer, Hinduism is "the epitome of spirituality."  Well . . . . tell that to young girls born into the "prostitute caste" -- a life to which they are assigned at birth and from which they cannot escape.  Or to boys born into the "brick maker caste" -- a similarly hopeless and predetermined position for life.  While many Hindus are people of peace and serenity, the result of the religion on Indian society has been to create entrenched categories of masters and servants.

3.  Hell.  Yes.  While people I respect greatly disagree, the church's historic stand that regards hell as a place of everlasting regret and separation remains the most faithful to the whole of Scripture.

2.  I hope I keep my ordination credentials on this one, but . . . celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in heterosexual marriage is God's design for human sexuality.  Hebrews 13:4 is a beautiful summary statement -- not a proof text -- of everything else the NT says on the subject:  let the marriage bed be undefiled.

1.  You combine the poetry of Psalm 139:13-16 and the science of the ultrasound and the implication is clear:  that is a baby.