IF

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;

If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

Death brings morning sun
Each revolution unites
All of us as one

This semester has been an interesting one class-wise. I’m taking Dr. Stephen Johnson’s Preaching Skills and Strategies class. I have to admit, I wouldn’t want to take a preaching class with anyone but him. He gets the function of preaching. So often, preaching becomes about perfunctory presentation for the pew-sitters. Preachers, for fear of losing their jobs, have to placate the crowd, and especially their big contributors, if they want to keep a paycheck.

That’s just not how I see earliest preaching functioning.

Peter, Paul, Apollos, and more found themselves out in the market square gathering a crowd that believed in non-violently resisting the powers of systematic oppression in their society. It involved pointing to a hope that was beyond human ability (we can’t pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps when we’re sinking in the quicksand of Sin). Christ’s resurrection was the focal point of the sermon’s hope in Acts, but rarely was it followed by an invitation song.

When I think about someone today who is doing biblical preaching, I think about Steve Connell. This is a guy who pounds the earth with gospel truth, and leaves everyone from Christians to lesbians to Communists nodding and shouting in agreement. His passion is mixed with his genius, and it remains on display for the world to see.

It sounds more like poetry or hip-hop than a heady lecture, and it deals with issues facing the world, (like climate change, the oil crisis, or slum lords), rather than the irrelevant issues most churches squabble over. Listen to this one to get a feel for what I mean:

Recently he and a few of his comrades came to ACU. Bruce George, Steve Connell and others can be found on HBO’s Def-Poetry. A highly provocative, free-flowing poetry SLAM! It has become a place for open expression in a culture that prioritizes brand-name conformity.

Stephen Johnson said in class last week that he saw Def-Poetry as the “future of preaching.” I’m inclined to believe him. He wants to spend the next 10-15 years of his career devoted to studying what this kind of preaching might do for churches, but more importantly, what it might do for the whole world.

Finally, someone got me thinking positive about preaching again. Way to go Dr. Johnson.