Avoiding Pulpit Pride: Advice for Preachers
By Mark D. Roberts | Friday, May 16, 2008
Part 5 of series: Pride and the Power of the Pulpit
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In my last post, I suggested what a person should do if his or her preacher fell prey to pulpit pride and started to preach irresponsibly. In today’s post, I want to offer advice for preachers about how to avoid pulpit pride and its negative results.
1. Recognize the possibility of pulpit pride.
In my second post in this series, I talked about the pride of the pulpit. From my own experience, and from what I know of other preachers, it’s easy to get caught up in the headiness of having lots of people listening to you as you preach. Preachers are human beings, and can easily fall into pride. If preachers acknowledge this possibility, then they’ll be in a position to avoid it. If they pretend that they’re immune from the temptation of pulpit pride, then they’ll be ill-prepared to combat it.
2. Come humbly before the Lord.
Nothing keeps me from pride better than when I come humbly before the Lord in prayer and worship. When I remember God’s greatness, then it feels almost silly to get puffed up about myself. I am renewed in my sense of calling as God’s servant, and therefore as a servant to oathers. Even when I’m in a place of power, the pulpit, if you will, I’m there as a servant leader, with the emphasis on servant. So, if you approach the pulpit on your knees, you’ll be protected from pride.
3. Get honest feedback on your preaching.
Most preachers get regular feedback on their preaching. It comes in the form of comments after the worship service: Nice sermon, pastor. Thank you for your words, pastor. That was very meaningful. Etc. etc. etc. These are encouraging words, to be sure, but rarely do they provide substantial feedback. In fact, I would encourage sermon-listeners not to give heavy-duty feedback, pro or con, to a preacher immediately after a worship service. Most preachers are tired at this moment and not in a place to listen carefully.
How can preachers get honest, helpful feedback on preaching? It depends. Sometimes this can come from wise, mature members of a pastor’s congregation. It could come from peers. It might come from one’s spouse. Of course if a pastors publish their sermons on the web, either in manuscript, audio, or video form, then feedback could come from almost anywhere. I’ve received hundreds of email responses to my sermons (published online) from people all over the world. Most have been positive, though some have raised substantive issues.
4. Watch a video or listen to a recording of your preaching.
If you’re a preacher and you haven’t done this for a while, perhaps since seminary days, you would be well-served to listen to a recording of yourself. A video would be best. You might see yourself in a new light. If you’re wandering into pomposity and pride, seeing yourself as others see you might be eye-opening.
5. Consider the majesty of your message.
At the core, preachers are called to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is not only good new, but also the best news of all. We get to tell people that God loves them in spite of their sin, that they are accepted by God’s grace through Christ, that they can live new lives of meaning and purpose as God’s beloved children and ministers of Christ, that the Spirit of God will live in them to inspire and empower them, etc. etc. etc. The more we are overwhelmed by the majesty of that which we’ve been called to preach, the less we’ll be impressed by ourselves. (Photo: from inside the Chapel of the Transfiguration, Grand Tetons National Park)
Moreover, when we remember the core of our proclamation, we’ll be less inclined to wander into tangents that get us in trouble. If we’re focusing on the good news of Christ, along with all the implications of that good news as revealed in Scripture, we’ll have more than enough to preach. Thus we won’t have time to pontificate about the sorts of things that can get preachers in trouble. The gospel of Jesus Christ keeps us focused in the right place, even as it humbles us when we consider the sheer privilege of being messengers of such great news.
We preachers need to take our message more seriously and ourselves less seriously.
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What Should You Do If Your Preacher Falls Prey to Pulpit Pride?
By Mark D. Roberts | Thursday, May 15, 2008
Part 4 of series: Pride and the Power of the Pulpit
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As I wrap up this series on Pride and the Power of the Pulpit, I want to speak practically to those who find themselves in a situation not unlike that of Barack Obama. What should you do if your preacher gets puffed up with pulpit pride and begins to speak irresponsibly? Should you just sit there and take it out of loyalty or inertia? Should you leave the church? Or ???? (Photo: I’m preaching at Irvine Presbyterian Church. I hope without pulpit pride.)
It was easy for many to criticize Barack Obama for staying in Trinity United Church of Christ when his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, was preaching irresponsibly. I must confess that I found his willingness to stay at the church for so many years to be perplexing, given what seems to have been Rev Wright’s history of irresponsible communication. However, at the same time, I can appreciate Obama’s commitment to the Trinity congregation even when its pastor was a rhetorical loose cannon. Church, after all, isn’t primarily about the preacher. It’s a community of people who have pledged faithfulness to each other. If you’re committed to your church, then your instinct should be to remain in that church even if the pastor runs off at the mouth at times. Yes, yes, there may be a time when leaving a church is necessary. But such a decision should not be a Christian’s first move when the preacher gets out of bounds.
So what should you do if your preacher says things from the pulpit that you find irresponsible?
If the offense is minor and rare, you might want simply to ignore it. Pastors say a lot of things, and deserve, in my opinion, a measure of grace and forgiveness when they mess up in relatively minor ways. If your pastor messes up every now and then, and not in major ways, then perhaps all you need to do is to pray more faithfully for your pastor.
However, even if the preacher’s offense is minor and rare, if you can’t let go of your negative response to it, then you should not ignore it. Unexpressed resentment or anger with your pastor will keep you from hearing God’s word through that pastor’s preaching.
If you can’t ignore your preacher’s irresponsibility, or if you have been truly offended by it, then you need to do what Jesus commands of his disciples in Matthew 18:
“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one” (Matt 18:15).
Note carefully that you’re to speak to the preacher when the two of you are alone, not in the receiving line after worship, not on the patio. Note also that you are not to gossip about your concerns to others. Usually when people in church are upset with their pastor, they make sure others hear about it. Jesus says you’re to go straight to the one who offended you, in this case, to your preacher. Furthermore, note that you’re to be focused in your communication. “Point out the fault,” and only the fault. Don’t use the occasion of this discussion to bring up other frustrations with your pastor. Finally, note the point of the conversation: reconciliation. You’re to seek to “regain” a healthy relationship with your pastor.
Of course there are times when one who sins against another will not listen when confronted in private. If this happens to you in your conversation with your pastor, it still isn’t time to leave the church. And it still isn’t right to gossip. Rather, Jesus says:
“But if you are not listened to, take one or atwo others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses” (Matt 18:16.
I’d urge you to ask one or two mature Christians, perhaps elders of the church, to join you for another conversation with the pastor. Those people will also be able to help you determine whether your offense is warranted. Once again, the intent of this conversation is reconciliation.
If that still doesn’t happen, then things get tricky. Jesus says “if the offender refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church” (Matt 18:17). Most churches today have a layer of leadership that wasn’t present in the time of the earliest church, a board of elders or deacons or something similar. In my opinion, your best move at this point would be to communicate in an official way with the board, probably through a letter. It will be the responsibility of the board to confront the pastor about any irresponsible preaching.
Now I realize that reality can be pretty messy. Some churches don’t have boards. Some boards are under the thumb of the pastor. Some pastors will never listen to criticism. Etc. etc. etc. But, in my personal experience, as a preacher, a friend of preachers, and a listener of thousands of sermons, most preachers really want to say and do what is right. If they have been irresponsible, many will admit it and make amends. The result of this process can be a wonderful one, not only for the person offended by the preacher, but also for the preacher and the church.
So when should you leave a church because of a preacher’s irresponsible preaching? I don’t think there’s an easy, one-size-fits-all answer to this question. I can imagine situations in which people decide to remain in a church where a preacher occasionally messes up for lots of godly reasons. It would be a major problem for me if those mistakes had to do with central theological issues. I could take a measure of anti-patriotic fervor in my pastor far more easily than I could stomach heresy.
Curiously enough, the sermon tidbits that got Jeremiah Wright into trouble were not theological teachings so much as social commentary. Wright wasn’t denying the deity of Christ or salvation through Christ or something essential to orthodoxy. Rather, he was espousing views about the U. S. government and American society in general that were negative and, in my opinion, eccentric. It seems to me that a preacher who gets the theology right but says some kooky things about society deserves more grace than a preacher who preaches theological heresy but does so with exuberant patriotism. (I have not studied Rev. Wright’s theology enough to know where he stands with respect to historic orthodoxy.)
If you decide that you need to leave a church, I’d urge you to do so with as much grace and kindness as you can muster. Throughout my years at Irvine Presbyterian Church, there were people who left the church largely because of me. That was hard for me, as you can imagine. But some who left did so in a way that honored our relationship and my pastoral role. They came to me, explained honestly why they were leaving, but without unnecessary criticism. They found things to affirm in my ministry, and I was able to return the favor. Though our parting was painful, it was healthy for all involved, including the church. Moreover, their kindness and responsibility made it so much easier when we ran into each other at Starbucks or wedding receptions.
Topics: Pride and the Power of the Pulpit | 3 Comments »
Headlines You Don’t See Every Day . . .
By Mark D. Roberts | Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Today as I was scanning the latest edition of The Boerne Star, my hometown paper, I read several headlines that impressed me as being unlike anything I had seen in a while . . . maybe ever. The headlines included:
Sewer leads city agenda
A front page headline. Not exactly going to sell many papers. The Boerne Star has a monopoly here, if you hadn’t guessed.
County considers deer hunt at park
Back in California, somebody would sue if officials tried to trap rats in a park. Here, they’re willing to shoot Bambi’s mother. (P.S. There are so many deer in this area that the land cannot support them. Hunting is rather like pruning.)
Boerne Brawl
A recent baseball game between the Boerne High Greyhounds and the New Braunfels Canyon Cougars included a 20 minute scuffle. New thing you know we’ll be hunting cougars.
Property values up in Kendall County
Huh? What? I just moved from California. Of course the downside is that property taxes will be going up.
Coral Snake: Our colorful, but shy neighbor
Oh, did I forget to mention “colorful, poisonous, sometimes deadly, but shy neighbor.”
Topics: Only in Texas | 1 Comment »
Blog Tour: Trading Places by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott
By Mark D. Roberts | Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I’m the seventh stop in a book blog tour for Trading Places: The Best Move You’ll Ever Make in Your Marriage by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott. If you’re interested, you can find the other stops here.
Here’s the Parrotts official bio:
Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott are founders of www.RealRelationships.com and the Center for Relationship Development at Seattle Pacific University. Their bestselling books include Love Talk, Your Time Starved Marriage, and the award-winning Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts. Their work has been featured in the New York Times and USA Today and they have appeared on CNN, Good Morning America, and Oprah.
They are well known for their excellent work on marriages, as scholars and especially as people committed to helping others. Trading Places falls into the later category.
So, with no further ado, here are my question for the Parrotts and their answer:
Question from Mark for Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott
Les and Leslie:
First, thanks for stopping by my blog on your blog tour. It’s a pleasure to have you here.
Second, thanks for your consistently excellent efforts to strengthen marriages. Your books, conferences, and other resources have helped literally millions of spouses to have healthier and happier marriages.
Third, thanks for writing Trading Places. This is a fine book: focused, readable, engaging, relevant. In reading Trading Places as a part of my preparation for your blog tour, I was challenged personally as a husband. (I say this as a dyed-in-the-wool Analyzer who has to work hard at the feeling part of empathy.)
Okay, now my question: You make a solid case for the importance of empathy in marriage. I’m convinced. So, why do you think so many marriages lack empathy? If it’s so important, and if the fruits of empathy are so delightful, why do husbands and wives struggle with this stuff?
Thanks for taking time to respond to this question.
Answer from Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott
We’re glad we’ve convinced you to practice more empathy! That’s terrific. And we’re so glad you like the book. You’ve posed a good question.
We’ve often felt that if we could give a couple about to be married anything in the world, we’d give them a box of empathy. Can you imagine who nice it would be if this quality would be that simple to instill? Of course, it’s not that easy. And that’s precisely why empathy, or “trading places,” is lacking in so many marriage – it takes intentional effort.
Many of us think we’re already empathizing with our spouse. We think we accurately understand his or her circumstances. We believe that we have feelings that are in tune with his or her emotional world. But truth be told, we’re often missing the mark. We make assumptions about our spouse’s circumstances and experiences that are simply not accurate. So, even if we are well intended when it comes to empathy, we too often miss the mark because we lack the skills. Of course, that’s why we wrote the book … to hand off these skills in a way that you can put into practice.
But there’s another reason that so many couples don’t take advantage of empathy in their relationship – and it’s a selfish one. We mistakenly believe that if we empathize, if we try to see the world from our partner’s perspective, that we will be setting out own needs aside. We erroneously believe that our own needs will not get met. But nothing is farther from the truth. Empathy, in fact, is the quickest way to get your own needs met. Why? Because once your partner senses your empathic investment in him or her, the act is contageous. He or she is soon beginning to empathize with you. Empathy begets empathy. And that’s precisely why we believe that “trading places” is the most rewarding skill you’ll ever practice in your marriage.
Response from Mark
Thanks, Les and Leslie, for this thoughtful and helpful response.
Speaking as a husband and a pastor, you answer hits the spot. It’s easy for folks, including me, to assume that we’re empathizing with our spouse, when in fact we are not giving the “intentional effort” required. I know I can simply take it for granted that I’m in touch with my wife’s feelings, when in fact I’m simply wrapped up in myself.
One of the things I appreciate about Trading Places is its focus. Often books on marriage offer too much advice for me to take in and act upon. I can feel overwhelmed. Trading Places, by focusing on empathy, encourages me to grow in this crucial characteristic of marriage, without feeling like I have to get it all right.
Final Word for My Readers
If you’re married, Trading Places will help you have a better marriage now. If you’re on the way to marriage, buy Trading Places and get a head start on empathy.
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Brazen Politics in Church on Pentecost & Mother’s Day
By Mark D. Roberts | Monday, May 12, 2008
Yesterday was Pentecost, the day when Christians celebrate the birthday of the church, which happened when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the first disciples of Jesus. Yesterday was also Mother’s Day. In fact, it was the 100th anniversary of the first Mother’s Day celebration in church.
Yesterday was also a day in which I heard the most obvious and brazen endorsement of a political candidate that I have ever heard in all of my years of church. Before you get on the phone to call down the IRS on my church, allow me to explain.
My church, St. Mark Presbyterian in Boerne, Texas, did a fine job recognizing both Pentecost and Mother’s Day, while keeping the focus on Pentecost, which, in my opinion, is the right emphasis. The church sanctuary was decked out in red, the liturgical color for Pentecost. In addition to red paraments, stoles, candles, and flowers, there were dozens of red balloons: red for Pentecost, filled with air to signify the Spirit.
The children’s sermon had a Mother’s Day theme. About a dozen children from ages 3 to 10 gathered at the front. Their leader began by asking: Why is today special? One kid blurted out “Because it’s the church’s birthday.” Not bad! The others filled in with “It’s Mother’s Day.”
Then the leader asked the children what they do on Mother’s Day. The answers included:
We give our mom a present.
We make cards for our mom.
We tell our mom we love her.
. . . and the like.
Then, out of the blue, came a most unexpected answer:
We’re still hoping that Hillary will win.
There it was. Politics in church. How brazen! Never heard that before in St. Mark Presbyterian! For a moment there was hushed silence. Then some of the adults in the congregation began to chuckle. I was grateful that none of the other children picked up the gauntlet, adding: “We want Barack!” “We want McCain!” (Notice that the Democrats have first names, while the Republican has a last name.)
I don’t know why this kid mentioned Hillary Clinton when answering a question about how he celebrates Mother’s Day. I’m pretty sure that kid wasn’t Chelsea Clinton. For one thing, he was a boy about six years old. Maybe his mom is a big Hillary fan and he was trying to be supportive of her passion. Maybe his folks talked about Hillary on the way in to church. Maybe he was struck by the fact that a prominent presidential candidate is also a mom. Who knows?
Given the source of the political lobbying in worship today, I doubt St. Mark Pres will have trouble keeping its non-profit tax status. The IRS tends to go after pastors who endorse candidates, not children who contribute to a children’s sermon.
Topics: Humorous | 3 Comments »
Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling
By Mark D. Roberts | Sunday, May 11, 2008
The Ministry of John the Baptist
“Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
These days, if we even use the word “repent” in common discourse, we emphasize feeling bad for something we have done. “I have repented” means “I am truly sorry for my actions.” Biblically speaking, repentance may imply sorrow for sin, but it includes so much more. Repentance is a thorough change of life. It’s thinking in a new way and heading in a new way. It’s turning from one sort of life to embrace another.
The approach of the kingdom of heaven called forth repentance in the day of John the Baptist. So it does today. When we recognize God’s sovereignty over our lives, when we realize that God is present to guide and use us for his purposes, we can’t keep living in the same way. Rather, we turn away from self-centeredness so that we might live for God. We reject a life of sin so that we might live rightly for God’s glory.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: Has the kingdom of heaven led you to genuine repentance? How does the reign of God over your life impact your daily living?
PRAYER: Dear God, you are the King of kings and Lord of lords. Your kingdom touches all of life, including me. When I reflect on the implications of your sovereignty, I am called to repentance. I want to leave my sin behind and follow you. I seek to live for you this day, seeking your glory rather than my own.
Though my situation differs widely from that of John’s audience in the Judean wilderness, help me to hear a similar call to repentance. By your grace at work within me, may I turn my life around so that I might live fully for you each day . . . beginning right now. Amen.
Daily Reflections from The High Calling.org
This devotional comes from The High Calling of Our Daily Work (www.thehighcalling.org). You can read my Daily Reflections there, or sign up to have them sent to your email inbox each day. This website contains lots of encouragement for people who are trying to live out their faith in the workplace.
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Only in Texas???? Or Africa!
By Mark D. Roberts | Saturday, May 10, 2008
Last weekend my wife and I attended a party at a ranch in the Hill Country of Texas about 25 miles from our house. In order to get to this ranch, we had to drive through another ranch. This other ranch had exotic game wandering about. It was like driving in a zoo, or in Africa.
At first we saw camels. They looked harmless enough, and didn’t seem interested in us. Later, I learned that one of these camels has a foundness for side view mirrors on cars, and had torn off several over the years. I’m glad we didn’t have such an encounter with this camel.
Then we saw zebras. These are actually fairly common in the Hill Country. I often see zebras on my way to work. They aren’t wild, but are kept behind ranch fences. A couple of months ago, a zebra got out and worried people who live in my town. It made the local police blotter. You may remember this entry from one of my earlier posts:
Farm Road 473, 10:15 p.m., Caller said a stray zebra was standing in her front yard. While an officer was en route, a vehicle hit the animal which sustained minor injuries. Animal control loaded the zebra into a trailer and took it to the wildlife refuge.
Finally we saw two animals that looked very odd. They seemed to be cattle of some sort, but with gigantic horns. Not only were the horns quite long, but they were very large in circumference. When I got home I did some Internet research. It turns out that these animals are Ankole-Watusi cattle from Africa. They were brought to the U.S. about 50 years ago. One Ankole-Watusi steer has the Guinness Book record for the largest horn circumference. Check out this website devoted to “Lurch” with the giant horns.
Oh, the surprises of Texas!
Topics: Only in Texas | No Comments »
An Evangelical Manifesto: Why I Signed (Part 2)
By Mark D. Roberts | Friday, May 9, 2008
Part 2 of series: An Evangelical Manifesto: Why I Signed
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Yesterday I began to explain why I joined the list of “charter signatories” for An Evangelical Manifesto: The Washington Declaration of Evan