Concerning Sermons (4): Preacher, it’s never about you!

Preachers often teach that preaching is proclamation.
The sad truth is, in the process, it devolves into less of about that which is proclaimed, or to whom it is proclaimed, than about the proclaimer himself.

It has become a performance.
And it is deadly.

Just take any sermon, best on line so there would be closeup shots, and observe objectively.
Don’t we see theatrics and oratory skills on display?
Don’t we feel that the preacher cares a lot about the perception he creates rather than the message, or even us the recipients of that message?

Preacher, it is never about you!
It’s about the message and the recipients.

Let’s take the recipients first and leave the message for another occasion.

God has entrusted you a message. It is for us.
Why then do you get in the way?
Why then see it as fans getting and applause collecting event?

If it is about us the recipients, then speak our language.
We dare not question your grasp of Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, even English.
We dare not ask for explanations, let alone support, for your spiritual jargons.
As a result, we tell ourselves we understand perfectly, whereas in fact, it’s like water over a duck’s back.
We saw.
We heard.
Every Sunday.
But with Teflon over our hearts.

The net result is we never received.
Just going through the ritual.
Just avoiding the accusations of conscience.
In fact we long to hear what God has in store for us, on every Sunday.
We long to hear of God’s character.
We long to learn of God’s ways.
And, for us common people, we long to know how to walk before Him, at our times, in our city!

Pedagogically, examples are useful.
Could be Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Paul, or the saints of history.
Even you.

But the point is not just to emulate, to look up to, as if mentioning them would whip us into noble actions.
We want to know we share the common human-ness. We share tears, laughters, worldliness, pain. And then we see how they wrestle with them——and above all, with God, whilst being in them.

For we carry our humanness daily, often being burdened by it to the point of buckling.
We see all human ugliness.
We are neither blind nor dumb.
And yet we see those ugliness daily attempting to masquerade themselves as celebrities, power brokers, high officials, judges, and yes, even priests.
All along, we see they have no clothes on.
But the worst point is: we are forbidden to point out loudly as the child did about the Emperor!
The cost of doing what the child did is just too much to bear!

We are the recipients of all these pressures.
We have to live in this space, the space akin to a pressure cooker, without the bleeding valve.
We don’t have the means to leave.
No foreign passports.
No extra savings.
No foreign language ability.
No skills.
Stuck with the pressures.

We are the recipients.
On every Sunday, we long to receive the proclamation.
We long to receive.