The reason these verses caught my eye is because I have experienced something similar in my ministry. In four of the seven churches I served, I was specifically told not to preach about certain topics. In addition, I received complaints about my preaching being too political or too liberal or too left wing. The complaints were another way of saying "don't preach that!" People found other ways to say "don't preach that:" no longer attending worship, withholding giving, seeking to get me moved (fired), finding another church where the preacher preaches the way they believe.
Intrigued by Amos' experience (as well as my own), I sought to identify what the command and the complaints were really saying. Here's some of what I came up with:
- Your preaching makes me uncomfortable. It is disturbing. It disrupts my comfortable world. This message was what the priest of Bethel told Amos. See Amos 7:10ff.
- I don't agree with what you are saying.
- You're wrong, i.e., I'm right.
- Preach what I already believe. Preach what I think.
- Don't challenge us to think or grow or change. We like things the way the are.
- My mind is made up. Don't try to change it!
- Preach something that makes us feel good about ourselves. Tell us how good we are doing. Tell us that God approves of how we are living. (Amos did just the opposite. He challenged and condemned how Israel was living - during one of the most prosperous, stable periods in the nation's history!)
- Who do you think you are? How dare you?!
- I really don't want a word from God if it means I have to change the way I think or how I live.
The demand "don't preach that" is a reflection of our human condition: we resist thinking and belief that is different from our own. It is something we all do. This innate resistance is so common sociologists have given it a formal name: confirmation bias. Confirmation bias means we listen for that which supports what we already believe while rejecting and discounting that which challenges it.
In last week's blog (Transfiguration Sunday and Two-by-Fours, February 23, 2020), I made reference to Peter's reaction when Jesus began to teach suffering was a part of the Messiah's role. Peter rebuked Jesus (Matthew 16:21-23). Peter was saying to Jesus, "Don't preach that!" He was acting out of confirmation bias.
At the heart of the spiritual journey is the renewing of the mind - allowing the Spirit to shape what we think so that how we live is patterned after the ways of God. We only make progress spiritually as we learn to think differently - as our thinking is shaped by who God is: the merciful and gracious God, the God of self-giving, servant love.
In order to learn and embrace the ways of God Jesus taught, we must recognize and deal with our resistance to that which challenges how we think. Maybe that's why the prophets preached "Repent!" Remember: repentance is about thinking, not behavior. It means to think "with a different mind."
I suggest a central attitude of the Lenten journey is teachableness - the openness to hear what the Spirit would say, the willingness to learn what the Spirit would teach, the courage to align our thinking with the mind of Christ.
What if, for Lent, we gave up our resistance to thinking that challenges what we think?
As we walk the Lenten journey, may our hearts and minds be open to the Spirit's teaching.
We are creatures of habit and old habits are hard to break. Our biggest sin is that of trying to make God in our image. We talk about inviting God to live in our heart. The fallacy here is that the focus is still on me. In reality, we need to spend time in God's heart so that we can gain just a smidgen of understanding and the magnitude of God's love at the cross.
ReplyDelete