Proclaim the Lord’s strange, unfamiliar, and incredible words.

Preaching the Strange and Inconceivable Word of God

CHIU Shung-ming

　　Many Christians complain that church sermons sound clichéd, lack novelty, and fail to address real-life situations and specific cultural contexts. The author of this article agrees that preaching should be practical and relevant (“down-to-earth”); however, preachers must be cautious, for making sermons too “down-to-earth” not only demonstrates our attempt to shape God according to our felt needs but also risks making preaching human-centered.

　　Regarding this issue, the author argues that the secularization of the church significantly influences how audiences perceive preaching. Over time, preaching may become a tool to cater to human ideas or needs. As a result, audiences may misunderstand the purpose of preaching as serving people rather than serving the Word of God.

　　To address this problem, the author draws on the theological insights of Karl Barth and William H. Willimon to reflect on the theology of preaching. Barth and Willimon emphasize the transcendence of God. God is the Wholly Other, and there exists an infinite ontological distinction between God and humanity. Therefore, as finite beings, we cannot rely solely on our reason and sensory experience to know or speak about God. Since there is no way for humanity to reach God on its own, knowledge of God must come from God Himself. In other words, the starting point for understanding the Divine Being must be God’s self-revelation in Christ, accompanied by the Holy Spirit, who comes to us from beyond ourselves and dwells within us, and by our aided reason in faith through which we seek to understand Christ, the Word of God. Consequently, for us, this Word must be the strange and inconceivable Word from above, and what preachers proclaim can only be the strange and inconceivable Word of God. This article aims to provide theological reflection on this very point.