The Task of Preaching

"A church that doesn't provoke any crises,

a gospel that doesn't unsettle,

a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin,

a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed -

what gospel is that?

Very nice, pious considerations

that don't bother anyone,

that's the way many would like preaching to be.

Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter

so as not to be harassed,

so as not to have conflicts and difficulties,

do not light up the world they live in." ~Archbishop Oscar Romero 4.16.78

"That is why we preach this way. We wish to shake our baptized people out of habits that threaten to make them practically baptized pagans, idolaters of their money and power. What sort of baptized persons are these? Those who want to hear the mark of the Spirit and the fire that Christ baptizes with must take the risk of renouncing everything and seeking only God's reign and his justice." ~Archbishop Oscar Romero 1.13.80

Immediately after I returned from El Salvador, I had my morning of interviews with the Board of Ordained Ministry. I have been in the ordination process in the United Methodist Church for nine years now, since 2001, and this was, I prayed, my final round of interviews to become an ordained United Methodist minister.

Many people thought I was crazy for going to El Salvador the week before this major event that I have been working on for almost a third of my lifetime. What if you get sick? What if you get hurt? What if something happens with the weather? Won't that make you tired? But I knew that the opposite was actually true; going to El Salvador was the best thing I could have done before being grilled on theology, leadership, and the practice of ministry.

There are many times when I feel like most of us in the dominant culture in the U.S. are living in something akin to a giant version of Disney World, a fantasy land that is not real and is in fact, far removed from the reality of the world.

Methodist pastors in El Salvador are living in the real world, a world in which persons depend on God to provide daily bread and give joyous praise when God does indeed provide. This is a world in which the gospel is GOOD NEWS because it declares that God is with us, presently, and especially with those who live daily on the edge of survival. Most of the pastors are as economically poor as their parishioners; one pastor commented to me that it must be easy to be a pastor in the U.S. because I have access to so many things, like a car for instance!

I got the phone call on Wednesday night that I have indeed been recommended for ordination at Annual Conference this year, so by the grace of God, I will be ordained on June 14, 2010. All week I have been reflecting on this. The bishop will place a stole around my neck and charge me with the task of preaching the gospel. I pray fervently that I will heed the words of Archbishop Romero to truly preach the good news of Jesus Christ that is provocative and bothersome to many, particularly to the majority of those who sit in the pews of the United Methodist Church. I pray to light up the world in which I live, knowing that many will want to put that light out, as they did to many priests in El Salvador, Archbishop Romero, and even Jesus himself. I pray to shake up the baptized pagans and proclaim God's reign and justice, both with my words and with my life.