Podcast Episode 13 - The Sabbath's Call to the Coming Kingdom

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The Sabbath is more than just a day we get off from work! Listen to the administrator discuss the implications for our present communal and individual living in this podcast representation of his most popular SabbathPulpit.Com posts on the Sabbath.

An Answer to a Question - Problems with Black SDA Preaching

I know that some folks don't read the comments section of the blog. So I decided to post this in the main section of the Blog. Harold Smith brought a couple of questions to me regarding the Black Adventist Preaching Tradition that I think are very important and thus wish to bring it to the attention of the full audience of this Blog.

Harold Smith's Question

He writes:

Brother Cox, I agree with what your are saying but we must ask what is “ethnic tradition� as it relates to African Americans. We are not a monolithic group. Some blacks have always lived in upscale neighborhoods, some blacks did not think the civil rights movement was prudent, some blacks are lifetime Republicans, some blacks have always listened to classical music, read Shakespeare.

Actually, since nearly all African Americans are also European Americans - should not our European heritage also be a part of this “stamp� that we must put on Adventism?

Currently, I see a lot of Black Adventist preachers who seem to think that making our use of our ethnic tradition means speaking in Ebonics, attempting to replicate prominent black preachers who preach in the moan-and-groan cliche-laden tradition, and even incorporate faux theologies that create false connections to black culture in the Bible.

We must tread carefully. This is a minefield that you are walking on.

The Response

My response is as follows:

Harold,

Thanks for your comments…

Ebonics alone is not Black Preaching

I think you make a few interesting points…First, I would encourage you to look further in my posts…The simple use of Ebonics without concern for the justice concerns of scripture is a caricature of the tradition. As is just what you call “moan and groan.� I would encourage you to continue to read the blog as well as my own blog Soul preaching found at http://www.soulpreaching.com. In them both I decry exactly what you are saying. Also Rock and I both talk about this by saying that it ain’t the style but the substance. Certainly folks caricature Black preaching…as they do Adventist preaching, and all other preaching…but the caricature doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with the real thing…I would invite you to look at this post where I talk about this.

Black Preachers don't ignore European Tradition

In addition, it is true that the European tradition is a part of our cultural heritage as African Americans. In fact the African American tradition is not solely an African one in my opinion, it is a molding of the African and European traditions that happened on American soil. Our very complexions demonstrate that we are taken from many different places…However, traditionally, the European culture is already dwelt upon and promoted. It is often promoted as the “normative� methods without European or white attached to it. I think to not talk about the African American contribution is to deny the universal church an important component of the Christian tradition which is more rich than only a European presentation hidden as normative.

Black Preaching Not Monolith

Your concern about their not being a monolithic African American tradition is true to a certain extent…This is basically the Postmodern attack on essentialisms. There is no monolithic group that is true, I am speaking of the traditional justice concerns of African American preaching when I speak of the African American preaching tradition, I am not speaking of every African American who preaches. There are some African Americans who do not preach in the tradition that I am speaking of. I would say that they are not preaching in this tradition. No doubt some would argue with my definition. Some would say that it leaves out real great black preachers. I would encourage those to create a definition so we can look at it…

Should We be Comfortable in Any Party?

As far as Republican or Democrat…that is beyond what I am trying to say…I do not wish to argue that a Republican CAN’T preach the justice concerns or that Black preachers must be Democrat or Republican, that is not my argument, in some ways I wonder if we as Christian preachers of all ethnicities and cultural traditions should be comfortable in either…but that is another post for another day….

Shakespeare and Great Black Preaching

As far as the Shakespeare, you should note that some of the greatest preachers in the Black tradition from the beginning quoted much from literature…often European. They did pull from poetry often European…they also pulled from classical music. Certainly the propensity to pull from these different places doesn’t negate the traditional push towards the justice concerns of scripture and a freedom in presentation that other ethnicities have not necessarily had. In fact one of the characteristics of Black preaching is to be more open to pull from many traditions…

I do not argue that Black preaching requires listening to classical or not…being Republican or Democrat…or any such thing…Just a dedication to finding what the scripture says to those who have their back against the wall. Certainly the Black Preaching Tradition is not the only one that has done that, but in America it is as a whole done more to keep that style of reading alive than many other traditions.

The Black Adventist Mandate - Unifying Culture and Adventism

After Rock speaks about Black preaching holding on to a prophetic vision on the scriptures, he notes that Adventist preaching is one of reform. He sees it as important for Adventist preaching to hold on to certain unique traits to be worthy of the name Adventist preaching.

Now Rock goes to his fundamental assertion that there are

Pitfalls of claiming Blackness but failing to articulate its justice concerns and professing Adventism but preaching without its prophetic essence. We need to do Black preaching because it resontates with our cultural past and present in ways that maximize the impact of truth. We must do Adventist preaching because that is our unique commission. Anything less is a denial of one's oath, a tragedy for the people and a disappointment to God.

What we Must Do

Here the Black Adventist preacher is put in a position, according to Rock, where he or she MUST find a way to make explicit use of ones ethnic tradition as well as integrate and connect it to the mandate of being an Adventist preacher. Now some would argue that we simply give up our ethnic tradition, but to do so provides great problems in my estimation.

I believe that Rock is right that we must find a way to put our own stamp on Adventism as well as the fundamentals of the Gospel. If we provide that approach then perhaps we can see more of what Adventism has to say to the poor and the downtrodden which is the mandate of the black preacher. If we provide that angle, than perhaps we can emphasize more what are the "liberative aspects" of our message and the Gospel that may not have been emphasized as much in the past. If we can do that, perhaps we can provide a light to the social dimensions of the gospel that American Evangelical Christianity has not always emphasized.

But even if we accept that we must do both, the big question becomes how do we do this? I have written about this some at this link. You also might be interested in some other Black Preacher's approaches to the question in my series on the book Preaching with Power by R. Clifford Jones. We will look at Calvin Rock's suggestion as we continue this series and hopefully we will get to some practical examples as time goes on.

Community, Justice, and the Sabbath

Pastor Ryan Bell makes the following interesting observation:

I am also concerned that the meaning of Sabbath will be limited to merely an internal, personal, and private experience of God's "Shalom" and will fail to translate that into public and outward expressions of God's reign of Peace.

The Sabbath certainly is at the foundation of our own theological enterprise as Adventists, but it is also one that we often do not explore as we should. As Bell notes in the comments section of the post, most of the time when we are discussing the Sabbath we are talking about the day. We are putting the Sabbath up against Sunday. We are defending the 7th day against all other days.

When it comes to actually keeping it, we often end up with a hodgepodge of Biblical and Cultural mandates. On top of it all the Sabbath's main purpose seems to be, according to most of us, a day that we get to take off from work. That is an important feature as I have noted in previous posts on the Sabbath, but it sidesteps a couple of important compontents.

First the Sabbath is a communal celebration. We don't keep it by ourselves. We keep it in a community.

Second the Sabbath eschatological looking forward to the coming kingdom. We participate and even live in that coming Kingdom more fully on the Sabbath.

My taking off from work barely scratches the surface. It is time for Seventh-day Sabbatarians to begin looking more deeply at the Sabbath so that we may teach "The Sabbath More Fully" and not be happy with taking a day off from work and going to church on the right day.

Total Synthesis of Our Culture and Adventist Perspectives

The final model is to synthesize the two perspectives. This is what Benjamin Reaves called, "Finding the liberation components of our message." Here the preacher has in mind concrete human experience and attempts to note how Adventism addresses that. Does the Sabbath have anything to say to the woman who is barely keeping her head above water while being discriminated against at her job?

Howard Thurman asked the question, "What does Christianity have to say to those who's back is up against the wall?" I ask the same question of Adventism. What does it have to say to those at the bottom? It is time to preach a liberation Adventism that is relevant to human experience.

Two Sermons on Incarnation

The other day I heard a sermon on the incarnation by a preacher. The preacher stated that God became human. You better believe that Jesus became human and not believe the errors taught by many people. He attacked Bishop John Spong as well as the Davinci code. He then ended by saying that He will hold on to the real Jesus.

The sermon didn't really address concrete human experience. It simply taught a lecture on how Spong and the book Davinci code is incorrect. But a few years ago I heard a sermon by Henry Wright on the incarnation. I forget the title of the message, but Wright looked at the genealogy of Jesus. Wright noted the problem people you find in that genealogy. Wright noted how understands the pains of a bad family tree. Jesus understands the pain of not having the house that you would want. Jesus understands the pains of growing up poor. Jesus understands, and Jesus is with us in that pain that we find ourselves today.

And I will add, that if we find ourselves up against the wall, we can simply call on Jesus and Jesus knows by experience just how much grace is needed to wait on that paycheck when the rent is due. Jesus knows by experence what it mans to "not have anywher to lay his head."

Synthesis for a Larger View of the Doctrines

Here the doctrine of the Incarnation is looked at through the hermeneutic perspective of the weak and the downtrodden. Can we do the same thing with the Sabbath? Can we do the same thing with the State of the Dead? that is our calling. Preach the Sabbath through the perspective that God has given us. We can't just preach the same sermons as everyone else and only use "ebonics" we must preach a Black infused Adventism.

And what we will see when we do this, is that other cultures will see a relevant word as well, for ultimately we all have a need to hear Adventism address the real world. And it will for ultimately Adventists will preach with a loud voice that message of Revelation 14:6-12, if we preach it right, the world will known and understand how that message affects our daily living.

Slight Integration of Our Culture and Adventism

The next model is what I have called a simplistic integration of the cultural perspective and our Adventism. Here the preacher might preach an authentic Black sermon, and just tack on a phrase or so from Adventism. Adventism is not in the fabric of the sermon, but it is a tack on. One might make reference to the Sabbath when the Sabbath had nothing to do with the sermon. One might talk about "the dead being dead" or the like.

Another way to follow this model is the take an Adventist sermon and try to tack on some "blackness." Sometimes preachers will take a common Adventist sermon and maybe speak it in a "ebonics style." Perhaps one will have an illustration about "you can't go play ball with your hommies on the Sabbath." In essence the sermon is unchanged. There is a slight change in terminology, but in essence Black culture and Adventism are still separate.

Often times when we speak of relevance this is the model that is followed. While making use of "black" English is helpful and valuable at times, this is not really an interaction of the two perspectives. But it does at least attempt to bridge the two worlds. This is, in my opinion, a step in the right direction, but in the next model we will look at the model that I propose.

Separating Our Culture from Adventism Preaching Model

The first model of relating Adventism to the Black experience is to not relate them. This approach would take one of two forms. The preacher would either preach Adventism or preach on issues related to Black experience. In other words the preacher might preach on the relation of the the Sabbath to the Gospel or preach on how the Gospel affects the educational plight of black people.

Some preachers would sometimes preach on issues of relevance to black culture and then other times preach on "Adventist" issues. What it means however is that one's sermons are either Authentically black, or authentically Adventist, but not both, certainly not at the same time.

The problem with such an approach is that it makes Adventist teachings irrelevant for daily living. Whenever the preacher preaches on Adventism the people will not hear about the God who is working things out for their daily living. Instead the people will hear something devoid of human experience.

Too often this is how Adventism is presented and preached. I think that we must put a little Adventism in our Black cultural preaching and put a little Blackness in our Adventist preaching. How do we do that?

We will continue looking at another model for this interaction in the next post of this series.

Is Black Adventist Preaching Needed?

Should one even attempt to integrate a black cultural perspective (or any cultural perspective) with Adventism. One might argue that such an integration is not needed. On this very blog one commenter stated that we should just "Preach the Word."

While I understand the sentiment, we also must "Preach to the People." If you are to be heard or understood one must preach in not only in the vernacular, but even making use of the culture of those who we are preaching to. This is what Jesus did when he used the popular idea of the dead being able to talk to the living in the parable of Lazarus and the Rich man. Paul did the same thing when he spoke to the culture on Mars hill. While we must ever be mindful of what C. E. Bradford wrote in the book Preaching to the Times, that we are to preach TO the times and not merely preach the times, we also must interact with the culture that we find ourselves.

Preaching the Word to the People

To much preaching could be done anywhere. If your preaching does not change at all depending on audience, then the congregation is irrelevant to your preaching. No you must preach to real people. If you do that, then you must take into account the people in your preparation of the sermon.

"Preaching the Word" does not take away your responsibility to show how the "word" is relevant to the cultural perspective of the congregation that you are speaking to.

Great preaching is Encounter

Great preaching is an encounter between Spirit, preacher, and congregation. Even though you may preach the "same sermon" again, you will never really preach the same sermon again if you are open to the leading of the Spirit and interact with the congregation.

So preaching that takes seriously the culture of the Black community is needed, as well as preaching that takes seriously any culture that God has called you to preach to. Thus let us look at how we can relate these two perspectives to preach a relevant and faithful Gospel to God's people in these last days. In the next few days we will look at some models to do that very thing.