November 17, 2009
Preaching for the Nod
It's easy it is to “speak prophetically” when you know it's what people want to hear.
Every once in a while I find myself preaching for the nod. That’s when we try to hard wire a bit of ego-stroke into a Sunday morning message. We do it a lot, and it’s so easy—insert that small comment, that little aside, or even that main point that we know will appeal to the sensibilities of certain listeners. You know, the left-leaning (or right leaning) political comment. The doctrinal aside that scratches the itch of that person so prone to give up the "Amen" or the vigorous head nod.
Preaching for the nod has less to do with what we see in the biblical text and more to do with what we want people to see in us. And there lies the danger.
The most God-centered, John Piper-esque sermon or community-centered dialogical discussion can be completely me-centered if my intention is to get certain people to tell me, “Good words today, Pastor!” If my intention is to get certain people to see me as sufficiently hip and relevant (or standing against the tide of culture), or progressive (or appropriately conservative), or doctrinally adventurous (or steadfastly orthodox), then I have traded the proclamation of God's Word for the proclamation of myself, regardless of how I dress it up.
And all for that little nod.
Man, it's like a drug—the rush of agreement, of assent, of affirmation. Many of us would sell our souls for it. And some of us do.
And the problem is not only how easy it is, but how right it feels.
When I pastored in the Netherlands in the late 1990s, one of the big issues in our church was that the senior pastor didn't give a “gospel invitation” every week, as some of the old hands in the church wanted him to. I totally agreed with the pastor that good, text-based and God-centered proclamation was preaching the Gospel, even if there wasn't an invitation shoe-horned into and behind every message.
But it was easy for me to include that little gospel invite on those weeks, every couple of months, when I was preaching. It was a total win-win. I told myself I was preaching the gospel (a good thing, right?), some of the people got to hear what they wanted, and I got affirmation from a notoriously hard-to-please group within our church. Hey, "whether from good motives or bad," right?
The problem was, sermon prep began to be less and less about hearing from God and more about crafting statements of appeasement. It's not like I didn't mean those invitations, but...insert a slippery slope metaphor here.
In fact, I still feel myself slipping at times.
I pastor a church that holds its Sunday gathering in a pub. So, we see a different kind of folk than your average First Baptist or Second Methodist. Burned by “church,” usually more politically and socially liberal, they often come—just like everyone else—evaluating all the words spoken and sung, looking for reasons why they might or might not "fit" with our community.
And it's so easy to slip from speaking in a way that is accessible to those we are trying to love into our community and instead speak in a way that is attractive to them. You know, making sure they understand that, yes, it's church, but we're not like those churches.
We have a broad spectrum of political and religious views in our community—Republicans and Democrats and socialists and libertarians, people who come from evangelical and mainline backgrounds or no church background at all. It's something I love about Evergreen. But I have found myself, in our short history, throwing in the occasional anti-Bush comment. Or taking a poke at Joel Osteen. And if I am honest (and I'm trying to be), my motives are usually more about being seen as progressive—a Christian but not like those Christians. But more and more I'm recognizing just how misguided that is. How cheap and easy it is to “speak prophetically” when you know it's what people love and want to hear.
And if there's anything I don't want to be as a pastor, it's cheap or easy.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga on November 17, 2009
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Comments
My pastor had a real easy way of addressing the after sermon compliments.
"Great sermon, pastor"
"Oh, really? What was God saying to you?"
Their response to that question usually highlights for both you and the complimenter whether they were responding to something God had done through the message and simply offering genuine gratitude, or merely trying to pat the back of the leader of the church.
I have followed that advice and it has opened doors for prayer and conversation that simply wouldn't happen if I would have responded with, "thanks."
Posted by: Steven at November 17, 2009
We can't avoid being human. And part of being human is to be attractive to other humans. So I don't get too upset by preachers (including myself) going for the nod.
But to be like Jesus, we must emphasize regularly that becoming Christ-like trumps all of our human allegiances: political, family, or style preferences.
We all have to swim upstream against the prevailing prejudices on that. Well put, Bob.
Posted by: Jarrod at November 17, 2009
thanks bob. what a terrible temptation we face, not just in preaching, but in praying, in counselling, in really anything we do with a public face.
every once in awhile, when i'm feeling bold, someone will say "good sermon, pastor" and i, following the example of someone who's name i can't remember, will say "we'll see."
if only i could remember to preach for the one nod that really matters and not the thousands (ok, dozens) that don't.
Posted by: mike swalm at November 17, 2009
This is such an important issue for teachers and preachers. Generally speaking, I know I'm doing it right when I piss people off from every part of the spectrum.
Just kidding. : )
Sort of.
Posted by: Jason Coker at November 17, 2009
I JUST wrote about this. Since I am new at teaching preaching at churches and places once I started getting the nod, I found out how addictive it was. And once a man fell asleep in a talk, I felt how depressing it was. And then I realized who the frick cares, I need to share what God has trusted me to share.
Wrote about it here: http://www.flowerdust.net/2009/11/04/drenched-whole-healed/
Posted by: Anne Jackson at November 17, 2009
BTW, I put a strike through tag on "teaching" but evidently HTML has a Baptist bias and didn't let me just say preaching. :-)
Posted by: Anne Jackson at November 17, 2009
good words.
i will say though that it's not really a bad thing to be known as being "not" like those christians.
Posted by: nathan at November 17, 2009
Very interesting. Last week I wrote a similar post called "Applause or Reflection" that has some of the same thoughts:
http://thepathtolife.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/applause-of-reflection/
Posted by: Paul C at November 17, 2009
Great word, Bob! That's why I just stopped preaching altogether (only half joking).
We went to a house-church model and don't have "sermons," but instead allow those who attend to lead discussions and whatnot.
It is a healthy reminder, though, because that comes out regardless of what we're doing. We're so prone to distance ourselves from whoever it is that we don't like and preach to the few who see it our way.
Its a good thing we have the Holy Spirit to make up for our faults.
Posted by: Ken Eastburn at November 17, 2009
Good words. It reminds me of an exercise I did in my second year preaching class at seminary. One by one, we each read someone else's sermon, and while that happened the rest of the class was encouraged to chime in with loud encouragement - "Amen, brother!", "Yes", ...
Getting the nod (or, in that case the nod "to the max!") is certainly intoxicating. EVEN when the sermon was one that I had only just picked up!! How easily we can get addicted to admiration....
I like Steven (comment #1)'s answer: don't refuse the nod - but test it.
Posted by: Nicholas van Oudtshoorn at November 17, 2009
good comments, but what is with the rough language; piss & frick! haven't you read Colossians 3:8 You must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. You Men are to be examples, lead not follow.
Rev. M.K. Bufford
Posted by: Rev. M.K.Bufford at November 18, 2009
fruitless discussion on contingency of language commencing in 3, 2, 1.
Posted by: nathan at November 18, 2009
yes, it is fruitless, but we all know what obscene is. so we don't have to play games
Posted by: rev. m.k. bufford at November 18, 2009
In defense of the nod: I believe any pastor worth his salt will preach the truth of the Bible with or without nods. However, anyone who gets up in front of a congregation on a weekly basis should expect some form of regular feedback. This is natural and is not wtong. In black churches (I've attended many) the "amens" are expected and asked for during the sermon if they are not forthcoming. This even used to be true of white evangelical churches before they got sophhisticated. As to Bob pastoring in a pub, I hope your flock can find you when they really need a shepherd. I also hope you are still giving that "...little gospel invite."
Posted by: Melody at November 19, 2009
@ bufford,
thanks for proving my point.
it's turned into a game by people who can't just simply admit that if this is the hill you want to die on, then you're pretty shortsighted about what pertains to genuine christian identity or legitimate christian leadership.
you can have the last word...it that's what it's about for you
peace.
Posted by: nathan at November 19, 2009
Perhaps, that little nod could have come a long way - a transition from "God the void to God the enemy, and from God the enemy to God the companion."
Perhaps, that little nod could be "an act of surrender...being released from an intense and frightening struggle for one's very life...from guilt, a sense of forgiveness and new relatedness."
Perhaps, that little nod could manifest "a personal revelation of meaning to life...security, love, or esteem [one has] worked so hard for...freedom to begin to become the self one vaguely dreamed possible."
Perhaps, that little nod could denote "a satisfaction of frantic needs one had tried so desperately to meet on his own."
"Perhaps, only those who have been down [such] road to the point of surrender can easily recognize the landmarks and the [nonverbal] language of [such] response." (Keith Miller, "The Becomers")
Hence, they would be able to see that little nod with different set of eyes.
Posted by: still at November 19, 2009
Sometimes, I feel like I could post something like "we should attempt to please God rather than men" and folks would begin to list for me all the good spiritual/theological/philosophical reasons for wanting to make people happy (some would ask "Well, you don't want to make them UNhappy do you???").
Thanks all for your nods here- both the yeas and the nays :)
Posted by: Bob at November 19, 2009