Biblical roots for the sacramental view of the sermon are found in the New Testament's presentation of the nature of preaching, and particularly the preaching of Jesus. The word used for preaching in the Synoptic Gospels, keryssein, means "to announce," "to proclaim." The Vulgate translation is praedicare, "to call out openly." In the New Testament, preaching is not simply edifying discourse or instruction in abstract truth or illumination of religious truths; nor is it merely exhortation or admonition or "inspirational" address. It is an act of proclamation in which that which is proclaimed is made present and powerful in the moment of proclamation. Thus Jesus came to the synagogue in Nazareth, read from Isaiah 61 concerning the promised messianic age, and then declared, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in you hearing" (Luke 4:21). In his person and proclamation the long awaited rule of God had become living reality in their midst....
The primacy of this form of proclamation must be reaffirmed in an age when people demonstrate little confidence in the spoken word. Everywhere language is used to manipulate and control hu¬man behavior for personal profit or advantage. Lying in advertising, in business, and in government is commonplace and often taken for granted. Surrounded every day by speech which lacks authenticity, the Church finds it doubly imperative to live and speak with integrity in every aspect of its life. The Church takes courage, however, in the realization that the effectiveness of its witness does not depend ultimately upon the quality of its life but upon God's grace which makes use of imperfect vessels.
...Preaching must be the faithful exposition of the biblical message in such a way as to permit the grace of the Gospel to bear on daily life. Through the Holy Spirit the reality of the salvation actualized in Jesus' death and resurrection is made present and effective in the words of the preacher.
Donald C. Frisk (1911- ), AThe Theology of Preaching: A Covenant Perspective@
From Grace and Glory: a festschrift on preaching in honor of Eric G. Hawkinson (The Covenant Quarterly, Nos 3,4, 1981), pp. 88,91.
The Wind of the Spirit
The secret of our success has been the simple preaching of the gospel in the power of the spirit .... We have been weak in education and parliamentary procedure, but we have been strong in the pulpit.
E. August Skogsbergh (1850-1939), Covenant Yearbook, 1910, p. 146, quoted in Scott E. Erickson, David Nyvall and the Shape of an Immigrant Church (Acta Universitatis Upsallensis Uppsala, 1996), p. 233.
When there is a change in the pulpit of a congrega¬tion, there is sometimes a revival in the church and the new man is given the credit for it, but the true reason may be that the old familiar voice is no longer heard. To be sure, there was much that was human and weak in the labor of the one who left but there was also something which remained in the hearts of the listeners, which was called forth by the sound of the new voice and quickened to new life.
Nils Heiner (1868-1958), AWhen the Lord God Calls@
From Herbert E. Palmquist, The Word Is Near You (1974), p. 153.
Great Covenant preaching does not belong to a bygone era. The gospel is always modern and gospel preaching is always fundamental.
G. F. Hedstrand (1886-1960)
From Foreword to The Covenant Pulpit, G. F. Hedstrand, ed. (1954).
Many a beautiful sermon containing wonderful truth and dressed in eloquent language falls to the ground like a bird shot down in flight. What is lacking? No heart! Nothing is wrong with its theology. The teaching is correct, and truth is spoken. Scripture after Scripture is quoted. The presentation is quiet and orderly, and the language is dignified and stately. Despite all this, not a soul is gripped by the message.
Why is this? Simply because the preacher has neglected to make what he says a vital issue for himself. He is like a record player which grinds out what has been cut into the record of the memory during the previous week. This is not preaching. This is merely making a speech.
Gustaf F. Johnson (1873-1959), AHearts Aflame@
From Gustaf F. Johnson, Hearts Aflame, trans. Paul R. Johnson (1970), p. 8.
Proclaiming the Story
Preaching is the telling of the story of Jesus, to the end that the hearer becomes part of the story. Its purpose is not to impart information, but to evoke faith and obedience. It is a word of faith that we preach. When the hearer believes and obeys this Word, he becomes a participant--not just imaginatively, as a child does when a bedtime story¬hero has the same name as he, but actually and effectively. This is a principal implication of the saying that Christ died for me.
The first preaching of the apostles consisted mainly of this storytelling, as demonstrated by Peter's sermon to the household of Cornelius. Very briefly, almost summarily, he told them the story of Jesus. But he didn't stop there with the conclusion AWell, now you know the story.@ Instead he continued: "To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." He invited them to become part of the story and they did. "While Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the Word" (Acts 10:33,34). Without this conclusion the sermon was unfinished.
Preaching is important to the interpretation of the cross at precisely this point. Analysis and objectivity had little to do with the attitude of the apostles to the cross. Instead, they had entered into the experience of the cross and they were under a divine mandate to extend it to others. It would not be adequate to teach others of the experience without drawing them into it, for it is only from within that the foolishness of the cross may be perceived as the wisdom of God....
...Christ is risen, and present. The preaching does not cause his presence; instead, it defines and declares it. The presence of the risen Christ, not the imagination of the preacher, bridges the gap of history. Yet without the preaching Christ would be the unintroduced guest at the party, or the stranger in the back pew. His presence, possible as it is because of his resurrection, makes it imper¬ative for everyone to know his story.
Everett L. Wilson (1936- ), Christ Died for Me (1980), pp. 93,94,95.
The opportunity and need for proclamation of the gospel, the strong public announcement of the good news revealed in Christ Jesus, is before the church, especially the preacher. Leadership requires it. Doing it will enhance the leadership role. Wise or simple, learned or untutored, successful in this world's terms or a failure at everything, every human being needs to know that in Christ there is the new and right relationship with God. God wants people to know that!
The apparently overwhelming tendency to use the pulpit for didactic ends may occur because of the kind of audience to whom the person in the pulpit preaches todayBthe "savvy" individual who is often better informed than the preacher. The preacher is no longer the "parson," the person in the community. Consequently, the preacher may be intimidated by the hearers' learning and success and feel the need to cover his or her tracks. Rather than a fearless, "stick-your-neck-out" declaration of the promises of Scripture, the preacher carefully explains and aims at logic and good sense. There is no desire here to speak against such concerns. The desire here is rather to awaken the preacher to the additional challenge of announcing the gospel in declarative terms, a gospel to which hearers are called to respond. The gospel is also for heralding.
J. Robert Hjelm (1927-1999), AThe Pulpit Leads the World@
From Servant Leadership, Volume Two: Contemporary Models and the Emerging Challenge, James R. Hawkinson & Robert K. Johnston, editors (1993), pp. 54,55.
The preacher [here referring to the lay colporteur in Sweden] should not find more joy in his work than in the fact that his name is written in heaven (Luke 10:20). In his travels from village to village, often without food for a day, he must not give way to discouragement, despair, or anxiety about sustenance (Luke 9:58). When he meets people with natural goodness, he must not hide the truth that would wound them into seeking new life. Pleasing and fearing the people are great temptations to the colporteur (Isaiah 51:12,13). When he meets opposition from preachers or people, he must not become vindictive or abusive. Christ died also for them. He may say, "It is, after all, the truth that I speak." Even so, why are you not as zealous about your own faults? Beware to think that you are something under much approval of Christian friends. In too zealous a service with much speaking and preaching, you can preach away your own spiritual life.
Mission Discussions in Jönköping, Sweden, 1892
Quoted in Images in Covenant Beginnings, pp. 133,134.
I once heard it said that my father's preaching was centered around two themes, "our badness and God's goodness." I do not so recall it, and I heard much of his preaching. Rather, he spoke of our lostness and God's mercy. There was something infinitely precious about men and women, but they had missed the road and only Christ could save them. That was the testimony of their own experience. I went astray and knew not the road but then I heard the voice of the Savior. Others were now on the same road of lostness as they had been and they were out to win them. It wasn't the debater that stood out in the old Covenant preacher, it was the pleader. Paul's distressed complaint to the Corinthians, "though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers," could probably have been made in our early days also. But we thank God for the "fathers"; they predominated.
Alas, that it should be so difficult to have a heart and to maintain it. True doctrine we have and some perhaps which is not so true; we have organizations; we have "revivals," campaigns, drives and crusades. And most of this is good. But it is incomplete unless "the love of' God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."
Herbert E. Palmquist (1896-1981), Wait for Me! (1959), p. 9.
...During the first era of rupture [in the early Mission Friend movement], and not so infrequently, the sermons contained sharp attacks against those who opposed the mission. Should we say that by this they called forth cries of heresy, hyper-evangelism, etc., which were so loudly and persistently heard from the pulpits of many of the Lutheran churches? We believe that we will come nearer the truth if we say that with such behavior they were mutually stimulated. The zeal of the flesh, whenever it appears, is punished by the Holy Spirit--¬this in spite of the fact that the person thinks that he is performing a service to God. It was probably a good thing that no one in the Mission group dared to break into print on these matters. In that area the opposition was alone. With this inability to defend themselves with the pen, which they were sensible enough to understand, they seemed to have learned that this was the best way to victory in the conflict. The chairman spoke of this in his report at the annual meeting in 1874: "Our work has, in many ways, met resistance. Those who have attacked with the greatest zeal are most convinced that they have not triumphed, wherefore they must attack again. The position we have taken up to the present of not answering the accusations of the opposition has not caused us any loss.The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe" (Proverbs 18:10).
C. M. Youngquist (1851-1901), Hem-Missionären, November, 1892.
Quoted in Eric G. Hawkinson, Images in Covenant Beginnings (1968), pp. 139,140.
Law and Gospel
The gospel is a good and joyful "news," a delightful and glad message from the God of life to all sinners--to all people, in fact, inasmuch as all have sinned. He desires the death of no sinner. No, he desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. He has eternally had the same mind which he has shown from the day of the fall, but especially revealed in that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). To tell sinners about this incomprehensible grace, love, and mercy is to preach the gospel. When sinners hear that it is only through his deeds that they can become blessed, this frees the slaves and frees the souls, yes, even the worst and the one who has sunk most deeply. The law preaches death. The gospel preaches life. The law preaches the curse and rejection. "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
Report of a Mission Meeting, Randolph, Kansas, August 3, 1877.
Quoted in Eric G. Hawkinson. Images in Covenant Beginnings (1968), p. 129.
When preaching and teaching God=s commandments in the church, it is helpful to remember both uses of the law found in Mark 10. We may strongly teach that the laws of God ought to be kept and can be kept in their outward form. This is necessary for the sake of order in the life of the community and the well-being of the individual. In biblical tradition, this is especially necessary for the sake of the weaker members of society, particularly children. Simultaneously, it is our calling also to declare that God's commands cannot be wholly kept. When we plumb our hearts and motivations, we are fugitives from the law. We are driven from the holy God, or else to Jesus and the cross for forgiveness and freedom from the bondage of the law offered in the one who calls us by name.
James K. Bruckner (1957- ), AOn the One Hand...On the Other Hand: The Twofold Meaning of the Law against Covetousness,@ From To Hear and Obey: Essays in Honor of Fredrick Carlson Holmgren, Edited by Bradley J. Bergfalk and Paul E. Koptak (1997), pp. 114,115.
With liveliness and warmth, even sharpness, [the early Covenanters] discussed first questions about the doctrine of the Bible regarding Christ's work for a fallen world together with self-improvement and faith. ...The new movement emphasized powerfully the danger of preaching moral effect and [self-acquired] faith as conditions for accepting grace, thereby leading the sinner from Christ into [one's] own work for self-betterment and true faith. They taught that often the preaching was such that faith became the soul's own virtue wherewith one sought to buy God=s grace. Therefore one should preach Christ more as the object of faithBChrist and his work for the soul. There must be no limitation in the presentation of Christ's work for a world fallen in sin. "It is finished." These words were defended and interpreted by the words of Rosenius, "You shall believe in a righteousness which all have; then you will have a righteousness which all do not have. ...What is it then that all have? A reconciled God, an eternal righteousness earned and brought forth by Christ. What is it then that all do not have? A mind not reconciled to God, a mind in which the Holy Spirit has not worked a new will, namely, partaking in God's nature."
...We are not protecting doctrine or conduct which does not stand the test before the Word of God. No, for this Word we tell all. This will at the last judge all. God be thanked that the solid rock of the Word prevails.
C. M. Youngquist (1851-1901), in Hem-Missionären, June, 1892
From Eric G. Hawkinson, Images in Covenant Beginnings (1968), pp. 49,50.
"Our forebears," said Pamp [Frederick E., 1883-1967], "had heard legalistic preaching in the established church all their lives as the priests castigated their erring parishioners. But because they were not themselves saved and could only say, 'Don't do as I do but do as I say,' they could not bring any real help. When the evangelicals came with their personal experience of God's saving grace, it was as salve in the wounds. The appeal did not lie in any technique. They addressed their listeners with the Good News, saying: 'Well, here you are, the prodigal. How do you fare in the far-away country? God is the father, full of love and mercy, who waits for you to come home'" Can it be said that such preaching is too naive for our sophisticated age, or is there behind all of the lostness of the present generation a broken cry for the Father's house?
Herbert E. Palmquist (1896-1981), The Wit and Wisdom of Our Fathers (1967), pp. 185,186.
Diverse Gifts
To meet the giant front which presses forward against the stronghold of faith and life and light in our day we need both the heavy and the light artillery. We need the deep, serious sermons, and we also need those which go in a little lighter style. In literature we need the kind of writings which lead our thoughts and minds down into the depths of salvation truth. But we also need the light, literary address which stimulates the emotions, speaks to the senses, and finds its way to those hearts which would never be reached by the heavy projectiles. As for myself, I am a little bit related to the humor artillerists, and it is my conviction that even these people have a place to fill in life.
Paul Peter Waldenström (1838-1917)
From Herbert E. Palmquist, The Wit and Wisdom of Our Fathers (1967), p. 26.
Pastor Sanngren was, by nature, a lively Smålänning. In addition to this, he was, by the grace of God, a completely happy man who could also make others happy through the preaching of the gospel. He was through and through an evangelical preacher who could portray Christ for sinners so that hearts were melted.
He was certainly peculiar in his way of preaching. It was with respect to this that he was criticized. But in spite of these peculiarities God used him for edi¬fication and salvation.
On one occasion I had opportunity to see how he handled himself in the pulpit. At that time they built pulpits like a large rostrum. Because there were so many Smålänningar on the North Side (Chicago), they had taken the pattern from the mission house in Jönköping and built a broad rostrum so that one could dance behind it if one wished.
I sat on a sofa behind him. He began to warm up in his heart so that he began to jump. Just as he was to express a happy thought, he kicked up both feet like a Missouri mule and almost caught me in the face with his shoes. After that I moved farther away from him.
Another time he preached on one of David's psalms in which David describes the Lord, "He has bent and strung his bow, he has prepared his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts." (Psalm 7:12, 13). Then he described the Lord as a hunter who is out hunting game among people. He described in a vivid way how the Lord seeks to save the lost by shooting the arrows of truth.
"Pay attention now," he shouted, "now he bends his bow, look out, now he puts the deadly arrow on the bow string, now he shoots." And Sanngren, while pointing to a woman who sat on the front bench, shouted, "Pumf." The woman fell from the bench to the floor and began to cry to the Lord for salvation. It is said that she was saved and became happy in God.
Yes, the Lord can at times use preachers even with a delivery which is peculiar. In that event he naturally uses them for blessing not because of their peculiarities but in spite of them. It is clear that the Lord wants his witnesses to appear in a proper and inoffensive way, which in no way means that one shall stand like a statue but in a way which is natural and free. The hearer understands whether it is natural, affected, or imitated.
E. August Skogsbergh (1850-1939), Minner och Upplevelser.
Quoted in Eric G. Hawkinson, Images in Covenant Beginnings (1968), pp.134,135.
For me, the most unusual, the most imaginative, the most human and incarnational preaching came from my hero in the pulpit, Eric Hawkinson. I've heard the sermons of the greatest names but none has lit up my flesh and fragility with the glory of God as the chapel sermons of "Hawky." He simply expounded the Word of God and brought out the stars over this Word with parables from foxholes, farmyards, shy children with flowers, and Hilmar. Once in a Christmas sermon at seminary chapel he told how the Word of God came wrapped up in a gentle, "pink baby flesh." I reached out and touched the pulse beat of God. He wasn't reading it; he was living the Word with us. That's preaching! I want to preach for dear life like that!
Arthur W. Anderson (1920- ), Wild Beasts and Angels (1979), p. 92.
Sensitivity to People
Pastors are artists. The most overt form of their art is shown in preaching (rhetoric), liturgy (choreography), musical talent, and other specific artistic gifts. But the subtle form of art shows itself in pastoral care and leadership style. A trained intuition can help people verbalize their hunches, hopes, and hurts without telling them what to say. Artists work with material, and the material cannot be forced without being damaged. Good questions are a work of art because when anyone is "under questioning," he or she experiences some form of intimidation. The recognition of "where people are in life" and how to enable people to deal maturely with such is the fruit of living among a people, listening to them, and knowing that not just any verse of Scripture will do. The "word fitly spoken" is an artistic choice of words, texts, and gestures. Birney Quick, well-known artist in Minnesota and teacher of artists, says that the most significant thing an art teacher does is not the teaching of techniques and technical material but "finding the right pot" in which the plant of the developing artist can mature. Pastoral artistry has to do with an ecology in which judgment and grace, gift and task, can live dialectically.
C. John Weborg (1937- ), AIt Seemed Good to the Holy Spirit and to Us: Clergy and Laity in Interaction,@ from Servant Leadership, Volume One: Authority and Governance in the Church, James R. Hawkinson & Robert K. Johnston, editors (1993), p. 124.
When the Word has been preached and there is a sense that some people are ready to make a commitment to Christ as their Lord, then an invitation to make some kind of outward response may be helpful to the new converts in reinforcing their decision. They may be encouraged to do one of several things: raise their hands, stand where they are, give a brief expression of thanks to God, come forward for counsel, remain after the service to confer with the pastor, declare their decision to someone after the service, fill in a prepared card with a word about their commitment, write a letter to the pastor, or join the next inquirer's class.
When handled with spiritual discernment the invitation not only helps the newly committed to affirm their faith, it also encourages other Christians to become more active in their witness for Christ while it heightens the evangelistic expectancy of the whole congre¬gation.
AWorship on the Lord=s Day,@ from The Covenant Book of Worship (1981), p. 22.
[Carl August] Björk [first president of the Covenant] was a master in the pulpit--at times serious, piercing to the quick; at other times gently pleading; then again illustrating his sermon with pointed anecdotes and even humorous incidents. He preached to secure decisions, and therefore constantly harvested souls. This was in spite of the fact that he never emphasized revivals in the customary meaning. When fellow preachers began to use pressure methods upon the audience, Björk would say, "Now machinery is being used, as for me, I'm going home." Eternity alone will reveal the multitude won for Christ through his ministry.
C. E. Backstrom, ACarl August Björk,@ from Three Covenant Presidents, by C. E. Backstrom, E. Gustav Johnson, and Erik Dahlhielm (1943), p. 38.
The single image that remains most clearly in our minds as a parable on father's intention in preaching and his methodology surrounds the story of his encounter with a little boy at Swan Lake Bible Camp in South Dakota, years ago. Tired as he often was from a heavy schedule of teaching and preaching, he had come to that family camp weary and troubled over what he would say. The struggle, as he himself recalls, was evident there in his early sermonizing--the struggle to get through to clarity on the one hand and to his listeners on the other. On one of his early walks through the camp--he was an incessant walker while preparing himself to preach--he saw a lonely little boy, solitary by the road, listless and preoccupied, protected by a sense of privacy that seemed to forbid intrusion. Others were playing baseball, swimming, run¬ning, shouting, laughing, all that lively youngsters do to spend their prodigious energies at camp. For two or three days he watched that solitary little figure, so apparently lost--speaking briefly and courteously to him, but failing, somehow, in the ex¬change to bring cheer. Near the end of the week, father found the boy suddenly intent--reading a letter. Unaware of another's presence at first, obviously reading and rereading, the boy finally looked up, took father's eye, and with a broad grin leaped into the air shouting, "It's O.K., Hawky! I've just got a letter, and everything's O.K. at home! Let's go play ball!" That very image-- "Everything is O.K. at home!"--a little boy's image, became the center of the sermon that tied the whole week together.
Zenos E. Hawkinson (1925-1997) and James R. Hawkinson (1930- ), ANotes on the Preacher by His Sons,@ from Grace and Glory: a festschrift on preaching in honor of Eric G. Hawkinson (The Covenant Quarterly, Nos 3,4, 1981), pp. 71,71.
There is a certain eloquence, in my opinion, [with] which ... a preacher can speak so that the simplest old lady can understand every word. That is the eloquence I strive for, and which I would counsel all preachers to practice. I will gladly leave it to others to immerse themselves in meditations over the meaning of the different colors in the high priest's garments and similar things. I congratulate those who see a great spiritual depth in that and are edified thereby. But for my part, when I hear it, I remember a little story. There was a preacher who spoke about the position of John the Baptist. He did not belong to the Old Testament and he did not belong to the New Testament. After a profound consideration of this, the preacher exclaimed: "Where shall we then put John the Baptist?" whereupon an old farmer got up from his seat and said: "Put him here in my seat because I am leaving."
It probably would not be out of order here to tell a little story. In a gathering at the home of C. O. Rosenius there was a Bible discussion. I had the floor and spoke, I thought, very well. When I had finished, Rosenius said in his clear, calm voice: "Well, the first thing we understand is that our dear brother Waldenström comes from the University at Uppsala." It was as though he had hit me in the head with a club. But the influence of that blow still remains even though the ache is long since gone. I could wish that many a preacher today might have a similar knock in the head.
Paul Peter Waldenström (1838-1917)
Quoted in Herbert E. Palmquist, The Wit and Wisdom of Our Fathers (1967), pp. 106,107.
Feeding the Flock
C. V. Bowman (1868-1937), AThe First Year in North Park@ (1894-95)
From Son of the People: The Autobiography of C. V. Bowman (1988), p. 194.
Using the Flock
Even more helpful and essential is opportunity for spiritual discussion following the hearing of the Word. Basic to the preacher's task is the relating of the message of the text to the everyday concerns of the congregation. That is a task, however, in which the members of the congregation must share. The Word having been heard, it is their responsibility to work through its implications for their everyday existence as the people of God. The conventicle could well be used for sharing the insights, resolves, and concerns which arise out of the hearing of the message.
Even if the sermon is not the immediate basis for the discus¬sion, the proclamation of the Church in its widest sense needs constantly to be examined and appropriated through such informal sharing and mutual encouragement. The role of such informal groups in furthering renewal and growth into spiritual maturity can hardly be overestimated, especially when they are centered in discussion of the Word.
Donald C. Frisk (1911- ), AThe Theology of Preaching: A Covenant Perspective@
From Grace and Glory: a festschrift on preaching in honor of Eric G. Hawkinson (The Covenant Quarterly, Nos 3,4, 1981), p. 94.
Social Dimensions
David W. Gill (1946- ), AThe Unique Role of the Church in a Troubled Society@
From Servant Leadership, Volume Two: Contemporary Models and the Emerging Challenge, James R. Hawkinson & Robert K. Johnston, editors (1993), pp. 73,74.
That the message will be preached or proclaimed means much more that simply hurling Christian shortwave messages across trackless deserts or snowy wastelands, as needed as that may be as an entrance. It is more than passing out tracts, skywriting "Jesus loves you," or programming a computer to dial a salvation message to every phone number in the neighborhood.
When has the Gospel been adequately preached? What is sufficient proclamation? How deep must it penetrate before one can say, AIt has been preached here@? Often despite our best efforts, proclamation never gets below the topsoil; it just runs off, eroding even that thin soil. Has the Gospel really been preached to the urbanite who happens to flip on a TV evangelist, or to a commuter seeing a billboard as he or she roars past? There are many who, while hearing, do not hear. When has it been adequately preached? When the hearers comprehend the Gospel message of the kingdom in such a way that they make an intelligent decision for or against an allegiance to Christ.
Only the Lord knows when the Gospel has truly entered the heart, when there has been a sufficient depth of proclamation. Only the Lord knows, and until he judges it sufficient, we continue. So the missionary enterprise is not just a plant-and-run strategy, but one that aims at deepening the Gospel within the culture as well.
Brad Hill (1950- ), Slivers from the Cross: A Missionary Odyssey (1990), p.109.
