“Preach on! Preacher.” To preach to a gathering of The Lord’s precious children is a humbling, awesome, thrilling, and frightful experience. To preach is to accept a most paradoxical position. “How am I, a mere man with flaws and downfalls just like everyone else gathered in any place, supposed to fill a role as the spokesman, mouth piece, prophet or messenger from Almighty God?” The sermon is indeed a crucial component in our worship. The moment where the word of God is handed down to His people through the tool we refer to as the preacher, pastor, minister, or you fill in the blank. There are a couple of mainstream models that we have come up with in an attempt to align two people in one – a sinful man and a medium for God’s Word. There are pros and cons with both.
In the “high church” model, a preacher may be in robes or in some other kind of ornamental attire set high above the congregation sometimes on a pedestal. It would be easy in this model for a minister in this position to feel elevated, separated, special, or set apart from the people. He may appear unapproachable by “common” Christians. However, donning and removing the robes may be a keenly observable way to separate the roles of a minister as “mouthpiece of God” and “caregiver for God’s church” (if such a distinction should be made). There are also times I question reverence with which we approach (or fail to approach) corporate worship. This model is generally better about drawing attention to the sacred nature of coming into the presence of God.
The “low church” model takes the opposite approach. The attempt here is to bring the preacher down to a level of equality with the church. Often a podium or pulpit is removed and at times even replaced by a coffee table. This model is generally good about focusing on the relational aspects of worship and the closeness with God that we have been given the privilege of experiencing. The minister is viewed in the same light as any other congregant. There may be a struggle in this kind of model in distinguishing between a fellow Christian interpreting scripture and a spokesman from God delivering a direct, convicting, and sometimes harsh Word from the Lord.
To preach or not to preach is not the question, but is a calling from God. It is a calling that must be taken seriously and with conviction by both the one in the pulpit and the ones in the pew. May we worship with possessed hearts, clear minds, and pure spirits so that our worship may be found acceptable to God and a pleasing aroma from His people.
No comments:
Post a Comment