This post was originally published by Bill Tammeus on his Faith Matters blog here.
Great Christian preaching is -- how to say this kindly? -- rare.
And no doubt even the best preachers -- maybe even Fred Craddock or Gardner C. Taylor -- had off days. But in my experience the reality is that the average preacher in the average church offers up a lot more exegetical mediocrity than brilliance.
So when I run across preaching that seems well above average, it's a surprise and an occasion for celebration.
The good news is that you will find many examples of excellent preaching in a new collection of sermons (and commentary) by the Rev. Dr. George A. Mason, senior pastor emeritus of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. It's called The Word Made Fresh: Preaching God's Love for Every Body. The book's official publication date is June 27, but it can be ordered now. Mason led that church for more than three decades. Today he is founder and president of Faith Commons, which, as its website says, "promotes public discourse rooted in the common values of many faiths."
In an introduction to one of the book's sections, a pastor named Allen Walworth describes Mason's preaching this way: "George carefully selects words like jewels, and then polishes and sets them in sentences designed to reflect light into the secret places of the heart. . . These sermons are a basket of flashlights, each of them pointing a beam of light at a different trajectory that might lead someone on the dark path back to their true home in relationship with God through Christ."
More than 20 years ago, under Mason's leadership, Wilshire Baptist severed its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention and, instead, became part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a less theologically rigid way to be Baptist, a way often associated with former President Jimmy Carter.
Far beyond a limited emphasis on personal salvation, therefore, Mason's sermons dealt with the great moral issues of the time -- war, poverty, racism, sexism and more. As I read his words, it's clear that he's not simply giving people simplistic answers from the Bible. Rather, he's using scripture to point people toward a God who liberates them to be of service to a wounded world.
Keep reading here.
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