Today I would like to share with you a little bit about the newest book I am reading. When I first picked up the book, Preaching From the Soul by J. Ellsworth Kalas at the book store, I must admit that I had a preconceived notion of what I might expect to find inside. I was convinced that it was a book that would either be a compelling discussion of African American preaching or perhaps endorse some form of evangelical or evangelistic approach to preaching. Those notions were immediately wiped away after the introduction. What I was left with was an understanding of preaching that should be the bedrock of all preaching, no mater what ones ethnic or denominational heritage might be.
As someone who is a second career seminary student, I have had the opportunity to observe from the congregation hundreds if not tens of hundreds of sermons through the years. One thing that always struck me was the lack of passion (soul) demonstrated by the vast majority of preachers that I have experienced. This was evident not only in their sermon delivery, but even in the way which they read the scriptures. Several years ago, when I attended License to Preach School, (a United Methodist effort to fast track preachers) I was astounded at how passionate (soul filled) these new preachers were. At the time, I simply didn’t understand how I could be so moved and so greatly enjoy listening to these preachers that by the very fact that they were attending this school suggested that were very new to the art of preaching. Kalas addressed this observation in the very first chapter when he described that preachers sometimes suffer from the burden of familiarity, they can become more taken with problems of scholarship than with the wonders of God’s continuing power.
I am also aware that I am not the only one to notice the phenomenon of the highly educated, academically oriented preacher. When I first began seminary, I was inundated with parishioners challenging me to “remember your roots,” and to not let all of that “education” change who I was or how I preached. At the time I had no idea what they were talking about. Wasn’t that the entire point of attending seminary, to learn how to preach and in so doing, change my life forever? What these people were really trying to say is exactly what Kalas was describing about Soul Preaching. They had experienced too many preachers, who had, for lack of a better way of saying it, lost their soul. They no longer gave of themselves or exposed their soul while they preached. Preaching had simply become for them a routine, weekly exegetical exercise with no passion and no soul.
This book also reminded me of an experience in Field Education class. One of the students was bemoaning his cool reception when he preached his first sermon while filling in for a pastor who was vacationing. When he was asked what he preached on, he said that he had written a paper on the Doctrine of Christ for Systematic Theology which he had essentially shared with the congregation. No wonder his reception was cool. The advice given to him was to preach on something that he cared about, and to preach about something he was passionate for. The next week he returned much happier with the congregation’s response. This time instead of trying to teach the Doctrine of Christ from the pulpit, he shared with the congregation about his experiences in El Salvador working in a mission. As Kalas described, “most of the people to whom we preach don’t show a passionate longing for God: but on the other hand, they do have a God-shaped void.” It is our job as a preacher to try to connect with that void, and we simply can’t do that when we are not sharing from our soul.
This book has already impacted my preaching. Some of the ideas presented in this book I seemed to have an innate, but undeveloped understanding of, such as the importance of being in love with Christ, and the people in the congregation. The notion of being in love with the sermon, however, was new and very exciting to me, and it seemed to serve as a way to connect my love of Christ to my love of the congregation.
The area that had the greatest impact on me was Kalas’ discussion in chapter one about taking the Bible seriously. I was struck very hard by his words “No better thing can happen to our preaching than having a passionate love affair with the Bible.” Each of his five steps is a critical component of being in love with the scriptures, but the one that stood out the most for me was “Don’t be afraid to wrestle with the Scriptures.” These words are at the heart of preaching from the soul. Wrestling implies that one cares enough to spend whatever time is required in the scriptures to get every blessing possible, even if it means wrestling all night. One also runs the risk (or reward) in wrestling with the scriptures of being permanently changed, as illustrated in the story of Jacob.
As I have begun to travel down the path of discovery through this book of what it means to preach from the soul. I look forward in the next few chapters to learning more about what it means to awaken and sustain the people of God, and to find out what it takes to be willing to ask myself the difficult question of “who is the preacher?”
Blessings
As someone who is a second career seminary student, I have had the opportunity to observe from the congregation hundreds if not tens of hundreds of sermons through the years. One thing that always struck me was the lack of passion (soul) demonstrated by the vast majority of preachers that I have experienced. This was evident not only in their sermon delivery, but even in the way which they read the scriptures. Several years ago, when I attended License to Preach School, (a United Methodist effort to fast track preachers) I was astounded at how passionate (soul filled) these new preachers were. At the time, I simply didn’t understand how I could be so moved and so greatly enjoy listening to these preachers that by the very fact that they were attending this school suggested that were very new to the art of preaching. Kalas addressed this observation in the very first chapter when he described that preachers sometimes suffer from the burden of familiarity, they can become more taken with problems of scholarship than with the wonders of God’s continuing power.
I am also aware that I am not the only one to notice the phenomenon of the highly educated, academically oriented preacher. When I first began seminary, I was inundated with parishioners challenging me to “remember your roots,” and to not let all of that “education” change who I was or how I preached. At the time I had no idea what they were talking about. Wasn’t that the entire point of attending seminary, to learn how to preach and in so doing, change my life forever? What these people were really trying to say is exactly what Kalas was describing about Soul Preaching. They had experienced too many preachers, who had, for lack of a better way of saying it, lost their soul. They no longer gave of themselves or exposed their soul while they preached. Preaching had simply become for them a routine, weekly exegetical exercise with no passion and no soul.
This book also reminded me of an experience in Field Education class. One of the students was bemoaning his cool reception when he preached his first sermon while filling in for a pastor who was vacationing. When he was asked what he preached on, he said that he had written a paper on the Doctrine of Christ for Systematic Theology which he had essentially shared with the congregation. No wonder his reception was cool. The advice given to him was to preach on something that he cared about, and to preach about something he was passionate for. The next week he returned much happier with the congregation’s response. This time instead of trying to teach the Doctrine of Christ from the pulpit, he shared with the congregation about his experiences in El Salvador working in a mission. As Kalas described, “most of the people to whom we preach don’t show a passionate longing for God: but on the other hand, they do have a God-shaped void.” It is our job as a preacher to try to connect with that void, and we simply can’t do that when we are not sharing from our soul.
This book has already impacted my preaching. Some of the ideas presented in this book I seemed to have an innate, but undeveloped understanding of, such as the importance of being in love with Christ, and the people in the congregation. The notion of being in love with the sermon, however, was new and very exciting to me, and it seemed to serve as a way to connect my love of Christ to my love of the congregation.
The area that had the greatest impact on me was Kalas’ discussion in chapter one about taking the Bible seriously. I was struck very hard by his words “No better thing can happen to our preaching than having a passionate love affair with the Bible.” Each of his five steps is a critical component of being in love with the scriptures, but the one that stood out the most for me was “Don’t be afraid to wrestle with the Scriptures.” These words are at the heart of preaching from the soul. Wrestling implies that one cares enough to spend whatever time is required in the scriptures to get every blessing possible, even if it means wrestling all night. One also runs the risk (or reward) in wrestling with the scriptures of being permanently changed, as illustrated in the story of Jacob.
As I have begun to travel down the path of discovery through this book of what it means to preach from the soul. I look forward in the next few chapters to learning more about what it means to awaken and sustain the people of God, and to find out what it takes to be willing to ask myself the difficult question of “who is the preacher?”
Blessings
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