From Lee Koontz, Associate Pastor
A couple of weeks ago I had the very strange experience of preaching a sermon that I wasn't entirely sure I agreed with.
What? Did I really just say that? Can that even be true? Shouldn't preachers preach what they KNOW? Shouldn't they preach the TRUTH of the gospel and nothing else? If you're hearing words coming out of the preacher's mouth, shouldn't you be able to know that the preacher is preaching with conviction and has no doubt about whether the sermon is right? Well... not necessarily.
Anytime we as Christians open the Holy Bible, we must open it acknowledging that it is God who is holy, not us. Because of this, we read the Bible with an expectation that God's word will transform us for the better. We read the Bible with the conviction that it witnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and thus points to something much greater than ourselves. We read the Bible anticipating that we must conform to it, not the other way around. So what does a preacher do when he is faced with the task of preaching a text that challenges him (or her) and forces him (or her) to see things in a new way? The answer to that is simple: the preacher preaches the Word of God, not the word of himself (or herself).
I mention this because I'd like to hear what you think. Recognizing that all of us share this interpretive challenge when we open our Bibles, we do our best when we try to understand scripture together. No preacher has all the right answers. No Christian does either, for that matter. Together, we can share what we all are able to glean from God's Word with each other, and thereby pass on insights that no single person can have alone. I invite you to write, call, or visit (let's do lunch!) when you have thoughts about what you've read or heard in the Bible or in church. I'm always happy to share the interpretive task, and I'd welcome your insights. Who knows? Together we may just learn something!
Until then.... May God's Word transform you!
