Paul and Me

So the elective week is over here at the ACTS D.Min. in preaching program. My elective was “Paul and a Macedonian Correspondence” which mean 1&2 Thessalonians and Philippians. It was a wonderful course with Dr. Audrey West. Many people don’t know that I have a hard time coming to terms with some of the words we attribute to Paul and some of his theology. While I respect and find powerful his conversion experience from Saul – who persecuted the early church, to Paul – who spread the gospel at great personal risk, I’ve historically found myself, well, not liking him.
Last week afforded me an opportunity to really get into these three letters of Paul. It was, as I named for the class my first day, mine and Paul’s last chance to get along! Well by the end of the week I think it’s safe to say that Paul and I are still a long way from being great buddies, yet were much closer to being good friends. There is a language and a depth of subversivness to Paul that I’d not know in prior courses. In fact one could claim that Paul was the original communication master mind and that he knew his particular audiences so well that he adapted his letters so that they would break through the barriers of a particular community only to use their own imagery to communicate the gospel to them. It was striking to watch and discover how Paul changed his genre and style to suit his particular audience and I started wondering what if we did the same in preaching? Could this be a way for the church to reach out to people regardless of their generation? Is the secret learning the generational code, so that we can communicate the Christian message to folks with little or no church experience and help them understand why the church is so important to have as part of your life? Could it be that one of the reasons why the mainline church in Canada has been declining in recent years is because we’ve refused to change our language to be inclusive of new generations and people? What would Paul have to say to us, what indeed?
Ultimately I want to look at how digital media can be used to bridge the communication gulf just as Paul used letter so many years ago. From Paul I’ve learned that simply using one form of digital media will not be the answer. In fact the answer isn’t in using 1 or 2 forms, but a multiplicity of genres that have been fine tuned to address particular issues with particular constituent communities. Perhaps, if we can figure this out, there is a way to share the Christian message that is deep in the richness of heritage and vital in the current reality we find ourselves in.