A young pastor queried on Facebook, what was he to do as more conservative church members began to push on him as he confronted the values of the Trump Administration. This is what I wrote in response.
I always have a row reserved (in almost any mainline, you can find one up front) for Guatemalan refugees I accompanied to the border. Diego and Natalia are always there. And they want to know if I’m going to remember them and tell the truth.
Everybody needs a front row of people who are not present for worship — people you promised to honor. Whether I do a good job of that, I don’t know. Probably not. But it holds me accountable.
Then I think you have to preach Christ crucified. Because that makes me uncomfortable — every Sunday. I think Paul puts that out there because it is damn uncomfortable to know that Christianity isn’t about being triumphant as it is suffering with those who experience violence on an everyday basis. “Were you there,” right?
Get out ahead of it. Let people know that you are not going to be preaching partisan but you will be political. Because, as so many people have said in this thread, the Bible is a political book.
God first opposes Pharaoh.
Mark 1:1 This is the gospel (word used by Rome to connote military victories) of Jesus Christ (or Messiah, word used for Ruler over and against or political liberator), the Son of God (the person most widely known for that title in the First Century was Augustus — one to be worshipped — Caesar). All of that is intentional by Mark to foreshadow and say, “This guy is going to end up crucified.”
Will you preach about Augustus Caesar on Christmas? If not, why not? He frames the Luke story. Will you preach about Herod on Christmas? If not, why not? He frames the Matthew story.
The first step into this morass is darn uncomfortable for pastors. Your instincts have been good. You should be taking on some of this shit. It is about values. That’s the tough part about ministry, right?
We preach as God leads us. The congregation has too often been taught that you preach as the congregation needs to feel warm and fuzzy. You will get hate mail. You will get people yelling at you in board meetings.
But what will be awesome? You’ll walk out into a wilderness thinking you are alone and suddenly find there are a mess of people out there, lay and clergy, trying to find their way to the promised land too.
Make mistakes. Use it as data. Preach. Educate, inform, don’t put everything into one sermon. Make mistakes. Use it as data. Preach. Repeat. Blessings on this holy journey.
That voice telling you that you have to preach on this stuff, right? You know Who that voice is. Follow it. She is fierce. And wild. And free. She wants you to be too