Sunday Sermons

A Simple Focus

For two-and-a-half years I preached. Not in the, “you better preach!” way that someone might yell out to you when you say (or dance) something that resonates with them. No, I literally stood in the pulpit, as it were, of a small church in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and spoke. Almost every Sunday for two-and-half-years you could find me there, doing what I could to clearly communicate my understanding of a life with God as expressed in Jesus Christ. There is a story behind how I got there (and why I eventually left) that may be worth recounting at some other time. For now, it is enough to say that my journey into the institutional church was focused enough that I shut down a professional tap dance company that I was running at the time to pursue it.

That all was a long time ago, and I miss the specificity with which exploring a dedicated piece of text can unveil the reality of the propositions of Jesus Christ.

As I’ve been thinking about that time, and the practice of preaching, there is something I tried to do in my sermons that feels even more relevant now. I’ve written elsewhere about the number of voices that exist that prescribe reality, undermine personal choice, and shrink the space needed for us to know and shape our own ideas and will.

For my part, while preaching, I did what I could to avoid manipulative mechanisms and present what I had come to know plainly. Leaving plenty of space in what effectively is a lecture for the inner dialogue of whomever was listening to thrive.

One way I stumbled upon was to prefer propositions over prescriptions.

Propositions over Prescriptions

In one of his many lectures, I heard Dallas Willard say that God had been working with the Hebrew people for so long, and in such a way, as to have them be the most prepared to receive the Christ. And to them the Christ did come. Still, in their midst there were many views of reality. We can see these views expressed in the four books of the Gospels as Christ interacts with people – the Roman centurion, many Sadducees and Pharisees, the woman at the well, and even his own disciples. Christ is the embodiment of a particular reality and expresses this reality in his being and in dialogue with people. In the accounts recorded we get to witness the encounters, the working out of differences and disagreements, and the shift experienced in some towards the reality Christ embodies.

We live in a similar time. There are large groups of people who have followed specific ideas and teachers. They are immersed in their traditions and beliefs, and in many ways primed for whatever may come next for them as they journey. In their midst, there are many views of reality. In this landscape I see two ways of engaging: prescription and proposition.

Prescriptions take the form of dictates or doctrines. Like a doctor saying, “You are sick, and this medicine is the solution.” Take it or don’t, you feel the weight of the consequences of your choices, amidst the authority doctors tend to hold. I will venture to say that we all know that our choices have consequences, and that sometimes the medicine a doctor prescribes cures the ill. However, doctors aren’t always right, and there is a way to explore the same information without imposing the burden of choice for their own healing upon someone.

Propositions take the form of an invitation, a metaphor, or analogy. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed” is a proposition. This one assumes some knowledge of “The Kingdom of Heaven” (and mustard seeds for that matter), but otherwise proposes a vision of it to the listener. Rather than dictates, we might hear propositions as “Did you know?” or “What if?” questions. For example:

“Did you know that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed?”

Or

“What if the Kingdom of Heaven was like a mustard seed?”

Both reframe the conversation in ways that invite us in, create a space for dialogue, and offer the possibility of further inquiry. Rather than forcing the issue upon us, propositions invite us to seek, dialogue, and experiment. Rather than setting up a barrier to entry, propositions invite a conversation and the sharing of experience. Rather than demanding conformity, propositions create space to play, to see our lives as part of an ever-unfolding drama in the journey of formation, and honor the variety of individual personality within a communal context.

Propositions can be specific without being overbearing. They can articulate a reality with triggering resistance. They can offer way to engage that doesn’t feel manipulated.

Personally, I like the idea of propositions a lot, and Jesus Christ has plenty of them.