I am not going to speak directly from the lectionary to begin with. I thought what I would do is speak a little about my adventures the last month and then in one fantastic stroke of sermon  prowess, tie the two together. At least, that’s what I am hoping to do. You see, the Gospel of Mark deals with Jesus preaching “from authority.” Mark 1:22 states that “They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” This seems to fit nicely in with the adventures that I have had the past month exploring other churches and experiencing other pulpit. I’m not going to touch on the expulsion of evil spirits. The belief in possessions and evil spirits dwelling within people is common to Hebrew beliefs. I also have visions of The Exorcist going through my head. My only experience with this kind of thing came as a child when a former “witch” who was now a Lutheran Minister came to our church and talked about demon possession, evil spirits, and basically scared the life out of. It is not an area that I give a lot of thought or credence to now. Suffice it to say that Jesus healed the man, and the healing of the man exhibited love and authority from God. Okay, now I’m done with evil spirits.

For those of you that don’t know, I am a Declared Candidate for Ministry. Specifically, I am declaring a call to serve as a local pastor. I guess the best way to describe the path that I am on is to describe it as the “old person’s path.” Because of my advanced age (I am over 40) I can pursue a call to serve as a local pastor of a church without needing to complete a Seminary degree first. Don’t get me wrong, I will still be required to get most of the same basic education, it will just be done over the next 5-8 years once I am appointed in the form of “Local Pastor Studies” which are done either by correspondence or by leaving for one month a year to study at a Methodist Seminary. This track makes sense to me as I transition from a successful but unrewarding career in Credit and Collections and into a call of Service.

My next step in this process is to appear before the District Committee and have them examine me. That, I have heard, is a great deal of fun. I also have some requirements as far as psychological tests, and other specifics. Once I have met with the District Committee and complete my requirements and they decide that I’m cool, then I become eligible for an appointment in a local church. As this gets nearer and nearer, the question of preaching with “authority” has become a question that I have looked at more deeply.

The word “authority” comes from the same word as “author.” It’s a word that indicates something that creates or something that “causes an increase.”  An “authority” then can be considered one who “authors.” Now, there are two kinds of “authority.” according to the Reverend William Burrell, and Episcopal speaker theologian. He states there is an authority that comes from an office, a judge, a president, a priest , and who has the authority because the laws give it to them or the community has given it to them. These people have in their office the ability to influence, to increase or to cause things to happen. The current question of our President’s authority to do some of the things that he has authorized is a good example of the tensions that thrive within authority that is granted or given to someone.

The second kind of authority, according to Burrell, is an authority that is innate - almost an “inside” type of authority. Jesus spoke with that authority. This was consistent with most “prophets” and others raised up by God. These were people that didn’t hold high office or had an office to back up their words. They were farmers, shepherds, fishermen, and carpenters. Mark makes it clear that Jesus speaks with authority because it is given to him by God, not by human institutions.

One of the main differences between the priests and those in authority is that when they spoke, they used the authority of the Law to back what they were saying. Jesus, who held no office, was not a member of the Sanhedrin, was not a judge, and was not a priest, was the one who spoke the truth. When Jesus spoke, people seemed to feel that he knew them. “When Jesus saw a person,” writes Burrell, “Jesus really saw the person. He was aware of who they were. He quite often knew the better than they knew themselves.” When Jesus spoke, often he did not quote the Law, he spoke from the heart and from love. This gave him the authority.

This whole concept intrigues me, in that one of the reasons that I have pursued Ministry is my concern about who it is that speaks for God, or at least claims that they do. In my journeys the past month, I have visited four different churches of different denominations, and have mulled over the concept of authority from the pulpit as well as the ebb and flow of different services. I have heard people who claim to speak using the authority of the Bible, or the Holy Spirit. It has been an interesting journey across denominations and widely varying preaching styles. Incidently, you may not be seeing much of me for the next couple of months as I continue on this project. In discussions with my candidacy mentor, he felt it would be good as well to kind of get out of the “home church” and experience different styles and messages.

The churches that we visited were churches that ran the gamut from the very conservative to what one could term “liberal.” One of the things that I listened for, and tried to ascertain was whether we were being preached from an understanding of love, or from a basis of law. In other words, are we driven to action because of a desire to love those around us, or do we do things because we feel guilty, or because the “law” says that it is necessary in order to be saved, or to be a good Christian.

Of the four churches, it worked out neatly that two seemed to preach from love, two seemed to preach from “law.” Churches that seemed to preach from a “law” standpoint tended to be more admonishing. We heard diatribes against the evil of NBC’s new show “The Book of Daniel,” diatribes against abortion, and the message again that we are all sinful human beings, that we must repent, and that if we repent, God has the “last laugh” against the evil ones who refuse to repent or follow the “right word” straight on the road to eternal damnation. God is not to be mocked, and the scriptures are never to be questioned, and that those who turn away from God will never defeat God, as God has the “last laugh” against the evildoers.

Now I am not suggesting that we should mock God, or turn away from the scriptures, but there seemed to be little practical advice as far as what a Christian is to do in this world other than obey the Word. The preaching was faith by law and by rule. Though we need to be aware of what God expects of us, we should not experience faith as an exercise to avoid eternal damnation. Thus, the faith becomes a faith of fear, not a faith of love. I have slowly come to the conclusion that speaking from the standpoint of justifying what I say by pointing to the “law” so to speak is not preaching “love,” or preaching from a standpoint of love.

Amazingly, the best experience that we had was at a Lutheran Church in Coon Rapids. We went to a “Rock ‘n’ Soul” service, with a full rock band that played legitimate rock and roll. The Sunday was Martin Luther King’s birthday weekend. The minister started by speaking of Jesus going into the wilderness and being tempted. The text was from Mark, and for those of you familiar with the Book of Mark, it gives basics and no embellishment. She touched on the nature of Sin and temptation by using the words, “Who do you think you are?” That we get tired our sins and our conscience can sometimes stop us. We don’t feel good about ourselves and therefore don’t feel good doing the work of the church because we may not be “good enough.” Shame can be debilitating, but because God loves us, we can overcome these things. Knowing that we are loved no matter what we do, King solved this problem by stating: “You can’t stop me by pointing out my shame.”

The minister at the Lutheran Church spoke not of Law, not of rules, but of love. God loves us and wants only the best for us. We obey as best we can, we all sin, but our past can always be wiped clean, and we should never let shame of who we are or what we have done stop us from doing God’s work..