WORDS TO BUILD ON

Every pastor's signature verse in the Bible must be Romans 10:14. “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” No wonder it's a favorite. Every pastor hopes his or her words will be heard and that in the hearing faith is strengthened.

Every once in a while someone will use the title “Preacher” when speaking to me or of me. And I suppose that is fairly accurate. Of all the parts of my role as a pastor, this is still the major aspect: Preaching. There are days when it strikes me as strange that this has been my lot in life, to enter a pulpit on Sundays and speak these words of life over and over again. I have related with Biblical characters like Moses who didn't see himself as much of a public speaker. I even got a “D+” in a speech class years ago, although I think that had something to do with attendance. Sometimes I truly believe God is having too good a time in his quest to help us all grow in our character and in our reliance on His Spirit.

As I begin to pack up my office I realize I have 10 years of sermons backlogged. Files and files of words and words. Too many, some would chide me. And I wonder, “Were they words just for one day, for one twenty minute period in time, or will they need to be heard in another place, another time?” In other words, “Should I pack them up or send them to the shredder?”

I have carried old sermons around in boxes for years now from one preaching post to another with the thought they will come in handy someday. But then someday comes and the old words don't seem to match up well with the new day. So the whole process of sermon development must be recited each week. One preacher once quipped, “Sundays come toward the preacher like telephone poles by the window of a moving train” (Ernest T. Campbell).

I am thankful for the privilege it is to preach. Most of all I am thankful for your listening ways. I have always treasured stepping toward the pulpit on Sunday morning mostly because you have seemed interested, desirous of hearing. I have often reflected that the way I can tell a sermon is finding its mark is by how quiet it is while I'm speaking. There are Sundays once in awhile when it just seems the sanctuary is restless but not many. There is a good quiet there and I have treasured those moments.

Leander Keck, a professor of preaching, once wrote, “Whoever listens to the text and converses with it opens … the possibility that a word will be heard. This ‘hearing' goes beyond understanding. A word that is heard is compelling; it grasps us and our imagination; it causes us to reassess other words, values, and the web of assumptions and trusts that make up our lives. All sorts of surprises can occur when the preacher takes the Bible seriously” (The Bible in the Pulpit).

I believe that. Our Christian story leads us to all sorts of new beginnings. It is the one story I know that always ends with hope. People are edged along the path of courage and joy, to know grace and to be graceful people.

So … thank you for listening. My strongest hope is that something good has happened in your walk with the Lord while you have been listening. I appreciate how Jesus put it: “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit – but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock” (Matthew 7, The Message).

Now that's preaching! Bless you as you continue to hear words worth building your life on. And may the pulpit of Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church always guide people to the rock, to Jesus Christ our Lord.

Steve's last day with us is March 28, 2010