Preaching and Preachers

Preaching and Preachersbecause 1 think it helps to make the point clear-I shall never forgetpreaching some twenty-seven years ago at a college chapel in theUniversity of Oxford on a Sunday morning. 1 had preached in exactlythe same way as 1 would have preached anywhere else. The momentthe service had finished, and before 1 had scarcelyhad time to get downfrom the pulpit, the wife of the Principal came rushing up to me andsaid, 'Do you know, this is the most remarkable thing I have knownin this chapel.' I said, 'What do you mean?' 'Well,' she said, 'do youknow that you are literally the first man 1 have ever heard in thischapel who has preached to us as ifwe were sinners.' She added, 'Allthe preachers who come here, because it is a college chapel in Oxford,have obviously been taking exceptional pains to prepare learned,intellectual sermons, thinking we are all great intellects. To startwith, the poor fellows often show that they do not have too muchintellect themselves, but they have obviously been straining in anattempt to produce the last ounce of learning and culture, and theresult is that we go away absolutely unfed and unmoved. We havelistened to these essaysand our souls are left dry. They do not seem tounderstand that though we live in Oxford we are nevertheless sinners.'Now that was a statement of fact by a highly intelligent lady, the wifeof the Principal of a college.1 remember a preacher, a good man who had done good work in achurch in a working-class area. He then got a call to a church in thesuburb of another town. 1 remember noticing after a while-he cameinto the presbytery t? which 1 belonged-that the man was beginningto look tired and strained; and I talked to him about this. We weretalking together one day and he admitted that he felt very strained andtired. I said, 'Well, what is the matter?You have had experience, youhave had a number of years in the other church and were very successful.''Ab well, you see,' he said, 'I have a different type of congregationnow. 1 have to preach to people who are living in the suburbs.'Some of them were professional people, others were business peoplewho had done well and had moved from living over their shops intothe suburbs. And here he was, poor man, trying to produce great126