The failure of Protestant Preaching

When I was a teen and into my young adult life, I was an avid sports fan. I used to turn to the sports page of the newspaper every day, before looking at any other section. Eventually though, my view of the sports world changed. At first it was professional sports. What was an advance for the players, free agency and collective bargaining (and thus ever changing team rosters) , eviscerated the identification of fans with "their" team. About the same time, the increasing presence and dominance of sports television --and its money-- changed "amateur" sports, and for many like me changed them for the worse.

Before I go off on this tangent too far, my point is that my interests in the news eventually came to rest on national politics. Of course, it ironic that the reportage of politics (and nearly everything else) has more and more come to resemble sports journalism!

Being trained to be a parish priest where preaching every Sunday is part of the vocation, I see a parallel in the communication of ideas in politics. In theology, words matter. Words matter in politics too, at least they are supposed to.

So... it has been quite an eye-opener to witness the ongoing controversies involving Sen. Barak Obama and what was his home church until just a few days ago. First there were the clips of Rev. Jeremiah Wright sermonizing after the 9/11 attacks and saying that America basically brought it on herself by being a bully around the world ("the chickens have come home to roost"). Rev. Wright then followed up with appearances in Detroit and Washington D.C. where he repeated similar statements. In fact, before the D.C. press corps he was mocking, sarcastic, mugging for the camera and generally scornful of most everyone present.

After that performance, Sen. Obama finally renounced Rev. Wright. Fast forward to last week, when radical Catholic priest Michael Pfleger gave a guest "sermon" at Trinity United Church. Hilary Clinton's ears must have been on fire. Fr. Pfleger aped Hilary's crying and made her the symbol of "white entitlement" and "supremacy." This pushed Senator Obama and his wife to resign from Trinity United.

The politics of all of this are being discussed all over the country, even the world. What I haven't heard or read is any commentary on the homiletics. As a preacher of the gospel, the videos of Rev. Wright and Fr. Plefeger preaching actually disturbed me. The mocking, the sarcasm, the playing to the audience for laughs and applause: all of these seemed to be ego driven to the extreme. Watching and hearing Fr. Pfleger with his breathy delivery imitating a hysteric Hillary, even to the point of weeping fake tears, I was reminded of nothing so much as a stand-up comedy routine. Yet this was supposed to be a Protestant "worship service" where the sermon is the central and defining element. These are examples of politically and emotionally charged preaching. This kind of preaching is not new, but it is certainly not normative in the history of the traditional Church. I am sure it can be found in the Church history, perhaps in Greece during the War of Independence, for instance, but this would be exceptional and not normative. It cannot be normative in that the gospel of Christ is not allied with any particular ideology or politics of this fallen world. The gospel is also divorced from fallen human passions. Jesus said, "be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves." There are indeed times that preachers should take the prophetic role, but giving way to one's personal passions is much different than powerfully speaking the word of God.

Protestantism, from the beginning has rejected the inner life of peace and spiritual detachment preached by the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as exemplifid by true asceticism, whether monsastic or parish. The Greek people suffered greatly under the Ottoman Turks, but no Orthodox bishop (or congregation for that matter) would allow a Greek priest to preach resentment towards the Turkish people. The bishop would not do so because he knows that no matter how many scriptural reference such preaching could quote in support, it would not be preaching the gospel. The people would realize that no matter how emotionally satisfying this kind of preaching might be in terms of addressing the history of suffering under the Ottomans, it would be totally inconsistent with the liturgical hymns and prayers they are hearing, singing and praying.

When the sermon becomes the center of the service, then the sermonizer becomes the center of the service. The preacher becomes the service. Persuasive, charismatic preachers therefore create popular, materially successful churches (i.e. in terms of money and membership). How could this not lead to ego driven preaching? And of course, when one preaches to please the audience, one's ego is fed greatly and even given the patina of religious righteousness.

Certainly there are many Prostestant preachers who realize this danger and strive mightily to avoid the dangers I outline above, and may God grant that they do. However, this does not change the fact that this is an inherent flaw in their approach to God and His Church.