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?