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What Is Good News?
Article by
Richard A. Rhem
Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Published in
The Church Herald
The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America
February 1989, pp. 24-27
The goal of preaching is not to get something said, but to get something heard. So
contends Fred Craddock in his popular textbook, Preaching. That may sound
obvious, but it is not so at all, at least not from the perspective of the preacher.
Far too often, we who are called to the task of the weekly proclamation
concentrate exclusively on developing something to say and fail to recognize that
the problem is not to say Something, but rather...to be heard. We must never rest
content with delivering a message; we must exercise our best gifts and our
strenuous effort to get a message heard that forms in the consciousness of the
congregation and shapes God's people.
To make this claim is not to deny that whatever is effected through the preached
word is finally the work of the Spirit of God, the Spirit who caused the Word to be
written and who must make it in the moment of proclamation the living Word
that effects the purpose of God. Such a conviction, however, must not be used by
the preacher to evade the responsibility to work seriously at the task of preaching
so as to be effective.
Hans van der Geest studied the effects of preaching from a psychological
perspective. A supervisor in clinical pastoral education in a hospital in
Switzerland, van der Geest became interested in the personality of the preacher
and its impact on effectiveness in the pulpit. Presence in the Pulpit: The Impact
of Personality in Preaching reports his findings and presents a serious challenge
to the traditional emphasis in the training of preachers. Practicing preachers, too,
could profitably evaluate their own practices in the light of what van der Geest
has discovered.
Van der Geest was surprised to find that the most important quality in the
preaching event mentioned by those surveyed was the personal manner of the
preacher. This might well send shock waves through a church of the Reformed
tradition with its heavily intellectual bent. Yet van der Geest, himself steeped in
© Grand Valley State University
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�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
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the Dutch Reformed Church, found again and again that the content of what is
said is much less important for the process of engaging the listeners than most
textbooks on preaching allow.
The author raises the questions that immediately come to mind as one views the
results of this psychological perspective on preaching: Are we now going to judge
preaching's effectiveness by whether or not it satisfies people? Is it legitimate to
judge preaching by psychological effect?
Van der Geest contends that the listeners' statements of response as to what they
actually experienced have great value:
It's not just primitive or, for that matter, illegitimate wishes alive in them,
but also expectations wakened by worship services in the past and still
alive. At least in part these expectations are a reflection of what a worship
service and sermon intend to mean to a congregation.
Taking the needs of the congregation seriously as they present themselves at
worship is imperative. Van der Geest isolates three dimensions in the experience
of a worship service that must be present if the basic needs that people bring to
worship, and specifically to the sermon, are to be met effectively: the renewal and
restoration of basic trust; a hope for deliverance, a sense of release from the
everyday burdens and struggles of life; and a new perspective from which to gain
understanding in light of the gospel. Security, deliverance, understanding: apart
from these three dimensions, all of which must be present, a sermon will be less
than effective and people will leave without the feeling of having been personally
addressed.
These three dimensions can be delineated for the sake of analysis, but they
cannot be separated; they comprise a unity in the worship event. Van der Geest
writes:
There is admittedly a security without release, but it is an infantile security
addressing only immature people; and without understanding, it is naive.
Release without security is irrelevant; release without understanding is not
dependable. Understanding without security is impersonal; without
release it is sterile. The three dimensions are intimately related. They are
variations of the trio of love, hope and faith.
Security
People need to feel they are being addressed as individuals. In psychological
terms this need represents the necessity of having our basic trust renewed at
regular intervals. Psychologist Erik H. Erikson coined the expression primal
trust, the development in earliest infancy of the conviction that life in this world
is a good thing. Theologically, it is the fundamental conviction of being loved and
secured by God. While primal trust is formed in us through the earliest
© Grand Valley State University
�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
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experiences of infancy, it is in need of constant renewal. In the face of the deepest
and final questions of life, people need the confirmation of this basic trust in the
worship service.
The questions that play on most people, according to van der Geest, include Do I
have a future? Am I lost or supported? Do I have ground under my feet? Am I left
alone by myself, or is there help? Do I have to defend myself, brace myself, or
should I relax and be giving? Does it make sense to have courage, or should I be
resigned? Life is simple for only very few. Disturbances and dangers are the daily
bread of most. What are people at worship seeking? Here are some sample
responses: I want to forget day-to-day sufferings for a while. I am looking for
strength for the coming week. I would like to get out of the rat race and find a
little quietness. No more arguments. I want a little peace now. Someone has to
talk kindly to us once in a while, too, and give us courage.
Is worship simply a comforter? Is there not also a disturbing side of the gospel?
To be sure. But, as van der Geest points out, what he is advocating is not simply
an affirmation of the status quo. There is more to worship than the renewal of
primal trust, but for anything positive to result, it is essential that the people of
God come into contact with the living God, the God in whose love they rest.
How can this happen through preaching? Van der Geest's research reveals that
feelings of security are aroused only if love is expressed. "Whenever people go
into a worship service to find feelings of security, they are seeking love, clear
signs of love." This happens where the preacher is perceived to be sincere and
genuine in his or her concern for the congregation as individuals. The use of firstperson singular pronouns signals the preacher's personal commitment.
Body language is important, at least as important as the verbal language of
content. A cool, distant preacher signals a lack of emotional involvement.
Rhetorical skill is desirable, but it will never make up for authentic caring and
sincerity.
Colloquial language gives the congregation the sense of being addressed
personally. Pulpit language and any affectation of manner or tone build a wall
between pulpit and pew.
To achieve a renewal of basic trust, a sense of being loved of God, the
congregation's members must sense that they are taken seriously. Just as the
preacher must express personal commitment through the use of the first person
pronoun, so the people must be addressed as "you" and invited to participate in
the proclamation. The sense of participation is heightened by the avoidance of
heavy dependence on a manuscript or written notes, according to van der Geest.
There is much more at stake than those who support the writing down and
reading from notes believe. The personal style, the direct address
indispensable for awakening trust, is in general seriously impaired by
© Grand Valley State University
�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4!
reading from notes. This is the case because not only the content, but
precisely the presentation—including the visible—is essential for gaining
access to the realm of emotion. But what does such reading from notes
show us, no matter how sophisticated it's done? The sermon does not
emerge; it comes from yesterday. The preacher misses the "act of
restructuring during the moment of speaking."
The sermon should be as natural as conversation. This, of course, does not mean
less preparation, but more. Preaching personally is speaking in the name of God;
it is not delivering a treatise about God.
Finally, the preacher must communicate a clear expectation of the mystery of
God. From his research van der Geest concludes that "the real mystery of
encounter occurs for the experience of the congregation in the relationship
between the preacher and the listeners."
Deliverance
From the analysis of listener reaction, van der Geest found not only the need for
security but also for a sense of release, of deliverance from the anguish of the
human experience. Deliverance cannot come through a denial of the darkness. If
the dark side of life is not taken seriously, if life’s tragic dimension is rendered
harmless, the congregation will be disappointed and leave dissatisfied. Rather,
van der Geest argues:
The people in a worship service want to have light offered to them in the
darkness of their lives; they want to see the hopelessness of day-to-day life
surpassed by a perspective which can’t be found in that day-to-day life
itself. They yearn for a deliverance from the misfortune, oppression, and
the misery which are, after all, a part of life. In this dimension the key is
the encounter with that aspect of the message which awakens hope, the
words about the beyond. This is the message the worshipers are waiting
for, the language of release.
The congregation looks to the preacher to communicate a hope that is incredible
and that becomes believable only as the preacher manifests a personal wonder
that such a hope should be true. What is sought here are not simplistic solutions
to life's complexity. The reality of darkness must be acknowledged on the one side
and, on the other side, the preacher himself or herself must have sifted through
the results of the modern critical study of the biblical text. But finally the
preacher must take responsibility for the text as it appears relevant to him or her
and then proclaim the incredibly hopeful news of the gospel in the face of the real
anguish of the human situation.
The yearning for release or deliverance presupposes that there is nothing within
the framework of human possibility that can effect transformation. It is into such
a situation of human impossibility that the "nevertheless" of the gospel is spoken,
© Grand Valley State University
�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
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thus arousing wonder. The preacher's own astonishment is fundamental. "For the
mediation of this improbable thing preachers must themselves be struck by the
miraculous."
When a preacher unconsciously ceases to feel the joy and freedom of the gospel
or, even worse, has never really personally experienced the grace of God,
preaching becomes legalistic and moralistic, burdening the congregation with the
tyranny of "we must," "we should," "we ought." Still, the obligation of the gospel
must be made clear, recognizing the reality of guilt and calling for commitment to
a higher standard.
Understanding
If in a sermon trust is awakened and the message of deliverance through the
gospel clearly proclaimed, there remains yet a decisive element. Listener
responses point to that missing element: He was too sure about God and the
beyond for my taste. It's too bad she turned away from the difficult things so
quickly. I don't really know what to do with this unquestionable faith. My
unbelief wasn't taken into consideration.
Listeners are not always ready or able to accept the message. The hymns and
prayers are easier to receive with trust; much greater demands are made of the
sermons. The analysis of listeners' responses reveals that the congregation both
challenges the sermon's claims and, at the same time, hopes to be convinced and
persuaded of its truth. The preacher must reckon with the rhythm of human
experience that is never static, but always moving between the poles of trust and
doubt. It looks like a game, but it is no malicious game; doubts are spread out and
the preacher is tested, but the listener does not want to win the game; he hopes in
fact to lose, to be overcome.
The listener wants to be convinced of the truth of the gospel, but the problem the
preacher faces is that persuasion is being required in an area of life in which
logical arguments have almost no value. Discursive reasoning does not suffice;
rather, it is the preacher's own deep, warm, and living faith that persuades. Says
van der Geest:
The truth sought again by the people in a worship service is not an
objective one, but is rather an existential truth precipitating engagement
and participation, not cool ascertainment...: in the act of persuasion itself
the emotional effect of the renewal of trust is inseparably connected with
cognitive understanding. That process of being persuaded is thus a total
experience, not just an intellectual comprehension.
Sermons must be planned with the temptation to doubt in mind, but the doubt
raised by the text, not the doubt raised by the great religious-existential questions
of life. These questions arising out of tragedy, pain, and human anguish are not
© Grand Valley State University
�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
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helpfully addressed in preaching. The Christian proclamation does not solve life's
inscrutable mysteries but rather announces the reign of God.
The doubts aroused by the text and the resistance of the listener to the
proclamation of the gospel are not removed by logical, conceptual speech of
discursive reasoning. Rather, it is through story, image, and graphic speech that
persuasion is achieved. Narrative preaching is widely advocated today and
preaching as story is in vogue. Van der Geest's research would indicate that this is
more than a fad, the swing of the pendulum. He points out:
In contrast to the more conceptual approach, something graphic causes
the listeners themselves to become active. Concepts are finished products
which the listeners simply register. They need only to think, to think
abstractly. But if the preacher tells a story, the listeners themselves
construct the forms of the people, the appearances of the events. Now they
can experience something.
Images and stories are suited to the Christian proclamation; concepts are not.
The sermon must activate the listeners' imaginations. Existential truth is grasped
through metaphorical language. As the imagination is stimulated, a person's own
creativity is engaged. Such preaching becomes dialogue. The listeners find
themselves in the story and re-experience their own joy and pain, disappointment
and hope. They are able to identify with the story's situation and characters.
Graphic speech touches more than the cognitive level of our understanding; it
reaches to the subconscious level of inner vision where truth is grasped as a
whole.
In this kind of evidence precisely the apparently impossible happens: The
unseen becomes seen. This occurrence is always impressive and
precipitates intense surprise. People are encountering their life's truth.
Rational, objective truth does not require this kind of evidence; sense perception
and logical argumentation are sufficient. In the worship service and the sermon,
existential truth is being sought. The one who thus perceives is engaged, "struck
at the very roots, and his or her whole life is affected: feeling, thinking, inner
vision and will."
The goal of preaching is not to get something said, but to get something heard.
The experience of the worshiper is thus critical for the evaluation of preaching.
The people have cried out, this is who we are, and this is what we need. Effective
preaching will renew their basic trust, give them a sense of deliverance, and
provide a new perspective, a fresh insight to the understanding. Where these
three dimensions are present, the listener will feel spoken to by the preacher and
by God.
Reference:
© Grand Valley State University
�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
Hans Van der Geest. Presence in the Pulpit: The Impact of Personality in
Preaching. John Knox Press, 1st English edition, 1981.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 7!
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
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Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
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Sound
Text
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KII-01
Coverage
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
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References
Hans Van der Geest, Presence in the Pulpit, 1981
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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RA-4-19890201
Date
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1989-02-01
Type
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Text
Title
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What is Good News? Great sermons must embrace the 3 basic needs of those who listen
Publisher
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The Church School Herald Journal
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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eng
Description
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Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 1, 1989 entitled "What is Good News? Great sermons must embrace the 3 basic needs of those who listen", it appeared in The Church Herald, Feb. 1989, pp. 24-27. Tags: Preaching, Gospel, Trust, Love, Mystery, Hope, Sympathy. Scripture references: Hans Van der Geest, Presence in the Pulpit, 1981.
Format
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application/pdf
Gospel
Hope
Love
Mystery
Preaching
Sympathy
Trust