A Preaching Economy (A Guest Post)
The Rev. Dr. Amy Butler, Former Senior Minister at The Riverside Church in the City of New York.
Butler attended Baylor University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1991 and a Master of Arts in 1995. She also holds a Bachelor of Theology from the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary.
"These days I am thinking about the future of the Church, curious about where new life is emerging and how we can be best positioned to join God’s work in the world."
Read more at https://www.pastoramy.com/blog/investedfaith.
There’s no doubt in my mind that preaching is a faith leader’s best tool for shaping the theological imagination of a community.
Week after week, proclaimers stand in front of their people inviting them to grapple with the text in ways that build a kind of scaffolding within which individuals and communities make shifts in their lives and in the world around them.
And building this scaffolding, I might argue, is the unique power and responsibility of the proclaimer.
In this moment when truth is lacking and hope is elusive and all of us need to be moved to think in new ways, attending to the work of proclamation with care is especially important.
All of us need comfort, because anxiety and fear are our constant companions.
We need inspiration to believe that our small contributions can actually bring about good change.
And we need hope that God is well at work bringing healing to broken lives and a broken world, even when the evidence around us may tell us otherwise.
But where to begin?
“I’m talking about articulating, teaching, and infusing the economy of God into all parts of pastoral leadership, especially preaching. ”
I know what your email in box can look like on Monday mornings.
We who work to shape the the theological imagination of an entire community are particularly susceptible to criticism and critique, sometimes so severe that it puts our livelihoods at risk.
So wondering how to faithfully proclaim a world-changing gospel without losing our faith or our sanity is a fair question.
The World-Shaping Power of an Economic Theology
I think one of the most effective ways to ingrain a subversive gospel in the hearts and minds of our people is to consistently preach an economic theology that reflects what we say we believe.
I’m talking about articulating, teaching, and infusing the economy of God into all parts of pastoral leadership, especially preaching.
If you’re like me, this sounds a bit scary.
I know I did not take many economics classes in college, and anyway: what does economics have to do with the work of God in the world?
Turns out quite a bit, as a matter of fact.
How we think about what we have and how we live together are tied tightly to one another, and that bond or lack thereof impacts every part of how we show up in the world.
A few years ago when the lectionary assigned Luke 12:32-40—the passage in which Jesus tells his disciples to sell all their possessions—I preached a sermon called “Quit Your Job.”
“Our people listen to us. They take what we say to heart. It’s our holy responsibility to find the courage to say it.”
I opened with a story about a radio ad I’d heard that week that began with the enthusiastic admonition, “It’s time to quit your job and start living the life you’ve always dreamed of!”
I spoke in that sermon about how considerations of security and stability, comfort and ease keep many of us tied to a job that compromises us in every way. Jesus, instead, invited his followers to open their hands and hearts, to let go of the things hold onto so tightly, assuring them that God was “pleased to give them the kingdom.”
You can imagine my horror the next week after worship when I was shaking hands at the door and one of our young adults came through the line and said, “Last week you said to quit your job, so I did!”
Our people listen to us. They take what we say to heart. It’s our holy responsibility to find the courage to say it.
The Dangerous Religion of Capitalism: A Theology of Scarcity
In the United States proclaimers enter the pulpit each week with the challenge of articulating an alternative to a religion of capitalism that has convinced us that what we have belongs to us, that our security and even that our value is reflected in what we own.
This dangerous economic, nationalistic, and isolationist ideology leads us, especially in times of distress, to hoard what we have, to live with the fear of not having enough, and even to equate our material success with the favor of God.
Aside from its theological insufficiency, this mindset necessarily results in:
corporate policies that punish the poor
systems of injustice that allow for only a select few to thrive
and laws that make us afraid of our neighbors and willing to forget about their wellbeing lest we jeopardize what we have.
With this mindset, we default to charity in our best moments, and in our worst, we forget altogether about the rigorous mandate of beloved community. This is a theology of scarcity, and it’s a lie that many in America have swallowed hook, line, and sinker.
Most concerning of all, it’s an economic theology that does not reflect, even slightly, the teachings of Jesus Christ.
The Subversive Alternative: A Theology of Abundance
The subversive alternative that proclaimers can and should stand on as they lead and preach is a theology of abundance.
When we learn to live this way, we live with hands and hearts open.
We’re not afraid of losing what we have, so we’re less preoccupied with accumulation.
We’re not scared of our neighbors so we’re free to embrace them.
“There is no time for shrinking back but only pressing forward so that our words embody prophetic power and narrate the urgent work of God in the world here, and now.”
And we apply our corporate efforts to caring for the world in which we live, motivated always by the conviction that the better my neighbor’s life, the better all our lives. Together.
I am more and more convinced that whichever theology we choose as a starting point for proclamation infuses everything we teach and preach, how we interpret scripture, how we build and nurture beloved community.
This is urgent, because communities of faith are the training ground for how people of faith live in the world.
And the witness of people of faith is impotent outside the walls of institutions without the integrity of the witness inside the walls.
Bold proclamation is risky business, but the proclaimer has the power of the gospel and the mandate of the truth flanking her as she preaches.
There is no time for shrinking back but only pressing forward so that our words embody prophetic power and narrate the urgent work of God in the world here, and now.