Cyberstones-A Lutheran Blog

Comments...

• May 16, 2009 12:50:09 Re: Rev. Mason Beecroft on Preaching - Paul Beisel
  I was one of those "lesser preachers" this year. Sorry. What can I say? It's on everyone's mind, so yes, I sinned boldly. In a day when motherhood is devalued by pregnancy pacts and egg-harvesting, who wouldn't jump at the chance to extol the virtues of motherhood? Call me a heretic, but...oh well.
  • May 18, 2009 12:44:41 Re: Rev. Mason Beecroft on Preaching - helen

    Quote:

    I was one of those "lesser preachers" this year. Sorry. What can I say? It's on everyone's mind, so yes, I sinned boldly.

    --Pr. Beisel
    
    If that's what your congregation expected, I hope you also wove the lessons of the day into it.
    I was treated to a sermon on the Gospel, with minimal mention of motherhood, for which I was thankful. If it's not important the rest of the year, spare me the 'syrup' on one Sunday.
    
    Oh, yes, the kids sent flowers and I always like flowers, as they know.
    Better one bouquet now than too many later!
    
    [I haven't got the formula to put a post where I want it either.
    I wait to see what happens!]
    • May 19, 2009 09:36:19 Re: Rev. Mason Beecroft on Preaching - Paul Beisel
      Helen,
      
      Actually, it was just what I felt like preaching on. I honestly couldn't think of anything to say about the Gospel reading. That happens sometimes, especially when you preach on the same texts year after year after year. Sometimes the well is just dry. Yet, I had a whole slew of things to say about motherhood. That's probably the first time in seven years that I have done that. But I am not sorry about it. Glad you were "treated to a sermon on the Gospel"
  • May 16, 2009 12:51:03 Re: Rev. Mason Beecroft on Preaching - Paul Beisel
    This was supposed to be a reply to the comment at the bottom.
    • May 16, 2009 17:18:06 Re: Rev. Mason Beecroft on Preaching - wcwirla
      I would not consider yourself a "lesser" preacher simply for preaching a topical sermon on motherhood on the occasion of Mother's Day. You would be a lesser preacher for failing to distinguish Law and Gospel and for not proclaiming Christ crucified and risen regardless of the topic or feast day or text. I would also recommend that you preach an equally vigorous sermon on fatherhood on Father's Day as there can be no mother without father.
      
      It is neither sin nor is it heresy to go off lectionary when the needs of the congregation require it. I call that sound pastoral preaching.
      
      The lectionary was made for man (by men), not man for the lectionary.
• May 16, 2009 10:29:43 Re: Rev. Mason Beecroft on Preaching - wcwirla
  These are all nuanced aspects of the unified task of preaching. All preaching is, to one extent or another, textual and expository, assuming that there is a text of Scripture lurking somewhere in the sermon. All preaching is topical in the sense that the preacher chooses what point or points he wishes to expound, though "topical sermons" as such, like topical anesthetics, go only skin deep. All preaching is occasional, in the sense that it occurs in time and place, including the day on the liturgical calendar. A sermon preached the Sunday after Hurricane Katrina or the assassination of John Kennedy or even Father's or Mother's Day will have a somewhat different character than the same text preached on a run of the mill Sunday. Preaching is highly contextual, connecting the Word of God with the hearer.
  
  A good illustration of this is the narrative of Jesus' messianic entry into Jerusalem. The text is preached differently on Palm Sunday than it is on the 1st Sunday in Advent. Same text, different occasion. Gospel texts are preached differently for a Sunday Divine Service than for a funeral, if those are the chosen texts.
  
  With regard to Holy Thursday, the assigned texts, whether one-year or three-year, give the preacher an option, since 1 Cor 11 is the assigned epistle. Our Lord's washing His disciples' feet and mandating their love for one another and His giving His Body and Blood to them as food and drink are not mutually exclusive. They are all part of the day called Maundy Thursday, though technically, the name of the feast day refers to our Lord's mandate to His disciples to love one another.
• May 16, 2009 07:36:15 Re: Rev. Mason Beecroft on Preaching - Rev. Rick Stuckwisch
  I think you are spot-on with your rule of thumb, Pastor Petersen, that the preacher should "preach the day," especially on festivals and throughout the festival half of the Church Year. I would not be so inclined to set this in opposition or contrast to "the text," even though I get your point (or think that I do). In particular, after Holy Trinity, "the day" is determined and governed by the Holy Gospel of the day. Even for most of the Sundays from Advent through Eastertide, "the day" has derived its content and character from the Holy Gospel. There is a give and take between these two, of course, especially on the high feasts, since the Holy Gospel has been chosen and appointed with a view toward the celebration; but the Church Year is already following the broad contours of the life of Christ because that is what the holy Evangelists have set forth in the Scriptures. But again, after Holy Trinity, the Holy Gospel of the day is really ruling the entire course of things. You cannot "preach the day" without "preaching the text."
  
  I don't think that means "expository preaching," per se, leastwise not in the way that terminology is usually meant. I believe it means more the sort of thing that Pastor Beecroft has nicely described. Liturgical preaching is more than simply gathering up the language of the propers of the day; though I agree that is a worthwhile and salutary thing to do. Preaching is liturgical because it is part of the Liturgy; it has a liturgical purpose and a liturgical function to perform. It ought to bring the people from the font and from the lectern to the Altar and the Meal, as I have liked to put it.
  
  I concur that there is a fraility and weakness to our preaching, because there is such fraility and weakness in us preachers. Nevertheless, the preaching of the Gospel, the preaching of Christ Crucified, is fundamental to the Divine Service and to the life of the Church. The Prophet Jeremiah and the Apostle Paul would rather not have preached, but woe to them if they did not, and woe to any of us preachers if we do not. It is in our weakness that the powerful mercies of God are manifested by His grace. This, too, is a necessary work of Christ. It belongs to the necessary working out of the divine will, along with the Cross and Resurrection of Christ, that repentance for the forgiveness of sins must be preached in His Name. We certainly ought to be humble about ourselves, but not shy or retiscent or apologetic about that preaching. It is not our word that we preach, but the Gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation. In that good work, to which He has called us, notwithstanding our personal failings, we are no more an "intrusion" upon the task than the water of Baptism or the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. The One who has called us is wise in His foolishness, and He is faithful to accomplish His purposes in us.
• May 16, 2009 07:11:41 Re: Rev. Mason Beecroft on Preaching - Jim
  Sounds like a slippery slope, I think a text depicting the institution of the Lord's Supper may be appropriate yearly. But lesser preachers may preach Mother's Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Flag God's word to His people not come up with what we think people want/need to hear. I is not the pastors words they belong to the Lord.