As an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America I have come to lament the word evangelical in our name. Too often it’s reputation precedes it as it has grown some unhelpful arms and legs in recent years. However, I am reminded of a simple definition I once learned for the word evangelical from a faithful Bishop in the Nebraska Synod, the Reverend Brian Maas. He taught me that evangelical literally means, Good News Bearers. He would often refer to the ELCA as the Good News Lutheran Church. That is a definition I can live in to and get excited about! As a pastor I get to share the Good News. I remember hearing in seminary a famous quote by theologian Karl Barth who said that we should ‘preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” This was encouragement for the preacher to be both biblically sound and relevantly aware of current events. While I understand the sentiment this obsessive practice of keeping our hands full has paralyzed some preachers, myself included, from allowing ourselves to write our sermons well in advance of when they will be preached lest we miss out on a current event that should be addressed. Here is the thing, as preachers we are called to preach the Good News, not breaking news. Keep in mind too, when Barth cited a newspaper as a reliable source for news it wasn’t timely in its delivery. Something that happened on a Monday was not likely to reach the ears or eyes of a preacher before Sunday. The event had to happen, someone had to report on it, then write an article, then get it printed and then distributed so that readers could learn what had happened. Nowadays we are flooded with an influx of “breaking news” at our fingertips. The massive amount of content we can consume has caused a collective anxiety to cloud the exegetical work of preachers because we don’t want to seem irrelevant or uninformed. Give yourself a break, maybe from social media, but most certainly from the anxiousness that leads to constantly procrastinating your preaching preparation. Forget breaking news for a moment and trust the inbreaking of the Holy Spirit in your sermon preparation. Get it done early in the week, so you are freed up to be present with your people rather than sermonizing in your head. If something comes undone in the world late in the week, add it to the prayers or address it after worship over a cup of coffee. Be a Good News bearer when you preach and your people will be well informed.
- Pastor Bethany Walker
