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.
Sherman, I'm glad that you are addressing this topic. Anyone who objects to a "Black Word" misses the reality that there is no "Word" independent of culture. Attempts to abstract the Word of the Lord from both the preacher and audience create a fiction -- a White facade -- which too many speakers hide behind. I think that authentic proclamation -- whether in my homilies or conversations -- acknowledges the identities of me and my listeners. To claim my view is the "Word," something universally true, misses the particularity, culture, and personhood of ones hearers. And combines ignorance arrogance is strange ways. I think that you're exactly right to call for more Adventist preaching that takes the experience of the Black community seriously. And it is in knowing who we are that humans can actually find deeper common ground.
ReplyDeleteAlex,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response. I essentially agree with your statement. I think this is a key point. God has given Adventism different cultural perspectives. All of us have a different angle on truth. Some of us see different things. If we are to see the whole picture, then it is time that we talk to each other.
The African American approach historically has been to see liberation for the poor and oppressed as a central Biblical hermeneutic. Such a perspective is a gift to the whole Christian world.
And really like your last statement. That if we look at our own experiences seriously, we will ultimately find something deeper, and that something is a common human experience.
God Bless...