In his search for stability in his Christian life, visiting a variety of churches, he says he was looking for a preacher "with theological gravity at the core." What would that look like? "No escapism, no denial of suffering, no spiritual pretense."
It's an article to ponder slowly.
Try these paragraphs:
In part, the power of the gospel's gravitational pull lies in its totality, the sheer scale, the utter range and depth of God's creation and re-creation. It's all this in joy and in pain, in beauty and in tragedy, in assurance and in struggle. The attraction of personality, humor, intelligence, form, and style of some preachers can no doubt be attractive, even controlling. But there is no true north in these qualities. Our complex and needy lives, individually and collectively, cannot find hope in the preacher. Hope is only found in the grip of God, whose love and power are sufficient for our story and the whole story.
In my travels to different churches, I did find preachers and congregations among whom I sensed the great pull of the gospel defining and clarifying, healing and renewing the core of their lives. It was not evident because of any particular communication skill. These pastors were varied in age and tradition, but there were some things they had in common: they exuded a life that primarily bore witness to Jesus Christ in character and in attitude even more than in word. They simultaneously conveyed both an honest discipleship and an honest humanity; they seemed to know suffering, their own or others. They were not glib about their role; they had discovered in weakness that Christ was the Center who could and did hold them together.
His comments on the light and air of preaching are truly weighty.
