Harold Shank

In Isaiah 28-33 the prophet address people who face a problem.   He assures them of the reliability of God in the midst of their crisis.  To do so, the prophet describes God’s reliability with two unusual metaphors.   First, God is a bird that hovers over Jerusalem (Isa 31:5).   He flies over the city protecting it with his wings.    Second, God is a lion who has captured a lamb and retreated to a solitary spot to enjoy his supper (Isa 31:4).   Despite the attempts of the shepherds to distract him, the young lion concentrates on his meal.   God likewise focuses on Jerusalem.

God as a young lion “growls” (RSV) over his prey.  The Hebrew word for growl is hagah (accent on the second syllable: ha-GAH) which means to chew on, groan over, concentrate on, mutter over or meditate on.

Strikingly the Bible uses the same word to describe human activity for God.  Moses tells Joshua that his key duties before God include taking the word of God to hagah over it (Josh 1:8), that he should chew on it like the lion growls over dinner.  The Psalms begin with the grand description of righteous living:  “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffer.”   After describing what not to do, the Psalm gives clear instruction:  Delight in the words God gives and hagah over them day and night.   The image conjures up mealtime.  Savor the Word of God.  Linger over a dinner of Gospels.  Take seconds on the Psalms.  Indulge in the Pauline epistles.

To extend the figure, training in Biblical studies amounts to kitchen work.  Survey classes compare to cooking.  Taking Greek and Hebrew means learning the recipes.  Text classes set the table.    But once in ministry, preachers spend a life time growling over the Word of God.   We hagah over what he sets before us.

Claus Westermann championed Old Testament studies a generation ago, but began life as a preacher.  Drafted into World War II, Westermann entered military service with his New Testament and Psalms in his pocket.  He reports that it sustained him in combat like nothing else.  Westermann ended up in a Russian P.O.W camp.  Westermann would sit on a block of wood, a board on his lap, writing his thoughts from reading his Bible.   Despite the deprivations of the camp, Westermann would sometimes trade a piece of bread for a piece of paper so he could continue his study.  He learned to growl over the Word of God.

E. H. Ijams mentored me as a young preacher.  President of Lipscomb, author of nine books, Ijams lived to be 96 years old of which he spent 75 years in ministry.  He could never get over the reality that thoughts that once flowed through the mind of God, through Scripture, could flow through his mind.  He learned to growl over the Word of God.

Let me share two thoughts about the menu of those who minister.   First, Churches must eat the full Word of God.  It must get on the inside.   Too many congregations exist on fast food: they eat Gospel Lite, partake of diet discipleship, consume junk spirituality, and devour pizza every Sunday.   God calls for consumption of the seven food groups:  Law, prophets, writings, Gospels, history, epistles, and Revelation.  Churches will not growl over the word unless the preacher has growled over the word.  Eat a balanced diet and serve complete meals.

Second, growling over God’s word should be more like a banquet than grabbing a sandwich on the run.   Hagah over it:  Meditate, chew, groan, growl over it.  The Word of God is not a hamburger and a Coke one gulps down, but a multiple course feast that is savored, chewed, and pondered.

The menus are prepared.  The ovens are hot.  The table is set.  You are invited to a banquet.  The main course is the Word of God.   Enjoy your dinner.

(Presented by Harold Shank at the OC Preacher’s Luncheon on April 19, 2011)

When the Book of Jonah comes up, most people think of the fish.  The fish plays a dominant role in the Veggies Tale version of the Old Testament minor prophet.  Church art tends to focus on the whale.  Apologists seek to find a fish big enough to hold Jonah.

But the four chapter prophet is not about the fish.  The book’s 48 verses refer to the fish four times in three different verses.  God is mentioned 38 times in 28 verses.  

Everything in the book does what God wants.  God speaks and the storm starts, intensifies and stops.  The fish swallows and vomits on God’s command.  When the Ninevites hear God’s word, they repent and fast.   The plant grows and shades exactly as God asks.  The worm eats and kills per the LORD’s instructions.   God tells the wind to blow and blister and it does just that.  Even Jonah who drags his feet ends up being the means by which a ship full of sailors worship the Lord and a city of wicked people believe in God.   God tells Jonah to go preach and he does.

While Jonah may lack in practice, he perfects in his theology.  He tells his struggling shipmates, ”I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land”  (Jon 1:9). 

Jonah tells us about God who rules over heaven and earth.

The world’s Jonahs distract us.   They push their own agenda (see Jonah 4:1f).  They seek their own comfort (see Jonah 1:2f).  They respond negatively when they don’t get their own way (See Jonah 4 again).  

 But God has his way, even with Jonah. 

The Book of Jonah is not about the great wicked city of Nineveh.  It is not about the plant that grows up over night as if it were nurtured in pure Miracle Grow.   It’s not about the worm that “smites” the plant like a Superworm.  It’s not about a fish that can swallow but not digest the praying prophet. 

It’s not about what we can’t do.  It’s not about the mission being too big, wickedness too entrenched, the dream too risky, the project too expensive.  The Jonahs around us remind us of all those things.

It’s not about the fish.

It’s about God.

When is the last time you heard a sermon about God?  Or, when was the last time you preached a sermon about God?

One of my habits is to keep an eye on what is being published in the religious press.  One of the largest areas being taken up right now is the subject of God.  Consider these recent book titles:

The Prodigal God–Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

There is A God

Trusting in the Names of God

Great is the Lord–Theology for the Praise of God

God–Seen Through the Eyes of the Greatest Minds

Knowing God the Father

Images of God

The Shack

Approaching God–Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God

How to Believe in God–Whether You Believe in Religion or Not

The Reason for God–Belief in an Age of Skepticism

That’s quite a list. 

Why all the books on God?   What do we make of what the publishers sense about contemporary culture?  I have three thoughts. You can add some more

1–Vacuum.   Many sense a blank when it comes to God.  They have not heard many sermons on God or studied about God in the Bible, so they have questions that they want answered.

2–Opposition.  Increasingly atheists have become more militant.  The anti-god propaganda raises questions and sends people on a search for a defense.

3–Misinformation.  Will Willimon tells of talking to a co-ed who did not believe in God.  He asked her to describe the God she did not believe in.   Then Willimon said, “I don’t believe in that God either.”   The world is filled with words about God, but not all of them describe the biblical Father.

My conclusion?   Take up some expository texts on our divine Father.  Schedule Sunday school classes on the topic of God.  Let’s fill the vacuum, take on the opposition and correct the misinformation.

Some time ago Churches of Christ began referring to their preachers as “pulpit ministers.”   I do not know the origin of that term or the history of it in our movement.  I have noticed that the use seems to be spreading.

Let me offer two thoughts on the use of the term “pulpit minister” and invite you to respond with your observations:

First, the Stone Campbell movement frequently pleaded with people to call Bible things by Bible names.  I believe that is good thinking.   Most could probably list several areas in which some have insisted on this feature.

Interestingly, there is Bible name for “pulpit minister.”  The Bible simply calls that person the “preacher.”   What made us drop an appropriate Biblical name for one that originated elsewhere?

Second, in the current debates about the nature of worship, it is often common to use “entertainment” as a trump card.   The reasoning is that if it is entertainment, then it could not possibly be worship.  

So it becomes even more interesting that we use the word “pulpit” which comes from the Latin word “pulpitum” which means “stage.”   So we replace Biblical “preachers” with “stage” ministers who speak in an “auditorium.” 

The word “auditorium” fits nicely with “stage ministers.”   “Auditorium” is a word which is usually used to describe a place where people gather to watch a show or the performers on the stage.  In fact, most auditoriums are places of entetainment.    Ironically we have used the word “auditorium”  replace the biblical word “assembly.”

I am not trying to quibble about words, but to raise the question of expectations.  Biblically the expectation of preachers is to share the Word of God with the assembled spiritual community.   That kind of language allows the preacher to stay focused and helps the community understand what God expects to happen.

My intent here is to build on the pieces below about inductive and expository preaching.  Inductive preaching engages the community in thinking about spiritual issues  Expository preaching bases the inductive work on the Bible itself.  Although this whole process can be made dry, the Bible has the potential of being quite interesting, challenging and probing. 

Perhaps we ought to return to the biblical language which keeps us focused on the Bible rather than on the pulpit minister, on God rather than the stage, on our relationship with the Father rather than rating worship like we might a new movie release. 

Harold, the preacher.