In almost any gathering of Christians, the proclamation of the word, often in the form of a sermon, has been a central aspect of their experience. For John Calvin the Word truly preached was evidence of God’s graciousness towards humanity. God “provides for our weakness in that he prefers to address us in human fashion through interpreters in order to draw us to himself, rather than to thunder at us and drive us away.” (Calvin’s Institutes, A New Compend, editor Hugh T. Kerr, p. 132, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, Ky, 1989) It was through the sermon, for Calvin, that God addressed the people in a way that nurtured them in the faith.
Despite the cynicism of many today about the quality of preaching available in the church, it is still a significant part of worship. Because only a small minority of adult Christians will take the time to engage in the study of the faith apart from worship, the sermon provides their predominant means of Christian nurture. For most people, living in a society that is based on rationality, they expect to be addressed in the sermon in a fashion which enables them to make a connection between their daily world and the life of faith.
It is also the proclaimed Word that often is the medium by which people are moved to change their lives in a significant way. We know that there is something mysterious that happens in the event of preaching. It would seem as if there is a dialogue that takes place in the act of preaching over which the preacher has very little control. Calvin recognized this when he described one of the marks of the church as “the word of God truly preached and heard“ (emphasis mine). (Calvin’s Institutes, A New Compend, p. 133)
This not only recognizes the responsibility of the listener but leaves room for the Spirit to be part of the trialogue of preaching. What preacher has not had multiple experiences of being amazed at what people have heard in contrast to what s/he thought were the words spoken. Of course that freedom to choose how one responds can have both negative and positive results. Therefore it is incumbent upon both the preacher and the listener to enter this event in prayer that the Spirit will work in their lives.
This extra dimension to preaching also means that “the Word truly preached and heard†does not totally depend upon the skill of the preacher. There is an old story about a member of a congregation being thoroughly disgusted with the sermons of the preacher of his congregation and he was about ready to stop going to worship. When he informed his wife of his decision, she reminded him that he did not go to worship for the purpose of critiquing the sermon but rather for the purpose of worshipping God. Sitting through a bad sermon, she suggested, was certainly an offering to God but, she said, it was also an opportunity to exercise the power of prayer. Why not, she continued, as you go to church over the next several months, enter into prayer for the preacher both before and during his sermon.
He decided to accept the challenge. So over the next several months as he entered worship he began praying for the preacher. After a couple of months, his wife noticed that he did not seem to be so obviously engaged in prayer during the sermon as he had at first. When she asked, he responded, “Oh, I began that way but now the preacher has improved so much that I just say a brief prayer before worship begins.” If you come for the purpose of allowing God’s Word to address you in worship, the fulfillment of that possibility is not wholly dependent on the one preaching the sermon. It is the whole congregation that is engaged in the preaching event and the Word of God can be heard even in bad sermons.
