Preaching that’s both prophetic and apocalyptic

The Rev. Dr. Neal Presa leads an insightful ‘Equipping Preachers’ webinar for the Synod of the Covenant

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. Dr. Neal Presa

LOUISVILLE — The Rev. Dr. Neal Presa spent 90 minutes last week helping preachers in the Synod of the Covenant to embrace preaching that’s prophetic and apocalyptic.

Presa’s contribution to the synod’s “Equipping Preachers” series wasn’t the least bit scary. Rather, Presa — Moderator of the 220^th General Assembly (2012) and the Vice President of Student Affairs and Vocational Outreach and Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, who’s recently been named executive presbyter at the Presbytery of San Jose — helped webinar attendees to, as he put it, “interrogate the dominant narrative” and “present an alternative vision grounded in the Scriptures.”

Apocalyptic preaching “follows the prophetic tradition of lament, anguish and holy indignation of the status quo,” Presa said. The preacher is saying, in no uncertain terms, “This is not the way it ought to be.”

Think of Micah, Amos and Presa’s favorite prophet, Habakkuk, whom he calls “Job minus the three meddling friends.”

Presa used clips of sermons preached by his students to illustrate just how powerful prophetic, apocalyptic preaching can be. In the first, the Rev. Robert Williams, Jr., preached on Luke’s account of Simon of Cyrene being forced to carry Jesus’ cross.

Since Cyrene is modern-day Libya, “we know he was African,” Williams said.

“Simon was just minding his own business. Some might suggest Simon was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He should have known better. Who did he think he was?” Williams asked. “Simon was only guilty of being a Black man walking, similar to Eric Garner or Trayvon Martin.”

“The cross Simon was asked to bear wasn’t even his. It had the weight of the world on it. There was redemption wrapped up in it,” Williams said. But “God ordered his steps and used systemic evil to accomplish God’s purpose.”

“One day,” Williams said, “we’ll be able to breathe free and have eternal life. As for this Black man, I’m going to make my way to the presence of Jesus [as Simon did]. I’ll join my voice with the angels singing God’s presence in the homeland of my soul. I still want to meet that Simon fellow. Amen.”

What Williams did so effectively in his sermon was to connect contemporary realities to the biblical world, Presa noted. “He excavated the truth in both, then bridged the two together, using Simon of Cyrene to get at injustice, violence and being in the right place at the right time.”

Dr. Leonara Tubbs Tisdale of the Yale Divinity School has articulated these seven key strategies for preaching prophetically, Presa said:

• Start with the familiar and comfortable and move toward the unfamiliar and stretching, realizing, as Presa said, “it’s nearly impossible to take the congregation 100% of the way toward God’s justice.”
• Use the congregation’s own history as a bridge for forging the way toward a new future prophetic vision for its future.
• Stand with the congregation under the word of God, rather than opposite the congregation armed with the word of God.
• Articulate the opposing viewpoint in a manner that is fair, accurate and believable.
• Help people stand in another person’s shoes and see the world from a different perspective.
• Take the long view. “Our sacred responsibility is we follow a long train of those who have been in the struggle,” Presa said. “We may not see the fullness of God’s shalom vision in our lifetime.”
• Remember the importance of trust and speaking the truth in love. “It’s not about shying away from the truth,” he said. “It’s about loving God’s people for who they are.”

The second sermon participants heard came from the Rev. Inés Velásquez-McBryde, who called her sermon based on Matthew 5:1-12 “Beatitudes are not for the Blessed.”

Jesus knows those who heard the Beatitudes for the first time “have been taxed heavily by state and synagogue,” she said. “He knows the emperor is too small a king.”

“As I have marched with African American sisters and brothers, I have listened, lamented and learned,” Velásquez-McBryde said. “May we as leaders listen, lament and enter into the mourning as we live into this blessed Beatitude.”

What if, she wondered, we prayed the Beatitudes backwards:

• “I want to inherit the kingdom of heaven, but I don’t want proximity to the poor in spirit.”
• “I want to inherit the Earth, but the idea of being meek is revolting to my pride and ego.”
• “I love to receive mercy, but I have been hurt and taken advantage of many times before, so I don’t want to be merciful.”
• “I want to be called a daughter and a son of God, but I just want to keep the peace — not work for peace.”

“May you be prophetic pastors, preachers and commissioned ruling elders,” Presa said, “agents of God’s justice and agents of God’s truth and love.”

The Rev. Dr. Janette H. Ok, Associate Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, will lead the next “Equipping Preachers” webinar at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on June 5. Ok’s topic is “Preaching the Letter of 1 John in a Polarized Church.” Registration, available here, is also open to preachers living and serving outside the bounds of the Synod of the Covenant.