This summer has been going well while in Baldwin. I've learned that I can preach without the use of notes. Not bad for someone who thought that they would be a manuscript preacher for a long time to come. This past Sunday, I barely used what notes that I had while preaching. Another thing that I was glad to see this was that people seemed to comprehend what the point of my sermon was. It always feels good to have someone come up to you and say that you had a good sermon. All that means nothing if they don't recall a single thing about your sermon. That just serves as a drug to inflate the preacher's pride more than anything else. When people come up to you and can remember and understand what you were preaching on, that is something which is more admirable. When they start to apply it to their lives, that is even better. It makes me feel good to see that.
There is a danger to that too however. I want my preaching to result in fruit. I don't want to preach for the sake of my own pride. When I hear these compliments, the danger is that I preach so that I receive compliments. In the end, that renders my preaching worthless. For part of preaching means that you call the congregation and yourself to a better way than the way of the world. If I'm just preaching for compliments, I will never put myself and others out of our comfort zone and we'll never move forward as believers. Preaching is not for the faint of heart. It often requires that we say things that need to be said. It has the potential to invite criticism. It can sometimes be offensive. It may even cost you your job. Yet it is necessary to be honest and humble, never sugarcoating things. That way, we can grow deeper in our faith. Show me a church where the preaching is wishy-washy and I can show you a church that is shallow. It has foundations built on sand. When the rains and the floods come, it will be washed away as if it never existed. The people there will never know what it truly means to follow Christ.
The purpose of preaching is so that people can be torn down and convicted of their sin and see themselves for the broken and hallow shells that they are. God does not leave us broken after convicting us of our sinfulness however. The other purpose of preaching is so that the people of God can be built up. So that we can grow deeper in our faith and learn what it means to be fully human. So that we may know what love and joy mean. So that those shadows that we were before we knew Christ may be given substance and a body. Something that we cannot know outside of Christ. Like a branch pruned by the gardener, like silver in which the dross has been burned off in the furnace. That is the impact that our worship and listening to the Word of God being read and expounded upon is supposed to have. Never should we approach worship lightly. For God just might very well smack us across the face with a 2x4, even the preacher, especially the preacher. Actually, he might just use a 2x6 for the preacher. No wonder Anne Lamott said that we should wear crash helmets to worship.
Alright Andy, let's take it down a notch or two. Get off the soapbox. As you have probably gathered by this point, I'm a bit opinionated. The point is, what we hear on Sunday should challenge us. It should make us feel uncomfortable. Through the preacher's words, the Spirit should tell us a better way to live. It should bring us closer to the Triune God, in whom we have life and breath and being.
As for Baldwin, it's been good. I have learned a lot and met some great people. I imagine that when I return home a month from today, I'll miss it. Yet I know that as the day of departure gets closer, I'll be more eager to return to my home. I'll be glad to be back among friends and family. The greatest challenge about Baldwin is that I do not know anyone very well. I've also always lived with people. Here in Baldwin, I come home to the sound of silence. So it can get lonely sometimes. If a dog greets me, it's because the three dachshunds next door think I've encroached on their territory. It's not because my mom's two little miniature schnauzers are ecstatic to see me and think I'm the greatest thing since pets, squirrels, and food were invented. I love being with and living with people, in spite of the headaches that can (and often do) come with it. It's more than worth it. That's what living on my own has taught me this summer. Now the challenge is to remain faithful to where God has placed me as this month I have left turns into three weeks, then two, and so on.
Also, this time next year, chances are, I'll be on my own again for a time. I highly doubt that in a year my status as a bachelor will change. It will someday, just probably not in the next year or two. So, once I'm on my own, with my own place, I'm getting a dog. Dogs make great roommates. Provided they're housebroken and you don't leave them alone with newspapers or books where they can get into them. That never ends well.
I hope this post finds you well. Here in Baldwin, things are good. I'm preaching this Sunday on Romans 3:21-31. I'll let ya know next week how it goes. God bless.
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