Advent harsh words

I’ve been given the job of chairing the preachers and worship leaders meeting in our circuit and  tonight was my first meeting. I’ve not chaired one for six years! 

Part of how I want the meeting to develop is for those coming to share more so we are having each time a time of reflection and group discussion. Tonight I got those present to explore Sunday’s Gospel passage - Luke 3: 7 - 18. 

We explored several questions: 

Would we call any congregation a brood of vipers today?

Would said congregation ever want us back? 

Has our preaching become too comfortable?

Are our congregations too comfortable?

Have we lost the call to be prophetic and include the world as it is in our worship?

Could we risk prison or beheading as a result of the words we share?

We concluded there is a task to remind people the Gospel has to change us. I shared once when I preached prophetically someone asked me afterwards “are you alright?” What do we expect of our hearers as a result of our sharing what God has placed on our heart? The hearers of John’s message asked “what shall we do?” My beloved college principal Graham Slater always talked about the clincher in a sermon. I was taught to preach like this: tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them then tell them what they should do as a response to encountering God’s word. 

I ended the meeting with the Benedictus. And I prayed for all of us that we might be prophets of the most high preparing the way of the Lord and guiding feet into the way of peace. Preachers and worship leaders are called to provoke transformation! Readers, I’d forgotten what fun guiding a preachers meeting is! I thank my superintendent for letting me loose on it. 

As a postscript tonight - and I’m glad to learn today people read these nightly thoughts - this manifesto popped into my in box. Remember in Advent we are not preparing for a sweet little baby story - we are anticipating the radical kingdom of God - and like John’s vipers, we may need to change.