Preaching
Like most things in this life, I guess,
It's a funny thing to preach the Gospel.
It's a strange and wondrous thing,
A dangerous and challenging thing,
To chew on your own life and the world
And God's Word and ways if you can get
A bite of them all into our mouth at once
While a whole gang watches and waits
And listens.
And you try not to leave them there
Just on the sideline mistaking the view for
The experience.
No, you want them to get the nourishment,
to taste the goodness and all the rest of it too
In their own mouths.
Sometimes it seems the only way to do this
Is to hit them square
So they get the black eye that shows God's rainbow promise
Or swallow the blood from their own tongues
To taste the Savior's wine.
Still, a preacher's best shot most of the time
Is a glancing blow
That leaves some things to the imagination of the heart
And creates enough friction to warm them up to the possibilities.
If you miss your angle,
You can leave folks with false idols
Full of sweet words and comfort
Empty of all that really chews
And gives life
So that they all go home
Shaking your hand for the nice sermon
To grab their remote control
As they ease into just passing the time.
Do that a few Sundays straight
And you can loose your way,
Forget the Spirit of strange holiness,
And wander into myths
Of keeping the church doors open
And the people happy
And God in the prayers
But out of the way.
Don't let it happen.
Don't slip when you stumble.
Don't go down without a fight.
It's all beyond holding still
Or keeping straight.
It's much more than that.
You have to float
And turn
And sting.
You have to punch at the reality
And swing at the surprise
And always,
Always,
Let it bruise you too
Bruise you well.
Get in there and give it your face.
It's not the stigmata,
But it's real blood.
It's living.
It's honest struggle.
There is where the bush burns
And the voice and vision whisper
So that you are carried through the sea
To words you didn't know
Were even there
And muscle
For the fight
That speaks and calls and yearns beyond you
To the people you are called to preach with
So that God preaches in you all and the
Word chews the flesh
To create.