Preaching is a communal act
Today's post is really a followup to my earlier thoughts on life in lockdown being a famine of fellowship, and occasioned by recently finishing reading Jay Kim's Analog Church, which I heartily recommend.
For the sake of honesty, I should mention two qualms I had about the book, which weaken his argument without invalidating his conclusions. First, a lot of his reasoning is based on the etymology of certain Greek or Hebrew words, rather than on the narrative of Scripture as a whole. He doesn't do much on why physicality is such an indispensable part of our spirituality - reading Nancy Pearcey's Love Thy Body would be an excellent companion piece to correct that. (I suspect also that Jonathan Leeman's new book One Assembly will provide a far more robust biblical justification for physical gathering, though I haven't yet read it.)
Second, he leans too heavily on the concept of physical realities providing a "transcendent experience" of God which digital simulacra can't replicate. If that's the main reason for church being physical and analogue, then what ought I to do if my local church gathering is a bit humdrum and doesn't always feel transcendent and awesome? (I also slightly fear that this offers an aesthetic argument rather than an ethical one, something I'm concerned is becoming more prevalent in evangelical circles; although I agree with Carl Trueman that the beauty of a gathered church living a gospel-shaped life is a powerful, God-given thing - see 1 John 4:12.)
These two caveats aside, I think it's a book full of helpful insights and wise reflections. Today I just want to share Kim's thoughts on the act of preaching.
The medium is the message
As Marshall McLuhan famously taught, the means of communication - the medium - communicates. The same piece of information impacts us differently if we read it in leather-bound book in a library than if we read it via a Tweet on our smartphones or if we saw it on an advert on TV. The best communication happens when the medium fits the message - when the means of communication matches with the content of the communication.
So what means of communication befits the message gospel? The gospel is news. It is an announcement of something that has happened in history. A first-century inscription commissioned by Caesar Augustus gives the sense of it, with an idolatrous twist:
"He brings war to an end; he orders peace; by manifesting himself, he surpasses the hopes of all who were looking for good news [Greek εὐαγγέλια, "gospels"]."
Cited in Tom Holland, Dominion, 64.
The gospel is a declaration of a victory that Christ has won, and that he alone has won. We did not aid him in the victory; nor if left to our own devices, could we have imagined what he could do (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-20, Romans 11:33). And so preaching fits this message like a glove. Congregations are gathered to hear the announcement of good news - and as God speaks, we listen.
So is that the only requirement for a good sermon? A declarative preacher and a silent audience? If that is so, then digital communication would seem perfectly apt. Turn off chat and comments, and livestream to YouTube! Many churches are doing that temporarily in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak - so why not keep the physical doors closed and the digital ones open when we're allowed to gather again?
Speaking to the gathering
But this neglects the fact that preaching in the Bible is always given to a physically gathered people; and tailored to that people. When Moses preached to the Israelites, he gave them specific instructions knowing that their hearts were hard and they would surely break the covenant God was making with them (Deut 30). Ezra tailored the application of his sermon in response to the tears of his hearers (Nehemiah 8:9-10). Paul preached differently to the Jews in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13) than to the Greeks in Athens (Acts 17).
The philosopher Denis Diderot is famous for originating the concept of the "fourth wall" - the screen which actors must pretend is there so as not to be distracted by the audience:
When you write or act, think no more of the audience than if it had never existed. Imagine a huge wall across the front of the stage, separating you from the audience, and behave exactly as if the curtain had never risen.
Denis Diderot
But preaching is not acting, and a sermon is not a play. The sermon occurs in the context of the gathered church because it is the word of God which gathers the church in the first place, and around which it gathers. As Christopher Ash notes in his brilliant little book Listen Up!:
[The church] began when God said to Moses: 'Assemble the people before me to hear my words' (Deuteronomy 4:10).
Christopher Ash, Listen Up!, 12.
The prophetic Psalm 22 begins with the solitary suffering King in the dust of death; but his salvation results in a gathered community who are led in praise by that King (Psalm 22:25). This is the dynamic of the gospel - the innocent Christ suffers and dies alone; yet as he is raised and glorified he "brings many sons to glory" with him (Hebrews 2:10). So the gathered local church is the proper expression of the gospel; and therefore the proper context of the sermon:
The sermon is much more than the prepared content of the communicator and its public delivery; it is the sum total of its various elements - speaking, listening, delivering, receiving, responding - and it involves everyone in the room.
Jay Kim, Analog Church, 68.
If the preacher pays no attention to this - if his sermon could have been preached in any church in any time, or broadcast on YouTube or the radio without alteration, he is not making the most of the opportunity, nor faithfully expressing the truth that the result of the gospel is a locally gathered church community. Moreover, he runs that risk that his sermon, targeted at everybody in general, will speak to nobody in particular:
If our preaching is untouched by the situation at hand, we risk preaching in ways that simply cannot be heard.
Jay Kim, Analog Church, 50.
Having done a little bit of online preaching, I can testify to how strange and alien it is. Looking at the camera feels bizarre; I cannot make any eye contact or get any sense of how the sermon is landing (which might otherwise lead me to adjust my tone or emphasis); if I stumble over my words I have to fight a very great temptation to stop and start again, which would never even cross my mind in a "normal" sermon. In other words, it feels more like a performance. I hope it always feels strange, and the need for it doesn't last long.
Embodied listening
But as well as having lessons for the preacher, this also has implications for those who listen.
It gives us pause before we plunge into the endless sea of sermons and podcasts which are available for download online. The preacher might objectively be a better preacher than your local church pastor - but he does not know you, and you are not hearing him in the context God designed his word to be heard.
It encourages us to serve the preacher as he serves us - by listening attentively, with Bibles open, and an eagerness to encounter God in his word. As Christopher Ash says, "Few things so encourage a pastor as eager listeners and learners" (The Book Your Pastor Wishes You Would Read, 41). But more than encouraging your pastor, this is the way to open your heart and mind to be transformed by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 4:12).
It spurs us on to let the word of God reverberate (to use Jonathan Leeman's lovely expression from his Word-Centered Church) around our church family. In other words, when the word is heard in the context of a gathered community, it does not terminate with us. As Christopher Ash explains, having heard God address us through the preached word:
...we are accountable to one another for our response... you know what message I've heard, and I know what message you've heard. I've heard it. You know I've heard it. I know that you know I've heard it! And you expect me to respond to the message, just as I hope you will. And so we encourage one another and stir up one another to do what the Bible says.
Christopher Ash, Listen Up!, 13-14.
Let us look forward to the time when this is possible again - and pursue the communal act of preaching as much as possible in the meantime.