A six-pack of Mt. Dew can’t fix everything

Earlier this week, I watched Adam Hamilton give an excellent sermon on forgiveness and marriage. I admire the way he can talk for 40 minutes and make it not feel like 40 minutes. He has a real gift for effective metaphors and giving people something specific to do in response to a sermon.

I heard him speak once about preaching. He spoke about the challenges introverts faced in preaching. He seemed to see it primarily about energy level. His advice was to drink a lot of Mountain Dew before preaching.

Well, I’m certainly an introvert, and I know I have to be aware of my energy level. I’m also prone to hitting the level wrong – going too high or too low. I don’t have a natural sense of adjusting my level to the audience and tend to lose energy or drop into monotone as my sermons go on. (My poor congregation endures week after week.)

Another aspect of being an introvert, though, is that I struggle to do the whole genre of “life application” sermon well. I’m by nature a listener, not a teller. I’m an observer, not an advice giver. I am good at raising questions and summarizing what others say or mean. I’m not so good at providing answers or action. I can go spend hours with a biblical text and bring the congregation a report about what I found there. I’m not so good at telling people how to arrange their lives or order their behavior in ways that will improve their effectiveness.

I frequently can come to a more-or-less reasonable “what this text seems to be saying and doing” message. I tend to muddle and feel terribly awkward when I get to the “so here is one specific thing you should go do now” part.

This is why I’ve always liked Eugene Peterson’s books about pastoral ministry. He casts the pastoral role in areas that speak more to my strengths – the bookish and listening-oriented tasks. He quotes literature rather than business gurus. He even suggests sermons should not tell people what to do, but rather leave response to the listeners.

I’m not sure drinking more Mountain Dew will turn me into another Adam Hamilton. I suppose I can take solace in the fact that God gave me different gifts.