Current Preachers Disrupt Future Preachers

Calvin Seminary hosts "Investigative Reading for Disrupting Preaching Seminar"

by Nate Van Denend

Rev. Brian Ochsner and Rev. Paul DeVries of Brookside CRC met with Calvin Seminary students and professors on Wednesday, December 3 to discuss a recent sermon series they preached entitled. "Think It Through." In this series, they tackled some of the pressing social issues of our day. This meeting was the first of the Disruptive Preaching series. According to Sean Baker, series organizer, "Investigative Reading for Disruptive Preaching is a lunchtime seminar designed to explore the what and the how of preaching in a politically-charged context." The seminar is sponsored by CRWRC.

The specific topic for this discussion was immigration. However, the presentation and discussion afterward tended to pertain more to the meta-question of how to preach about controversial topics from the pulpit. Ochsner and DeVries developed several guidelines for such preaching. Their main thesis was that the preacher should make "theological statements" rather than "political statements" from the pulpit. The distinction between the two was critical. DeVries stated that often preachers approach contentious issues from a political perspective first and then try to find Scripture passages that fit their particular political point of view. Thus, the politics drive the theology rather than the theology driving the politics. As a correction to this tendency, DeVries suggested that we go to the Scriptures first.

The method of going to the Scriptures first was described by Ochsner. He stated, "We did not want to give answers. We refused to take positions on issues. We wanted to model the way to think about these issues theologically. Thus, we would pick passages which tended to support opposing sides of an issue and preach from both of them."

DeVries went on to describe in further detail how the sermons were preached. He urged preachers to use biblical, theologically correct language rather than the politically loaded language of our day. He stated that the sermons should challenge rather than comfort saying, "Don't preach to the bias of the congregation." But, lest preachers preach themselves out of a job, he offered some practical advice: "You earn the right to be a prophetic preacher by being the people's pastor. You do not inherit the right because of your position." He added, "Preach against your own biases; challenge yourself before you challenge others." Finally, DeVries brought up the importance of involving the church elders in this process. After all, they have the responsibility for the preaching of the Word.

After these opening remarks there was an opportunity for some discussion. There were several themes that came out of the discussion. One of these themes was brought into focus by Prof. Avila. He stated that our choosing of the text implies a political perspective. Thus, the simple fact that the preacher is going to the Scripture first, does not mean that that preacher is able to check her or his political baggage at the door. One is reminded of CRC churches preaching sermons on Exodus, while migrating from inner-city Chicago to the suburbs "for the sake of property values." Such would be a textual sermon that misses the much greater issue of racial reconciliation.

A second theme was brought up by several students. The preacher needs to take a stand from the pulpit. These students questioned the wisdom of refusing to take sides on these contentious issues. They stated that in the church you need to face the individuals involved. You need to pick a course of action. You need to take a side from the pulpit. Ochsner and DeVries defended their approach in response to these questions. They stated that they found their congregants to be weak in the area of being able to think biblically and theologically about issues. Thus, they thought their role as pastors in their particular situation was to help the flock learn how to think rather than telling the flock what to think.

The meeting was concluded in prayer. Future seminars are planned for January.

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