part three Teaching and Preaching

Transcription

1 Re part three Practces for Teachng and Preachng TONY CAMPOLO

2 10 Preparng the Sol Layng the Groundwork for Sprtually Dynamc Speakng In the presence of God and of Chrst Jesus I gve you ths charge: Preach the Word; be prepared n season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage wth great patence and careful nstructon. 2 Tmothy 4:1 2 (NIV) before we begn explorng the dynamcs of teachng and preachng n the context of connectng lke Jesus, I want to pont out that when Jesus spoke, he dd so to a varety of audences and n a varety of settngs. Because we are followng Jesus model for connectng, t s mportant that we not lmt the scope of teachng and preachng to classrooms and congregatons. In ths and the followng chapters, my ntent s to demonstrate how dynamc teachng and preachng can be carred out n a varety of contexts, ncludng small groups, classrooms, workshops, and man stages at conferences. That s why you wll often notce me referrng to teachng and preachng as speakng or gvng a talk. Why I Am Combnng Teachng and Preachng e When Jesus delvered what s called hs Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 7), he dd a combnaton of teachng and preachng. He nstructed as well as proclamed, and n so dong Jesus nspred and challenged hs lsteners. He taught them how to pray (Matthew 6:5 13), he told them they were blessed (Matthew 5:3 12), and he warned them what would

3 preparng the sol 151 (Matthew 7:24 27). Although t says n Matthew 5:2 and 5:28 that Jesus was teachng when he told the crowd these thngs, he was preachng too hence the same Sermon on the Mount. The dfference between teachng and preachng s a matter of emphass. In the context of connectng lke Jesus, there should be some nstructon n our preachng, and n our teachng there should be some of the proclamng that happens n preachng. And both should nspre. The man goal of teachng s to help others gan an understandng of a specfc body of knowledge. In relaton to connectng lke Jesus, the purpose of teachng s to help others learn what t means to lve for God through the teacher s mpartng specfc knowledge about the Kngdom of God. The man goal of a preacher s to proclam the truth of the Gospel by callng people to make ntal decsons to lve for Chrst or callng those who already clam to follow Chrst to lve more radcally for the Kngdom of God. 1 Whereas preachng nspres lsteners to decson makng, teachng s an ongong process of nstructon n how to lve out those decsons. That s why preachng and teachng go hand n hand. As mportant as preachng s, we need sound teachng n how to daly lve for God. Through Chrstan teachng, those who have made decsons to lve for Chrst are nurtured nto ways of thnkng and actng that enable them to become conformed more and more nto Chrstlke persons. Although I wll contnue to make certan dstnctons between preachng and teachng, t must be sad that they have so much n common that most of what I wrte about one wll apply to the other. Consequently, you wll fnd n what you read a constant movement between the two. Jesus Purpose n Preachng and Teachng The dfference between teachng and preachng s a matter of emphass. There s no doubt when t comes to defnng the purpose of Jesus teachng and preachng: t was to recrut dscples who would become colaborers wth hm as he carred out hs plan to transform ths messed-up world nto the Kngdom of God. Jesus was very clear about what he was motvatng hs lsteners to do n response to hs teachng and preachng. A crtc recently sad of me, He s just a glorfed motvatonal speaker. When I was told about ths crtcsm, I responded, That s not a crtcsm. Re

4 152 connectng lke jesus e tant thng s what I m tryng to motvate people to do. I m tryng to motvate them to surrender ther lves to the transformng work of the Holy Sprt n ther lves, and to accept the challenge to gve themselves over to the wll of God. Wasn t Jesus was very clear about what he was motvatng hs lsteners to do n response to hs teachng and preachng. Jesus a motvatonal speaker? Wasn t he tryng to motvate people to repent and become dscples who would turn the world upsde down? If Jesus s our model, then modern-day teachers and preachers should zealously endeavor to follow hs example. Although we emphaszed Jesus purpose for connectng wth others n Chapter One, I want to reterate the magntude of ts mportance n the context of teachng and preachng. When Jesus preached, hs sermons were a call for hs lsteners to become specal agents of God who would jon the struggle to brng ths Kngdom nto beng. Jesus teachng and preachng resulted n others becomng aware of deep sprtual truths about the Kngdom of God. Whether or not people chose to accept what they heard Jesus say depended on ther own openness to those truths. As we have been statng throughout the book, what was requred of those who would preach and teach about ths Kngdom was a knd of connectng wth others, spelled out n Jesus many drectves dentfed throughout the Gospels and reterated n numerous verses n the epstles. These requstes were, and contnue to be, extremely dffcult to lve out. Although many have heeded Jesus call and have become part of hs revoluton, there are stll too few who are wllng to lve out the radcal dscpleshp he requred. Jesus was well aware that what he was askng of those who wanted to be hs dscples would be so dffcult that most who mght volunteer would fnd what was expected of them humanly mpossble. In the mdst of a socety that serves materalstc goals, Jesus asked would-be followers to be dscples who would not even thnk about pressng toward the consumerst goals of lfe prescrbed by the domnant culture. Instead, he wanted them to seek a lfestyle that dd not take nto consderaton what they would eat and what they would drnk (Matthew 6:31 34). The cost of dscpleshp, Jesus sad, would be hgh. If anyone would jon hs radcal movement, such a person must be ready to gve up everythng n order to help the poor (Mark 10:20), and be ready to suffer, f need be,

5 preparng the sol 153 preached ncluded such new commandments as havng hs followers abandon the tme-honored tradton of the an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth knd of justce, and contrary-wse would return good for whatever evl mght be done to them (Matthew 5:38 42). There can be no Kngdom of God wthout Kngdom people. A transformed socety requres ctzens who are themselves transformed. There are those, lke the Marxsts, who have concentrated only on transformng the nsttutons of socety, belevng that a just and equtable poltcaleconomc order nevtably would produce good people that f socal justce and economc equalty pervaded socety s nsttutons, somethng lke the Kngdom of God would gradually emerge. These actvsts, however, usually gnored the need for ntroducng ndvduals to the convertng work of Chrst and the power of the Holy Sprt. They faled to recognze that unconverted persons can make a hell out of any magned socetal heaven, and that only sprtual transformatons through the power of the Holy Sprt can create men and women ft to lve n God s Kngdom. Jesus declared that wth the Holy Sprt at work n ther lves, hs followers could lve the radcally countercultural lfestyle that he requred (Mark 10:27) and be a model for others (John 17:21). Jesus had ths dynamc power n hs own lfe. The reason the crowds were amazed at Jesus teachng and preachng was that he was empowered by God through beng flled wth the God s Sprt (Luke 4:1, 14). There can be no Kngdom of God wthout Kngdom people. A transformed socety requres ctzens who are themselves transformed. There are also many who thnk that all that s needed for the transformaton of the world s to proclam and propagate the Gospel. Ignorng the pleas of those who emphasze programs for socal justce, these belevers, who embrace an exaggerated belef n ndvdualsm, assume that the church should only seek to wn converts to Chrst. Ths latter group of Chrstans assumes that the Kngdom of God wll somehow emerge naturally or, as socal scentsts say, su geners f just enough persons get saved. In realty, both personal evangelsm and socal justce efforts are requred, because the Kngdom of God s composed of transformed people lvng n a transformed socety. Consequently, the Kngdom of God requres both personal and socal transformatons. Ths s the hols- Re

6 154 connectng lke jesus Any of us who attempt to speak on behalf of Jesus are to teach and preach the holstc message of Jesus. followers to do the same. That s why any of us who attempt to speak on behalf of Jesus are to teach and preach the holstc message of Jesus. Up to ths pont I have only brefly mentoned the major defnng dfferences between teachng and preachng. Before I get nto further consderatons that apply to both teachers and preachers, there are some dstngushng characterstcs of each that need to be hghlghted. Teachers: Characterstcs and Consderatons e In Ephesans 4:14, we read how Paul made t clear that sound teachng s essental f Chrstans are to mature n ther fath so as not to be swayed from sound doctrne. Whether we choose to be or not, all of us are teachers n one way or another, f only nformally, n the course of lfe. Therefore, what we have to say about teachng should have relevance for everyone. Mothers and fathers teach ther chldren. Coworkers n offces and factores teach each other. The young learn from the old, and the old learn from the young. Some of us formally teach, and some of us teach from example whether we ntend to or not. There are, nevertheless, some who appear especally suted to make teachng a more professonal vocaton. Wthn the church, there s even reason to beleve that becomng a teacher s a specal callng from God. The Bble states that God gves a unque gft to those who have ths callng (Ephesans 4:11). Hghly effectve teachers have certan characterstcs n common. Good teachers know that there are certan facts and sklls that students need to learn and, therefore, that a specfc body of knowledge must be covered. They know that effectve teachng requres adaptng to dfferent learnng styles and that askng good questons for reflecton and dscusson s an essental teachng technque. But hghly effectve teachers also know that they have to do more. They know that even the best teachng tools do not always nspre students to learn. The best teachers can so mesmerze ther students that ther students can, at tmes, even forget to take notes and stll recall what the teacher sad. There are some teachers who have such charsma as part of ther DNA, but there are others who gan such a capacty to sprtually connect wth others as a result

7 preparng the sol 155 n hs teachng, t was the Holy Sprt who enabled hm to establsh ntense connectons wth those whom he taught. He wrote, When I came to you, brothers and ssters, I dd not come proclamng the mystery of God to you n lofty words or wsdom. For I decded to know nothng among you except Jesus Chrst, and hm crucfed. And I came to you n weakness and n fear and n much tremblng. My speech and my proclamaton were not wth plausble words of wsdom, but wth a demonstraton of the Sprt and of power, so that your fath mght rest not on human wsdom but on the power of God (1 Cornthans 2:1 5). Paul clamed that hs sprtual dynamsm came through prayerfully surrenderng to an nfllng of the Holy Sprt. Many teachers would love to have the mpact that Paul had, but I wonder how many of them, lke Paul, are wllng to spend extensve tme n quet, as he dd. How many teachers are wllng to take the tme to go through sprtual practces that can lead to the nfllng of the Holy Sprt before tryng to teach? To those who long to possess Paul s knd of sprtual connectedness wth ther students, I say, wth bblcal backng, prepare yourself for teachng as he dd, wth sprtual practces lke the ones we propose n ths book. I suggest that those who would be teachers n a classroom set asde tme as part of ther class preparaton to go to what the Celtc Chrstans called a thn place and, n surrender of self, plead wth God to be flled wth the Holy Sprt. You could go, as the Bble says, nto a closet, f not lterally at least fguratvely, to pray. Before teachng, spend a few mnutes n sprtual soltude, smply prayng, Sprt of the Lvng God, fall afresh on me. Then wat n slence for an nfllng of the Sprt that can offer the knd of sprtual renewal that, at tmes, can send you nto a teachng stuaton soarng lke an eagle (Isaah 40:31). I also suggest you pray for students by name, whether by namng them as a group or by focusng n on a few. Through prayng for your students, you can become a channel of blessng for them. I guarantee that such prayng wll help you feel more connected to them. There are some teachers who serve n one partcular Pentecostal college I know of who go nto ther classrooms hours before the students arrve, and pray that the Holy Sprt permeate the rooms. When the students arrve, these teachers want them to enter sacred space. They hope that ther students wll feel the presence of God even before the lessons of the day begn. If you are a schoolteacher, a college professor, or a traner n a busness semnar, you ought to realze that there wll be those sttng under you at tmes who really don t want to be there. If gettng them to learn Re

8 156 connectng lke jesus empowered to enlven them should be a prmary concern. Whether the topc s overtly Chrstan or not, f you are a follower of Chrst, then what you teach should be worthy of sprtual empowerment, no matter the subject. If t s not, you may want to reconsder what you are teachng and why. Teachng s not only a matter of coverng a certan amount of materal. If we want to connect lke Jesus, then any teachng we do If we want to connect lke Jesus, then any teachng we do wll contrbute to helpng others gan an understandng of the meanng of ther lves. Preachers: Characterstcs and Consderatons wll not only convey nformaton but also contrbute to helpng others gan an understandng of the meanng of ther lves. Ths requres that we be so sprtually alve that there wll be an enlvenng power flowng over and under the words we speak, makng learnng a sprtual experence. e These days there are some who fal to recognze the mraculous effects that preachng can have. They are reluctant to acknowledge the valdty of the declaraton of the Apostle Paul, who sad, For snce, n the wsdom of God, the world dd not know God through wsdom, God decded, through the foolshness of our proclamaton, to save those who beleve (1 Cornthans 1:21). When empowered by the Holy Sprt, preachng becomes a force that can brng about hstorcally sgnfcant socetal changes as well as ntate radcal alteratons n the lves of ndvduals. Jesus preachng was of two types: pastoral and prophetc. He used both of these dstnct knds of preachng to brng about ndvdual as well as socetal change. It has been sad that the pastor comforts the troubled, whereas the prophet troubles the comfortable. As pastor, Jesus shepherded hs followers, carng for them and deeply mnsterng to ther hurtng souls. As such he was a reconclng agent, gently brngng people nto a sense of beng comforted and n harmony wth God and others. In contrast, as a prophet n the tradton of the ancent Hebrew prophets and hs forerunner, John the Baptst, Jesus preached aganst those who hndered the advancement of the Kngdom of God. I hold up both knds of Jesus preachng as models to be mtated, and n ths chapter and the next suggest how your preachng can ncorporate both of these ways of

9 The Preacher as Pastor preparng the sol 157 There are preachers who beleve that most, f not all, preachng s to be of the pastoral knd. Harry Emerson Fosdck, the avowed lberal preacher at the great Rversde Church n New York Cty, was one such preacher. He beleved that a sermon should address every knd of personal dffculty and problem flesh s her to ; that A sermon was meant to meet such needs; t should be personal counselng on a group scale. 2 There s a tme for pastoral preachng, and I hope that the suggestons toward the end of the chapter can help you connect wth your audence n the ven of a carng and compassonate pastoral preacher when that s how the Holy Sprt wants you to speak. I also hope that you wll be alert to the possblty that there may be tmes when you are called to be prophetc n your speakng. Because much of the knd of preachng that goes on today already s pastoral, I wll spend more tme n ths chapter focusng on the second knd of preachng Jesus dd: prophetc. The Preacher as Prophet Jesus sad, A prophet s not wthout honor, except n hs own country (Luke 4:24). Hs words certanly rng true for many, f not most, preachers who try to be prophetc. It s especally dffcult for those who have congregatons that prefer only to be shepherded. It s, however, possble to be both pastoral and prophetc f we can establsh personal connectons wth our lsteners. Durng the heght of the Vetnam War, Rev. Wllam Sloan Coffn, the well-known chaplan at Yale Unversty, preached a sermon denouncng the war, utlzng scathng language. In the congregaton was a mltary offcer who wrthed n anger durng the entre sermon. On the way out of church, the offcer, wth great ntensty, sad to Coffn, It was all that I could do to keep my seat whle you preached. I wanted to get up and stomp out, march up the center asle, and turn back smply to shout at the top of my lungs, bull***t! Coffn responded, Why ddn t you? The offcer answered, Because the nght my wfe ded, you sat at her bedsde all nght long, holdng her hand and prayng wth her up untl the moment of her death. I tell ths story to emphasze that when possble, the work of a prophet should be connected to pastoral care. Even when we don t know our lsteners, we can stll connect wth them by showng compasson Re

10 158 connectng lke jesus e prophesy wth tears n ther eyes because they know the hurts of the people to whom they are delverng ther prophetc messages. Even when prophets speak wth compasson, that does not guarantee a far hearng. Durng the 1950s and 1960s, preachers who spoke aganst the racsm nherent n members of ther congregatons could quckly be wthout pulpts, or worse. In today s troubled world, even suggestng that lovng justce be extended to certan people, such as homosexuals, s lkely to elct strong negatve reactons, f not a movement to remove the pastor from the pulpt. But beng fred mght not be the worst that can happen to prophetc preachers. In some oppressve totaltaran states, preachers who preach prophetcally are put to death. Such was the fate of Oscar Romero, the archbshop of El Salvador, who dared to speak out aganst the rulng dctator of hs country whose oppresson tyrannzed the poor. As long as he brought comfortng pastoral sermons to the people n hs docese, he was prased by hs naton s poltcal leaders. But when he began to speak out on behalf of the poor and aganst those who oppressed them, he was persecuted. As long as he pastored the people, he was affrmed by the rulng prncpaltes and powers, but when he became prophetc and condemned the government-sponsored death squads that systematcally slenced opposton voces, he became a target for assassnaton. It was sad of hm, When he fed the poor, they called hm a sant, but when he began to ask why the people were poor, they called hm a communst and set out to kll hm. That s what they dd to Oscar Romero. They shot hm n the back one Sunday mornng as he was facng the altar whle celebratng mass. John Perkns, one of the prophetc voces of the Afrcan Amercan communty and the convener and organzer of the large and sgnfcant Chrstan Communty Development Assocaton, tells about a whte preacher frend of hs who, durng the 1950s, endeavored to preach for socal justce for black people. They ddn t kll hs whte frend. Instead, they so humlated, harassed, and persecuted hm that he ended up takng hs own lfe. There s more than one way to destroy a prophet! Such reactons to the prophetc preacher should not surprse us, consderng that Jesus sad, They wll arrest you and persecute you; they wll hand you over to synagogues and prsons, and you wll be brought before kngs and governors because of my name (Luke 21:12). He also warned hs followers that ther fate mght be the same as hs, because the servant s not greater than the master (John 15:18). Sometmes, when a pastor feels an urgent need to have a prophetc

11 preparng the sol 159 speaker to do the job. That way, f people go ballstc over beng challenged to change, the pastor can say, Well, you ll have to am your complants at that outsde speaker. I would never talk to you that way! Sometmes, as Shakespeare once sad, dscreton s the better part of valor. But then what s sometmes called dscreton just mght be another name for cowardce. At a recent clergy conference, I delvered a strong prophetc message condemnng the affluent consumerst lfestyles of some mddle-class Chrstans, comng on strong aganst those who lve wth relatve ndfference to the plght of the poor. Followng my sermon, several of the pastors who were present sad to me, I could never get away wth talkng that way n my church. It s lkely that they were tellng the truth. The Integrty of a Prophet Walter Brueggemann, n hs book The Prophetc Imagnaton, provdes mportant nsghts nto what ntegrty requres of anyone who would speak lke a prophet. Among hs or her prmary attrbutes, accordng to Brueggemann, s that the prophet dentfes wth the people. The true prophet does not smply pont an accusng fnger and declare, You have volated God s wll! Rather, the godly prophet recognzes hs or her soldarty wth the people and makes t clear that he or she stands wth them as together they face up to the judgments of God. 3 For example, n scrpture we read how the prophet Jeremah, lke all true prophets, wept over the people of Israel because he knew that ther fate would be hs fate as well. He knew that f they, as a result of ther unfathfulness, were defeated by ther enemes and carred nto captvty, he too would share n ther destny and be carred nto captvty wth them. The prophet always empathzes wth the sufferngs that the people wll endure because of ther unfathfulness. Not to weep wth people s to fal to be the knd of prophet God calls you to be. The story s told of a church that secured a new preacher, and the word spread around town about how well he preached. The church members were abuzz about what an mprovement he was over ther former preacher, and how much more attenton they gave to hs sermons. When the town cync asked what made ths new preacher so much better than hs predecessor, he was told, The old preacher told us that we re all snners, and that f we ddn t repent, we d burn n hell forever! Ths cync then asked, And what does ths new one say? The answer was, That we re all snners, and that f we don t repent, Re

12 160 connectng lke jesus e When the cync responded that he ddn t see any dfference between the two of them, he was told, Ths new preacher says t wth tears n hs eyes. The true prophet weeps! If you are gong to be prophetc, be sure to nclude yourself among those who are under God s judgment. Be sure to talk about our sn rather than your sn, and what s wrong wth us nstead of what s wrong wth you. Pontng a fnger at the congregaton and declarng, You re snnng! or You re falng God! suggests that you are above ther faults. It mples that somehow you are vastly superor. Such fnger pontng mght drve people to despar and get them to the altar, but a prophet who dentfes wth those to whom he or she s speakng s lkely to do thngs dfferently. Let t be known that you yourself have flaws and that even f you have not fallen short and faled God n the same way as those n your audence, you too are n need of God s mercy because of falures n your own lfe. At best, you should make t clear that you are not holdng yourself up as an example of what t means to be all that God expects a Chrstan to be, If you are gong to be prophetc, be sure to nclude yourself among those who are under God s judgment. but rather that you are nvtng them to jon you as you travel on the path of repentance. Weepng wth them about shared unfathfulness s a practce that comes from mtatng bblcal prophets, and t n no way wll dmnsh your credblty. When speakng to the falure of Chrstans to embrace the radcal lfestyle that Jesus spelled out, I have used myself as the example of that falure. Explanng how Jesus called hs dscples to respond to the needs of the poor wthout worryng about ther own fnancal securty, I have descrbed how I myself have faled to lve out Chrst s drectves. I admt how I have put away far too much money n 401(k)s for my retrement. As the stock market fell and my retrement nest egg showed sgns of dsappearng, I have confessed that ths caused me to panc because I had put my trust n Mammon and not been completely wllng to lve by fath. I let t be known that although I have clamed to have trust n God, I haven t been wllng to go along wth Jesus, who sad, Therefore do not worry, sayng, What wll we eat? or What wll we drnk? or What wll we wear? For t s the Gentles who strve for all these thngs; and ndeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these thngs

13 preparng the sol 161 In my prophetc sermon, I go on to hold myself up as a foolsh man, lkenng myself to the man whom Jesus descrbed n Luke 12:16 20: The land of a rch man produced abundantly. And he thought to hmself, What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops? Then he sad, I wll do ths: I wll pull down my barns and buld larger ones, and there I wll store all my gran and my goods. And I wll say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods lad up for many years; relax, eat, drnk, be merry. But God sad to hm, You fool! Ths very nght your lfe s beng demanded of you. And the thngs you have prepared, whose wll they be? I feel lke I m that man, I say. I m not sayng that I faled to tthe. What I am sayng s that I have had too much left over after my tthe was pad up. I could have done so much more as a steward of God s wealth, rather than put so much away to secure my well-beng n my old age. Because the audence can dentfy wth me, rather than becomng defensve (as we can tend to do when under condemnaton), they are more open to examnng themselves n the lght of Jesus teachngs n the Sermon on the Mount. Ths knd of prophetc preachng doesn t always have a happy endng. Sometmes there are hardened people out there who are just watng for the preacher to show some vulnerablty so that they can justfy ther attacks. There s evl n everyone, and sometmes that evl wll express tself n efforts to destroy the preacher. Jesus warned hs followers that there would be relgous people who would thnk that they were dong God s wll as they set out to destroy the servant of God. There s also warnng when t comes to lstenng to prophets: be on guard aganst pretend prophets! They are the preachers who can be harsh n what they say, wthout fear of recrmnaton, because ther condemnaton s amed at people who aren t assumed to be present n the congregaton. A case n pont s the preacher who makes strong declaratons aganst gays and lesbans, assumng ether that they aren t present or, f they are, that they re n the closet and won t protest. Such a preacher s a pretend prophet. Pretend prophets want to sound as though they are takng rsks n what they are sayng, when n realty there are no rsks beng taken at all, at least not by them. In the end, a true prophet passonately and compassonately declares God s truth about the Kngdom of God, no matter the consequence. Better the consequences than compromsng hs or her message to avod Re

14 162 connectng lke jesus Offerng Hope and a Future Vson The prophet, accordng to Walter Brueggemann, has stll another sacred responsblty n addton to weepng wth the people as confessons are made of unfathfulness to God s wll. The prophet must also clearly provde a new vson of the future. A prophetc message should be marked wth hope, promsng that wth repentance come new possbltes because where there s no vson, the people persh (Proverbs 29:18, KJV). When Zecharah pronounced God s judgment on the people of Israel for not showng true justce, mercy and compasson to one another, he then went on to gve the people a vson of the way thngs would be when they allowed ther hearts to be broken by the thngs that break the heart of God. He descrbed to them a peaceful and joyful vson of the future that gave them hope. He wrote, Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall agan st n the streets of Jerusalem, each wth staff n hand because of ther great age. And the streets of the cty shall be full of boys and grls playng n ts streets (Zecharah 8:4 5). There s lttle queston that prophetc preachng wll, at tmes, offend people. But as Wllam Brosend, of the School of Theology n Sewanee, Tennessee, says, Worry less about offendng the people and more about offendng the Gospel. 4 May we never be accused of offendng the Gospel. And may we do all we can to care for our audences n ways that help them see that we truly want God s best for ther lves and for the world. To that end, the followng secton focuses on three crucal elements that help us connect wth our audences whether we are teachng, pastorng, or prophesyng. Three Essental Elements for Teachng and Preachng The ancent Greek phlosopher Arstotle s consdered an expert n prncples for effectvely connectng wth an audence. Arstotle had much to say on the topc of rhetorc, whch he defned as the faculty of observng n any gven case the avalable means of persuason. 5 Because so much of teachng and preachng nvolves persuason, t s a good dea to look at what Arstotle consdered to be three essental elements of rhetorc: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos: Appealng Through Character e Arstotle s frst prescrpton for good speakng s ethos (Greek for char-

15 preparng the sol 163 prme factor n whether or not what s sad wll persuade an audence to beleve or act dfferently. In Acts 11:22 24, we read about Barnabas, of whom t was sad, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Sprt and of fath. And a great many people were brought to the Lord. That Barnabas was effectve as a preacher was hghly contngent, as these verses suggest, on the knd of person he was. People want to know about the character of the preacher or teacher who asks that hs or her spoken words be taken as credble. There are preachers and teachers who protest that they don t want ther personal lves to be constantly under survellance. They complan that they resent lvng n a fshbowl. If you don t want to lve n a fshbowl, you shouldn t try to be a communcator of Gospel truth. We must always be aware that there s potental to lve contrary to what we teach and preach. Wthout a lfestyle that evdences the values and prncples we advocate, however, we wll have lttle hope of havng n-depth soul connectons wth others. Every lstener, whether n a church congregaton or n a classroom, s always askng, Why should I lsten to what that person has to say? If no one n your audence cares about your character, then you are not talkng to those who are ready to be changed by what you have to say. We are told n Matthew 7:28 that after Jesus fnshed speakng, the crowds were amazed at hs teachng, because he taught as one who had authorty, and not as ther teachers of the law (emphass mne). Plate, Herod, and the Pharsees all had power, but they dd not have authorty. Authorty has to be earned through a lfe lved wth authentcty and ntegrty. In teachng the thngs of God, there must be, accordng to one master teacher, the hermeneutcs of testmony. What you are must be an ncarnaton of what you say. Ths was so wth Jesus, and t must be so for anyone who seeks to connect n any way that comes near to approxmatng the way Jesus connected. What you are must be an ncarnaton of what you say. A young Domncan doctor I knew, who had all the credentals to set up a lucratve medcal practce, chose to forgo the good lfe Amercan style and return to hs homeland to serve the poor. Two days each week he would earn money by practcng medcne and dong surgcal work for rch people. He would make a lot of money that way. Then he would take the money that he earned servng the rch and use t to buy medcnes. At least three days a week he would take that medcne to the Re

16 164 connectng lke jesus could not afford. He would serve the poor wthout pay and gve away medcne to those who had no means to buy t. Each day, when ths talented young doctor fnshed hs work n the slums of Santo Domngo, he would clmb on top of hs pckup truck and call people to gather around to hear hm preach the Gospel. People came, lstened, and even responded to hs nvtaton to accept Chrst because he spoke as one havng authorty. Consder that when Mother Teresa spoke, people lstened to her, even though her actual delvery was anythng but dynamc. She spoke as one havng authorty even more authorty than the pope! It was authorty she earned on the streets of Calcutta by servng the poor. Closer to the here and now s the rse to nternatonal fame of my frend and former student, Shane Claborne. Ths young advocate of radcal Chrstanty asks hs lsteners to do nothng more and nothng less than what Jesus asked of them. Shane calls a generaton of young people to a smple lfe of sacrfce on behalf of the poor and needy of the world. But lots of people teach and preach that message, so why does he draw such huge crowds when he s speakng? The answer les n hs credblty. Shane lves out the lfestyle prescrbed by Jesus n the Sermon on the Mount. He actually does gve away hs money to the poor. He lves n a rundown neghborhood n house that was purchased for next to nothng. Hs clothng amounts to lttle more than what s on hs back, and they are clothes that he made hmself wth the help of hs mother. It s no secret that he earns what some would call bg bucks as a speaker, then turns that money over to the ntentonal communty wth whom he lves, called the Smple Way. Ths communty then uses that money to meet the needs of the people who lve around them n ther slum neghborhood. It s no wonder that one young Chrstan told me, I lsten to hm because he s the real thng. He doesn t just talk the talk; he walks the walk. The consstency between what Shane says and what he does earns hm credblty, and that s what makes hm nto somebody who connects wth hs lsteners. T. S. Elot once wrote that between the dea and the realty falls the shadow. May we strve to lve so close to the dea that there s lttle to no room for a shadow. Pathos: Appealng to Emotons e Have you ever been convnced of somethng not by fact but by hearng a gut-wrenchng story? As we saw n the prevous chapter, stores can

17 preparng the sol 165 That s the power of pathos (Greek for sufferng or experence ), whch s what Arstotle saw as appealng to the emotons or sympathes of the audence. Many people respond to messages by feelng the pan of what a speaker s descrbng and makng decsons based on those feelngs. Because stores that generate pathos are ncluded n the prevous and next chapters, what I want to menton here s the mportance of speakers brngng a radant sprtual vtalty to ther emotonal appeals that wll help these appeals more deeply connect to ther audence. Wthout such a personal dynamc, any speakng, no matter how good the emotonal appeal s, can fall flat. The most mportant way to gan nspraton for pathos s to ask the Holy Sprt to nfuse you wth the knd of sprtual energy that wll cause you to be an open vessel for the Sprt s work n your lfe. To be open to the Sprt, you need to become a cleansed lens, through whch the Sprt can flow to others undeterred. If you are a drty lens, then the power of the Sprt flowng through you wll have dmnshed effectveness. One of the best ways to become a cleansed lens for the Holy Sprt s to commt to prayng the prayer of examen n the manner Mary descrbed n Chapter Three. Another way speakers can become nfused wth sprtual vtalty s to jon a support group of three or four persons who meet regularly for ntmate sharng of lfe s experences and for prayer. In Matthew 18:20, you read that where two or three come together n the name of Chrst, the Holy Sprt wll be there, connectng them wth each other and makng them one. Somethng qute wonderful can happen n such a gatherng. Jesus hmself, n hs humanty, ganed sprtual sustenance through such a support group composed of Peter, James, and John. He regularly met wth the three of them and found n them energy for the tasks that were part of hs msson. I beleve that any teacher or preacher should seek to be so energzed from ntmate frends. It s mportant to note that even though pathos s an mportant element n speakng, not everyone s persuaded by emotons. Although almost everyone responds to certan stores, there are some people who would prefer beng spoken to more drectly. It may be because they have a learnng style conducve to more drect, logcal reasonng, or are leery, for whatever reason, of beng emotonally manpulated (or both). It s mportant, however, to remember that we can t know the personalty or learnng styles of each person n our audences. If we do know somethng about the preferences of the majorty of our audence, then t s a good Re

18 166 connectng lke jesus won t always know, appealng to both logc and emotons s a good rule of thumb. Logos: Appealng Through Logc Fnally, there s logos, whch accordng to Arstotle s persuadng through the use of reason. Good teachng requres that both preacher and teacher have ratonal ponts and nsghts. If what you say does not make sense, you wll lose credblty fast, even f you make strong emotonal appeals. Study s essental f you are to offer reasonable nsghts for those who lsten to you. There are credble sources avalable for almost any subject matter you present. When researchng those sources, you may want to know that as vald as common ratonales or explanatons may be, novel or fresh ways of lookng at ssues are known to be especally convncng. If you can say somethng n a way that makes sense and causes your lsteners to say, I ve never thought of t lke that before, you have gone a long way n nfluencng your audence. Lecto dvna, the practce of prayng the scrptures that both Mary and I have been hghlghtng throughout the book, can gve you compellng new nsghts nto Jesus lfe that you can share wth others. e LECTIO DIVINA AS A SOURCE OF LOGOS Over the past few decades, there has been a growng apprecaton of lecto dvna as a source of logos. Brllant nsghts nto the meanngs of scrpture and revelatory perspectves on the Gospel are forthcomng from lstenng to what the usually uneducated people who lve n poverty and oppressons have to say from ther experences wth lecto dvna. For those of us who have been socalzed to lsten to and read brllant scholars as means of ganng an understandng of theologcal truths, ths dea s strange and perhaps dffcult to accept because we have been acculturated to assume that truth always comes from the top down. We have come to beleve that there are academcs n semnares and unverstes wth earned degrees n bblcal studes, phlosophy, and theology whose job t s to teach the clergy. The clergy, n turn, are to take what they learned from academc scholars back to ther people, who are watng to be taught. But God s truth also comes from the bottom up. People whom the world mght consder to be nothng when t comes to beng sources of truth may be those through whom God chooses to reveal some of the deepest and most relevant truths of scrpture. As the Apostle Paul wrote n 1 Cornthans 1:19 21, For t s wrtten, I wll destroy the wsdom

19 s the one who s wse? Where s the scrbe? Where s the debater of ths age? Has not God made foolsh the wsdom of the world? For snce, n the wsdom of God, the world dd not know God through wsdom, God decded, through the foolshness of our proclamaton, to save those who beleve. Some people workng n our msson organzaton, the Evangelcal Assocaton for the Promoton of Educaton, have seen truth come from the bottom preparng the sol 167 People whom the world mght consder to be nothng when t comes to beng sources of truth may be those through whom God chooses to reveal some of the deepest and most relevant truths of scrpture. up through utlzng lecto dvna n ther mssonary work n Hat. Ths program, developed by Kent Annan, a staff member of Hat Partners, one of our afflate mnstres, makes lecto dvna an ntegral part of the educaton processes among the Hatan peasants they work wth n churches and communtes throughout the country. 6 Kent works wth a Hatan team to arrange for small groups to gather together and reflect on scrpture read aloud. It sounds smple, but t s powerful. One of the places ths happens s n lteracy centers, where people are eager to use ther new readng sklls. Often the frst book the newly lterate want to read s the Bble. Kent nvtes someone to read a few verses of scrpture n the Creole language out loud. Then the group members are nstructed to close ther eyes and bow ther heads, and n slence wat for the Sprt of God to speak to them. As a moment passes, the stllness often becomes electrfed wth the presence of the Holy Sprt. Lttle by lttle, on more occasons than can be cted, somethng of God moves among the partcpants. Those who are there become aware of the bblcal truth that wherever two or three are gathered together n God s name, God s there n the mdst of them. After a perod of slence, the partcpants are nvted to lft ther heads, open ther eyes, and one by one explan what the Sprt told them about what those verses mean for ther lves. From peasants wth no formal educaton, wonderful truths are often artculated. Messages that are relevant to the partcpants are heard. Blessngs of God fall upon everyone, and they know that God has been wth them. It s a smple process Re

20 168 connectng lke jesus readng sklls; chldren and adults become more confdent speakng n a group; church leaders experence the value of mutual learnng n a communty of fath; church gardens and communty development projects, as well as new collaboratons among dfferent denomnatons, have been started out of the bond formed n these groups; and most mportant, at the root of t all, people learn n slence how to lsten to what the Sprt would teach them from the scrpture that they have just read. What s most wonderful n the practce of lecto dvna s that you can go back to the same passage of scrpture tme and tme agan and t wll always be fresh. What s more, the Holy Sprt mght teach you new thngs each and every tme you read the same passage of scrpture. The Bble becomes a vehcle through whch God speaks to the stuaton n whch the person who practces lecto dvna fnds hmself or herself. In dfferent stuatons, the same scrpture wll teach you dfferent thngs. The best knd of teachng and preachng often comes out of practcng lecto dvna. Here n the Unted States, professonal Bble scholars have been ncreasngly makng t a practce to meet regularly wth deeply commtted Chrstan laypersons wth the express purpose of learnng what these ordnary people have learned from scrpture. Also, there are some preachers who, before delverng ther sermons on Sunday, wll meet wth members of ther congregaton n order to glean from them perspectves on the messages that they are preparng. We beleve, from our own observatons and from what we read n scrpture, that Chrstan communcators can have access, through the nspraton of the Holy Sprt, to deep nsghts that wll ad them n connectng wth others. The Holy Sprt, who Jesus promsed would lead us nto truth (John 16:13), blows unpredctably on persons rrespectve of educatonal status or ntellectual capablty. In short, because the Holy Sprt s a teacher, Chrstan communcators have a unque source for the logos of ther messages. e THE ROLE OF APOLOGETICS IN LOGOS Provdng ratonal arguments that ntellectually legtmate Chrstan doctrne s somethng that can help Chrstans who want to connect wth those whom Fredrch Schleermacher, the nneteenth-century theologcal apologst, called Chrstanty s cultured despsers. 7 There are, however, those who say that people cannot be argued nto the Kngdom of God, and that apologetcs s a waste of tme and energy. There mght be some truth n that asserton, but I beleve that f the Holy Sprt has prepared a person to hear and accept the Gospel, an apologetc presentaton of Chrstan doctrne can be qute

21 preparng the sol 169 truth wthout the Holy Sprt s creatng sprtual connectons wth those beng addressed wll fal to wn converts. As has been accomplshed by the lkes of Rav Zacharas through hs book Can Man Lve Wthout God? and Josh McDowell through hs book Evdence That Demands a Verdct, when the Holy Sprt s at work n and through an apology of the Gospel, many can be led to accept Chrst. When ratonal argument, bolstered by scentfc evdence, s moblzed to make a case for the valdty of the Gospel, and the Holy Sprt s operatve, connectons can be made that result n transformed lves. A Case for Chrstanty, wrtten by the famous lterary genus C. S. Lews, s an apologetc that many clam led them nto the Chrstan fath. Ratonal arguments can help those who have ntellectual qualms regardng the truths of scrpture to become more open to messages of the Gospel. In ths sense, they can be very much a part of what has been called pre-evangelsm. It s the work of the Holy Sprt to convert persons to Chrst, but there s lttle questonng of the fact that good apologetcs can lead some people to be more open to the work of the Holy Sprt n ther lves. There s a second purpose for apologetcs that deserves consderaton by those of us who try to justfy the use of ratonal and scentfc arguments as part of logos. That second purpose s that such arguments can bolster the fath of those who already beleve the Gospel. Recently, Francs Collns, the scentst who led the team that decoded the genome, wrote a book ttled The Language of God. That book, gven the prestge of the author and the soundness of hs arguments, has provded great encouragement to students of bology who have too often been rdculed by antthests as beng naïve belevers who hold to ther convctons n spte of scentfc evdence to the contrary. Collns, whle not overwhelmng the deologes of agnostcs and athests, certanly demonstrated that there s sold scentfc ground on whch Chrstans could stand n makng ther case. Collns s apologetcs have ncreased the boldness of many Chrstans who had been serously challenged by aggressve athests such as Rchard Dawkns, who makes the case aganst God n hs book The God Deluson. The Templeton Foundaton, establshed by Sr John Templeton, the bllonare Chrstan phlanthropst, has publshed a massve array of books wth apologetc themes. Many of these books show that the dscoveres of cosmologsts snce Albert Ensten often harmonze wth bblcal descrptons of creaton and, at the very least, make thesm a respectable ntellectual opton. These books, produced by some of the Re

22 170 connectng lke jesus cannot be proven, scence certanly makes room for belevers wthn the context of the contemporary marketplace of deas and scentfc fndngs. Lke all good apologetcs, although not necessarly provng the exstence of God and the valdty of the Gospel, the Templeton publcatons certanly make t easer for those enmeshed n a scentfc worldvew to mantan ther convctons and to ward off the attacks of Chrstanty s opponents. These are just a few examples of how apologetcs can be used to make belevers more secure n ther fath. In short, ratonal and scentfc knowledge can add much to the logos of those who preach and teach the truths of scrpture. Understandng the role that logos, as well as ethos and pathos, plays n effectve speakng s foundatonal for our teachng and preachng. The foundaton wll crack and crumble, however, f we don t recognze that t s the Holy Sprt who nfuses those elements wth power from on hgh. It s our job, then, to buld on that foundaton by ncorporatng certan sklls nto our teachng and preachng, whch s the subject of the next two chapters. As you wll see, t s the work of the Holy Sprt, combned wth effectve speakng sklls, that can empower us to speak wth authorty as Jesus dd. Wthout that dynamc combnaton, you and I cannot connect wth people the way God wants us to. e