Sensitivity Run Amok
October 22, 2005 Posted by Amy Hall
There's a kind of sensitivity in preaching that goes
ridiculously beyond the cultural considerations of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. The following is an actual (condensed) IM
conversation I just had with a good friend at a prestigious seminary…
Kim: I'm
just about done writing the worst sermon of my life…. preaching class stinks
with all the ridiculous restrictions on everything.
Amy:
Restrictions?
Kim: Yes…
Amy: What kind?
Kim: 10-12 minutes, must be 3-point sermon, must have your
context be the 8 people you are preaching to…must be on a specific passage
that they have chosen, and so the list goes on and on.
Amy: Yuck. What are you preaching on?
Kim: I
have to preach on Luke 3:7-18…JBap in the wilderness preaching to his
“brood of vipers.” It so
stinks and I'm not happy with it. It's
hard balancing Protestant/Catholic, age differences, theological differences,
etc. for these specific 8 people when doing a sermon that involves
theology. I've been dancing around a lot
and I think that's part of what has made this difficult.
Amy: Hmmm.
Why should you have to dance around just to make everybody happy?
Kim:
Because preaching class gets mad at you otherwise, and it's not worth it. If I only wrote to “Protestants”
than it leaves the Catholic woman out and she won't feel that she's a part of
the “preaching experience,” and then we'll have to hear about it.
Amy: You could
speak to everybody as a Protestant. That's what you
are, isn't it? Why should she expect to agree with you?
Kim:
Nope, that's not how preaching class works… like I said… restrictions,
restrictions… but I did stick a bit of blatant Protestantism in there.
Amy: That's
ridiculous. I think you should write a parody sermon…
Jesus:
I want you to preach the Gospel!
Peter:
Yes, Jesus!
Jesus: Just make sure that you NEVER say anything anyone disagrees with, all
right? We want them to feel like they're part of the experience!
Kim: Yeah, that's sort of it.
Amy: LOL
Kim:
People will naturally disagree, but it's more saying things like “You are
saved by faith alone”–
Amy:
AAACK! You wouldn't want to say something like that!
Kim: when
that doesn't incorporate the Catholic belief.
We got into this discussion last week in class. This guy wanted to write his sermon that
mentioned the church as a “2000 year old institution,” and this woman
in our class started complaining about how her denomination was only 100
years old, and how she wouldn't feel included if someone preached a sermon that
called the church a 2000 year old institution.
Amy: Oh, you've
got to be kidding me!! That's hilarious! People are way too
sensitive. The teacher should have told her to get over it.
Kim: Oh no, the preceptor who I had at the time was way into it,
and then we had to have about a 15 minute discussion about how he could change
the focus of his sermon so that she would feel included.
Amy: Good grief.
Kim: Amy,
I agree with you. I’ll just do what they
want for the year, and then go back to my own style of preaching. But the people who haven't preached before
are getting caught up in up in all of this–restrictions and rules, etc.
Amy: Let me
guess…was the prof a woman?
Kim: Yes, but it was with the preceptor that we were having this
conversation.
Kim: She's a woman too, though.
Amy: Surprise,
surprise. Sometimes we women are too worried about people's feelings at
the expense of what needs to be said.
Kim: Yeah, well.
woman who was demanding such deference from everyone was about to expound the
“brood of vipers” speech!
[Disclaimer: my friend allowed me to post this with the
understanding that I would change her name and also tell you that her comments
are in the genre of “dramatic venting” and her seminary is not a terrible
place!]
Related posts:
- Controlling the Nurturing Instinct
- Preaching Advertisements?
- The Greater Joy
- Liberal Feelings vs. Judeo-Christian Values
- Could God Blogs Bring Men Back Into the Church?
- Book Review: The Feminist Mistake by Mary Kassian
Posted in Amy's Posts, Culture, Main Page, Religion (General)
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October 22nd, 2005 at 1:29 pm
It's difficult for me to imagine those kind of restrictions in my preaching classes. We did have to preach to the group, but that did not mean changing our exegesis to suit them. It meant finding a way to present the content of our study to the group we were preaching to. Hermeneutics should change our delivery, not the truth we bear. We may take particular points out of the text that deal with a specific situation we are addressing with the group, or are particularly relevant to the lives of the people present, but the concept of changing the theology of our sermon to suit the congregation is bizarre. This appears to be a whole different ethic of preaching than I was exposed to.
Just wanted to rant, that probably isn't of much import to y'all.
October 23rd, 2005 at 7:24 am
Mainline Protestants used to like this phrase: preaching should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
Another concept in mainline Protestant churches that used to have currency: the Church has both a priestly and a prophetic voice.
Part of the achievement of mainline Protestant churches in the last century was pushing social justice through their prophetic preaching that made comfortable people uncomfortable.
This preaching class sounds like the obverse. Priestly voice only, and really a treacly, sentimental version of “priestly” and no discomforting the comfortable.
Why not say, “Bring your idol– no bring your whole pantheon– into class and we will offer sacrifices to the whole pantheon.”
I can't tell from your post, Face, if prestige is an important factor in your friend attending the seminary in question. If it is, I imagine Tyler Durden looking at her and saying, “How's that working out for you?”
October 23rd, 2005 at 10:46 pm
I don't mean my statements to discredit your friends class. I was just sharing my reaction.
I find myself doing some of both comforting and conflicting in my preaching – as well as delving into the stories of our interaction with God. I am though a pastor in a mainline denominational church.
October 24th, 2005 at 12:30 pm
Bill, I don't think it's wrong for you to be upset about this. I think, as a culture, we're going to have to challenge people both to stop being offended by everything and also to not cater to those who are overly sensitive. Our culture needs to grow up or truth is in trouble.