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.