So my next preaching class started today. We spend a lot of time this afternoon talking about feelings. Not like a counseling session where we were all sharing our feelings, but about being able to get your audience to "feel" the things that the authors of the Bible and God intended people to feel when they read/heard these texts.
We discussed the parts of the Bible that brought distinctly positive feelings, and those texts which are meant to drive you to predominantly negative feelings.
I was amazed to listen as everyone talked about how after getting someone to "feel the negative feelings" that it is often turned to positive feelings by....
I didn't know what to think. I understand the role of encouragement. I even hope that Christians can always show hope and joy (you know, like the fruits of the Spirit and stuff), yet at the same time, I'm comfortable with designing a sermon that makes people feel negative feelings, and leaves them there. I'm not talking about damning people, or making them feel worthless, just about bringing them to a place of negative feeling.
Does church always have to end on a positive note? Can a service be devoid of positive feelings, yet still be encouraging and filled with hope? Is it ever healthy to leave a congregation with negative feelings as your intent?
Why would you want to leave people with negative feelings? The intent is the question? And, if the intent of having a sermon with negative feelings is to lead to hope, etc. why stop at that point? I understand that negative feelings can come from sermons not even intended to produce that result. But, I think the real question is back to "why", "what is the real intent of the sermon?" Should a sermon be prepared for a "general" audience with the intent of just making them feel bad, or the intent of changing their ways, or should it lead to knowledge and hope? Even this question is too shallow a response. Two basic simple questions, why would you want to preach a sermon that leaves people with negative feelings? and , if a valid reason, do you want to leave them at that point?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand from this entry, negative may not always mean shaming and demeaning. Sometimes there can be negative feelings because something stays unresolved.
ReplyDeleteIn that sense, I can enjoy a sermon that leaves me with a feeling or notion that is not resolved for me, but rather allows me to dwell in that not-so-happy place for a bit. That way I am able to answer some things for myself. I can come to my own thoughts within the discussion and not rely on someone else's resolution.
Without that "negative feeling" sometimes, why would I have reason to think about it and mull over it in my own way. To semi-quote another preacher, the job of a pastor is not to provide all the answers, but rather to start the discussion (yeah, yeah, Rob Bell, big surprise). So maybe that unsettling feeling that we are left with is meant to make us deal with it instead of relying on them to answer it.