By Brian Foreman
In Kenyatta Gilbert’s The Journey and Promise of African American Preaching (Creative Pastoral Care and Counseling), 2011, three pillars of preaching styles are described – prophetic, priestly and sage.
A likely challenge for many clergy and congregations is their comfort level with one particular style. One of preaching’s great challenges is that while multiple styles may need to be invoked, the preacher is often only versed in one, and sticks closely to it.
As the national political conversation in the United States is likely to heat up in the next 12 months, we may do well to consider how these three pillars of preaching serve very different moments. There is an old adage to pay attention to as well: “If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
At times, preachers may feel a responsibility to respond to a cultural moment with a particular style. A clear example of this may be that prophetic preaching felt like the only option in your congregation during the weeks after the murder of George Floyd, or as Israel responded to the attack on citizens that set off the current invasion into Gaza.
Recently during a lunch with a pastor, he described an experience at a previous church where he found himself preaching from a prophetic posture nearly every week for several months during 2020 and 2021. The culture’s shifting and shaping moments, as you well remember, just kept coming.
After several months the preaching had taken its toll on both pastor and congregation. He was emotionally exhausted. Those who disagreed with his stances from the pulpit were checking out. Many who did agree were also exhausted and disengaged. I asked him what he would do differently over the next year as political rhetoric ramps up and he tries to hold a purple space together.
We sat with that question and wrestled with a variety of ways to describe a strategy. We arrived at these hopes:
- The hope that the pulpit can be a safe and thought-provoking place for people seeking sanctuary from the chaos they are living the rest of the week.
- The hope to lead the congregation through whatever is to come and emerge unified on the other side, even as we disagree.
- The wish to offer the hope and love of Christ without conditions.
There are many layers to what a church in any context can or should do in response to the moments faced in the life of a country, community or congregation. While we cannot discuss the complexities of each possible situation to help determine “the response” a CBF church should have, there are questions to be asked that lead to reflection on what type of preaching moment might be most effective. Consider these an expansion of the tools the pastor has lest he or she see each approach from the pulpit as needing a hammer.
Prophetic: What social or cultural norms must be challenged by the teachings of Christ?
Priestly: What grief and trauma exist for the people in my congregation as a result of this moment?
Sage: What does it take for our people to grow in wisdom as to how to respond?
These three approaches do not have to be mutually exclusive to one another, and many pulpiteers are able to incorporate elements of two or all three into a single sermon. As clergy, we may even need the challenge of leaning into one of these styles that is not our normal posture. As parishioners, we may need to ask for and expect varying postures. What might the Holy Spirit teach us in the moment? How is God leading us through this moment to arrive intact, changed or wiser than before? These three styles invite clergy and congregation into a new discipline—hopefully one that helps achieve the goals of hope, love and unity.