Preachers

I remember an excellent review (now lost to me) of the uses of language.  One of the main points in the book related to the sometimes stumbling relationship of written and spoken language.  The most favorable conclusions favor spoken language.  Writing came long after the sounds of thoughts and emotions proved mankind to be above all else in the management of world administration as God gave it.  The benefits of language cannot be denigrated by the sometimes ill uses of it, and the prejudices, contradictions, and ignorance pronounced and/or proved through the medium of language.  Whatever its faults, language is all we have for the purpose of leading to some precision in formulating communicable thought packages about ourselves and that we seek for others.  Language becomes a kind of glue that relates us to perceived nature, and to God.  Not until we realize that language (sound/visual symbols) is something that stands for reality, as Helen Keller, blind and deaf, discovered that we sense we are above the animals, that our lives are more than earthbound.  Her moment of discovery was a moment of ecstasy – to humanity.

So it is that history has been made by Moses talking to Israel and Pharaoh; of priests identifying Israel with  shouting from Mounts Ebal and Gerizim; of prophets railing against kings and times; of Jesus on the Mount; of the Apostle Paul, as the chief speaker; of Augustine, an eminent rhetorician and theologian; of Francis, evening preaching to crowds; of Luther and basic issues; and, others down to our era, with leaders in religion like Edwards to Graham; and, in government, in cultural issues like race – all so deeply touched by the spoken word.  That word, if traced carefully grows out of the thoughts/beliefs and experiences of the persons speaking, and those often cast in the word given of God in Scripture.  We all know such speeches as Lincoln’s, Gettysburg Address, or the I Have a Dream speech from Martin Luther King, Jr. and find the idiomatic language in the Scriptures.  Their public purpose was occasion and persuasion, a high calling.

The best preachers are students not only of Scripture and people, but lovers of words to meaning.  The words, their composition (used in phrases) become something of a hobby to them.  The right words arrest listeners to ideas, meaning – to the point of decision making.  The preacher calls for a verdict.  He or she is the spokesman, the attorney for God in the court of human justice, righteousness, and every-day life.  Wrongly cast in the activity the preacher seems to be melodramatic even ignorant on occasion, perhaps a self-serving person, a zealot without God’s empathy meaning and case in mind.  God does have a case of relief for mankind’s needs.  How shall they hear of these matters without a preacher – professional or lay?

When we have a legal problem in life, we seek the best lawyer we can find.  One of the gifts to us is the court of justice, and we want our case well put to the court, the judge, the jury.  At the same time in the society jokes about lawyers regale us.  They are best told by the dedicated attorneys, who well know there are those who betray the purpose of public or private defenders and positions that are legal and needful.  Preachers know there are those who embarrass the cloth.  The Catholic Church is embarrassed by the scandals of some priests.  I once talked about moral issues with the president of the denomination of which I have been a member.  He had made a study of the failures of ordained ministers and missionaries in our denomination and found that about 2% had been hypocritical in some way.  That meant that about 98% of the known group were functioning appropriately.  Such a percentage would be counted a raging success in any other profession.  It is likely that the minister standing before us is a good person presenting a message of value to our lives.  That person may need a bit more education, better knowledge of language, and the practices of integrity, but we have what we need if we are persons of humility to listen, of prayer to improvement, and commitment to articulating as clearly as possible the witness we hold.  Without language, we have nothing else to offer for clarity.  Without spiritual integrity, there is something lost in the persuader’s message.  Integrity finds the better ways to win in God’s kingdom.  Scripture is clear that Christ is mankind’s advocate to Father God.  We feel it expressed in sacred language. We must believe Scripture focus is God’s verbal declarations of his meaning.