One More Step

It's Thursday morning and I'm one more step towards finishing this program. My thesis proposal has been submitted and approved by my supervisor. The working title is iPreach: the art of preaching with digital media. The resources have been selected and the plan is in place to make sure that all the bases are covered. Three years have almost come to an end. Three trips to Chicago almost over. Three years gathering with people who were once strangers who have now become friends. This part of the doctorate journey is ending today. I knew that today would be tough. I knew that there would be a range of emotions all wrapped up in a sense of completion and anticipation. I'm very glad to have made it to this point. I'm very thankful for all the people who have worked with me and supported me in order to get to this point. I'm glad that the residencies are over - especially the financial cost of them and yet I'm sad that I won't be together with these friends again in the same intensive way. I'm sad that these deep conversations will now come to an end as a group, even though some will continue on there own. I'm sad that I won't be able to gather with 19 people and break bread with great food and good wine. I will mourn the loss of this intensive community and what it has meant to join together with ecumenical colleagues from around the U.S. and Germany. These folks, these preachers, have changed who I am, how I look at the world and how I look at ministry in general. Yes I'm one more step towards the goal of a doctorate and I celebrate that, yet I mourn the loss of this community and what it has meant to me. It is another time of transition and while I look forward to the days and nights of pouring over a manuscript and doing draft after draft, I am sure at one level that it is the memory of this family that will give me the strength when I need it, the humour in a time of need and the assurance of support and care. This class, this family of 26, will always be part of who I am - regardless of where I go from here.

Week Three - The Finish Line's in Sight

Week three and it's all about the thesis now. Everything else has faded away and all the conversation, all the energy both in class and beyond it, is now focused on the thesis. How do you write it, what's your context, what's the focus question, what's the theological foundation and witness of the denomination and history, what resources do I need to be conversant with, what practices am I using to test this all out and what kinds of feedback will help me address the practices and, ultimately, the core question of my thesis. O, and by the way, you need to get all this information communicated in 45 pages. We've spent time in small groups talking about all these components for each of our ideas followed by feedback from our peers. Each time we talk about it we get clearer and clearer as well as deeper and deeper. The analogy is that of an elevator conversation. The functional idea is that by the time you go from the top floor to the lobby you should be able to tell someone what your thesis is all about in a manner that they can understand and offer feedback. As I've listened to the idea of my classmates it has become apparent to me that folks are working on some amazing topics. The thesis proposal range from the preacher as active listener; to biblical literacy and stewardship; to preaching in care homes to people with dementia; to street street evangelism. The creativity and commitment to deepening communities of faith and the importance of preaching in that formation. I meet with my advisor on Wednesday to see if he'll sign off on my proposal. If he does, then it's off to the races, well keyboard, with a first draft due by January 3!

Trinity and My Blues Ain't Your Blues

I know I've said this before, yet I think it warrants stating again: if your in Chicago - attend worship at Trinity United Church of Christ! Again this year a group of ten of us made our way to the South Side of Chicago for a 2.5 hour service that felt like 45 minutes. The 140-150 member choir was amazing. To hear a a group of 60-70 men sing harmonies is simply good for the soul. To hear 2300 voices in the congregation rise and blend with the harmonies of the choir and musicians, literally brought tears to my eyes. It was only as I listened to the sax player and the blues guitarist that I realized how close to burnout I cam this past year and the effect it had on me, my family and my ministry. Trinity is that kind of transformative Holy place. The sermon was all about the blues, including some blues guitar that was simply awesome! The essence of it was that while our sense of the blues is different, God is present in the harmonic resolution for all of us. The blues is one way that as a mature Christian we express our ability to lay the heavyness of life at God's feet right along side our praise and thanksgiving. In essence God sings the blues. It was an amazing and powerful sermon that lasted about 45 minutes. Read that again - 45 minutes! It felt like you were floating in the ocean with each successive wave of celebration being a larger and more emotive wave of experience. By the end of the sermon we were cresting a huge wave that resulted with everyone standing on their feet applauding and speaking agreement and encouragement to Ottis Moss. The whole call and response nature of African-American worship is so, so powerful. The energy that is invested by both preacher and community results in an experience much larger and deeper than either of the components in and of themselves. I wish there was a way to replicate in some way this aspect in my own congregation. I think it could be an amazing experience for people to feel free enough to participate in the sermon and worship in general in such a way. I'm not suggesting becoming a call and response congregation overnight as much as suggesting that people could be encouraged to express their agreement and support for what's being offered in worship beyond clapping. Trinity is always a high light of my residencies in Chicago. This year was no exception. The trip to Trinity is another gift that I've been very fortunate to receive.

Week 2 Here and Gone!

Another elective done! It's hard to believe that this week concludes my third and final elective as part of the program. It also signals my final sermon that I needed to preach as part of the residency component of the program. It feels very strange to be on the other side of three residencies and now looking ahead to the thesis and final sermons that will contribute towards it. For sure there is a lot of work ahead, yet the finish line is in site and I can see my annual trips to the amazing city of Chicago coming to an end. In many ways this in an of itself is sad. I've been fortunate to have been offered this opportunity to join together with fellow preachers who are just as passionate and focused on preaching as I am. That in and of itself would have been enough, yet what's also happened is that I've become attached to these folks. Many of them have evolved from classmates, to colleagues, to friends. Friends who are fellow preachers is a rare and valuable commodity. I have friends in this program who can talk with me about my preaching in a way that few others can. They offer their words, both positive and challenging, from the source of love in Christ and the mutuality of being a fellow preacher. I realize I'm starting to get sentimental about this whole process. Personally I think this is one of the strengths of the program. Not only will I be a better preacher because of this program. I will also leave it with an international network of preachers and friends. Eight weeks and three summers later, it's time to return to Trinity United Church of Christ, one last time, before the home stretch of week three.

Emotive Preaching

According to Frank Thomas there are two essential levels of preaching: cognitive and emotive. Most of the styles that are taught to people in seminaries are built upon a cognitive model that may or may not contain any emotive material and when it does, it is often by happenstance. An emotive framework is designed to engage the cognitive and move deeper into the emotive language of the person so as to affect change at the level of core belief, or what Frank calls soul material. The basic assumption in this model is that by staying at the cognitive level, the preacher is trying to convince the congregation of a point of view that is easy to forget. However when the preacher moves to the cognitive level there exists the opportunity to engage people at the level of core belief and, that if change is affected at this level, it tends to be more significant and longer lasting. However, if preaching becomes purely emotive then there is no grounding for the sermon and thus the experience of the message. The goal is a balanced approach to both the cognitive and emotive. The sermon needs to have enough material to engage our cognition while at the same time engaging the hearers personal experience through an appeal to the emotive via language that bridges the two creating a symbiotic relationship that deepens the overall experience for everyone involved, including the preacher.

Celebration in Preaching

Last week I spent all my time pondering the implications of celebration in preaching and a model that will enable that to happen that has emerged from the African American tradition. Spending a week with the Rev. Dr. Frank Thomas is nothing short of a blessing. His care, insight, commitment to preaching, teaching and overall personhood makes it a privilege to spend time in his class. It was a week filled with 34 sermons, two by each person in the class. The second sermon preached was on the same text for everyone from Genesis on the wrestling of Jacob with God. The first round of sermons covered a huge amount of territory and topics. It has been amazing to watch how much my colleagues have deepened their preaching. Several went to deep emotional places and invited us to join them on that journey deep into the heart of God's grace. It was an amazing and tearful experience. It raises the question of how much vulnerability there needs to be in our preaching? Is the pulpit a place where tears and anger are appropriate? What happens within the congregation when the preacher is obviously emotional? Does this welcome people into the dialogue because now, the preacher is human? Or, does it create a barrier of emotive ripples that prevents people from crossing the chasm of separation into participation? What interesting questions to ponder.

Preaching as Celebration

What an absolutely amazing first day to my last course here in Chicago! And WOW, does that feel weird to write. My last class, Preaching as Celebration: Preaching in the African American Tradition with Frank Thomas is shaping up to be an incredible class on preaching in general and very insightful into another style of preaching in particular. It is very interesting to ponder how the white church has decided, either by intention or omition to preach primarily to the cognitive intellect at the cost of engaging the intuitive emotive. Why, in this post-modern world, do we think it necessary to have either or? The celebration model is based on the Lowrey Loop and is meant to engage both the cognitive and the emotive in a balanced structure of situation, complication, resolution, celebration. In fact, it is a model that grounds the sermon in an everyday lived experience and thus, renders the sermon both more memorable and more able to affect change in the hearer as it transcends the cognitive by engaging the emotive at the level of core belief. Engagement at this level allows the preacher to connect with the hearer in a manner that limits the ability to simply agree and then dismiss the message that is given. by engaging the hearer at the level of core belief the preacher has the real potential of affecting change and growth as a Christian and as a person of faith. There is so much more to the African American tradition than we see on television or have historically associated with a call and response style of worship. Perhaps the reason that the call and response aspect is so prevalent in the African American tradition is because the preaching has historically engaged people at the emotive level and lived experience both by the preacher and the hearer and continues to do so today. What a wonderful gift this course is shaping up to be. I can't wait to engage the structure with digital media and see what happens. This is going to be so much fun!

End of Week One...on to week two

Week one is over and Core III is behind us, at least in the sense of attending a class. It has been an interesting journey into the heart of seeing the sermon as a tool for social transformation. It has been an interesting week in relation to my own understanding of the power of the sermon. I've known for sometime that I have a high theology of preaching, yet this last week I've come to realize that my theology of preaching is very, very high. I truly and absolutely believe that the sermon can and does change both peoples lives and thus through the the social reality that we live in as a community. In other words the sermon can and does change the world. The power of the preached word is such that it transcends who I am and who those are who hear it to the place where it can fundamentally transform who we are and how we live out our lives each and every day. Such is the power of the preached word that is mediated by the Spirit once it leaves our lips. Yes it takes a lot or preparation. Yes it takes hours of pouring over scripture and praying endlessly. Of delving deep into the traditions greatest and best literature of linking yourself to centuries of tradition. It is a deep vocation to a willingness to put the the Word, life and God together in a way that always keeps us expanding and how I reflect critically on what God is doing. After week one I've had the opportunity to rekindle my love of preaching and my deep commitment to master it as best I can as a preacher. What an amazing and powerful place this program is and I need to say thank-you to every person who's enabled me to be here, 'cause I'm sure I'm not here on my own.

Race in the Pulpit

Race is one of the issues in many Canadian pulpits that I think is all too often ignored and deemed irrelevant both to the congregation and the pastor, yet this seems to be more of a fearful response than a calculated evaluative statement. Race is all around us and as a consequence racism is prevalent in every congregation because all of our congregations are made up of people. This might seem like a shocking statement, yet I know there are racists in my congregation because I am one. I can't really help that I am because at a certain level I was born into it. Just by the geographical location of my birth and the ancestry of my family I am a white Canadian male. This alone means that I am automatically afforded certain advantages in society just because of my race and because for a long time I participated in the ongoing granting of that power of privilege without question or hesitation. I told racial jokes and laughed at them when I heard them from others. But that is no longer the case and hasn't been for years, yet all that makes me is a recovering racist and each and every day I must confront the reality of my white privilege. Part of confronting that privilege is acknowledging in my own life where and when I encounter racism in my private and church life. It also means that it is an issue that I must preach on both directly and indirectly as well as in a manner which disarms people so that they can hear the message of how God's love is all inclusive. Racism in any for, including systemic and institutional, is not ok. A racist joke is not 'just a joke.' It is hurtful and a contribution to and sustaining of a system that seeks to make others less-than who they are.

Human Sexuality and the Sermon

In one way I want to ask the question, does sexuality belong in the pulpit? I know in many congregations and for many individuals the immediate response would be no! Not in my church and not on any Sunday!Yet, I wonder if what gets people's backs up is that they don't want something that is private, that is the sex act itself, made public and preached from the pulpit. The church has no place in the beds of those that come to worship and yet, if we're going to try and preach and talk about the fullness of human experience and how that relates to our understanding of God's love for all of us and the birthing of the kingdom. Now I'm not saying that I think we should be describing the sex act itself from the pulpit on Sunday morning. What I am wrestling with is the call of the gospel to preach on the fullness of the human experience, one part of which is human sexuality - different from the act itself. How can we proclaim an open and inclusive faith community that seeks to share the love of God with all, then I must also proclaim the universal acceptance of mutually caring and loving relationships by that same God who welcomes us all to the table of Jesus Christ. At its core, when you drill down to the depths of the subject, is the issue of God's justice right here and right now and not somewhere off in an eschatological future. So, is there a difference about preaching on sex and sexuality? Absolutely! and if we believe that we're all created as equals before God then we need to preach on the reality that sexuality has been used as a tool of power to oppress and segregate and disempower and malign and isolate individuals as other. And friends, that'll preach!

What is Preaching?

Day 1 is done and at the end of the day a great quote from Paul Tillick came up, "the goal of preaching is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." We were asked if this quote was still important and if we agreed with it. For some the instantaneous reaction was that people with wealth constituted the comfortable and that people don't appreciate feeling judged because of their wealth and in fact that the judgement pronounced by many preachers prevents any further conversation. However, is that the only way that people are comfortable? I agree that it is one of the ways - it might even be the primary way that we assess someone level of comfort, yet people are also comfortable in their mindset, outlook, social location, entitlement, judgement and world view. Surely the gospel afflicts those whose lives do not reflect the essence of God's grace, just as Jesus afflicted the comfort of the rich young ruler when he was told to give it all away. For me I think that we've become spiritually complacent and assert all too often that 'we've got God all figured out.' We've become comfortable in our worship lives and how that worship is manifested in our daily lived discipleship. Is great preaching about disturbing, that is afflicting, that comfort level so that the imagination of our discipleship can grow and be stretched beyond even our wildest dreams? Likewise is great preaching not also about comforting those who are wrestling with the mind bending reality of being open to the radical transformative presence of God's grace in their lives and those who are wrestling with the struggles of everyday life? Does great preaching operate as both pastoral care and prophetic witness at the same time? What do you think?

It's the 3rd Year!

Our arrival is complete. Once again that class of 2011 has left behind their families and congregations to descend upon Chicago for 18 days of focused discourse on homiletics. It's amazing to be part of a group that only sees one another for three weeks a year, yet is so intimately connected both as individuals and as preachers. It was great last night to gather around a table at a local restaurant and get everyone caught up on what's happened in our lives, our loved ones and our congregations. It is truly humbling to be amongst such wonderful caring people that are utterly committed to preaching and the vocation to which they've been called. While there is a part of me that is glad this is the last residency, a piece of me is deeply saddened by that awareness and so as Gerhard says, "I am of two hearts on this matter" as our final residency begins.

Farewell My Friend

This morning I received the news that I've been dreading for almost a week. My colleague and friend Rev. Bill Whiston had died early in the morning hours. Bill was a wonderful human being, yet perhaps even more than that he was a quintessential Pastor. Bill simply loved ministry and being with people. It didn't seem to affect him how long the hours became or how many calls he received, he was always ready to respond to the call of a person in need. Even in retirement Bill couldn't stop being a pastor and so he continued with the good folks of Westbrooke United as their Retired Supply Minister and he continued his relationship with the Queen's School of Religion as a learning group facilitator and field placement supervisor for people in formation for ministry. Bill kept giving. He brought many of us to laughter with jokes that were, let's face it, at times horrible. He reminded us of our commitment as individuals and as congregations to the M&S fund. Yet perhaps what I appreciated most about him was his calm in the face of a storm. It didn't seem to matter what we were dealing with Bill was always calm and compassionate. Even when others, myself included, had't reached that point, Bill was challenging us, challenging me, to see the good and remember the person(s) behind the issue.
I was almost brought to tears today when I was writing an email. Not because of the words it contained, or the issue it was regarding. It was because for the first time I deleted Bill's email address from the Cc line. A very subtle reminder, yet a reminder none the less that Bill wouldn't be checking his email anymore. He's returned home to his Creator, the One who showed him a love that knew no bounds, the Source that called him into ministry and empowered him to be a Pastor.
And so I mourn his passing and celebrate his life. I join together with Kingston Presbytery, the folks of Westbrooke and all the congregations Bill served, I stand with Dot and Bill's family to thank God for a man who meant so very much to each and everyone of us. To God we commend him. From this world to the next.
Farewell my friend and colleague. Farewell.