Proclaimer Blog
Every preacher should have gears
The most and absolutely reverend [it's all about our standing in Christ] P. Suddell popped in yesterday to help with some Cornhill teaching. Always nice to see him as he is a fellow cyclist (though, one key difference, he is actually good at it). He gently chastised me (and rightly so) for a lack of cycling related posts. So here we are. I'm preaching Hebrews 5.11-6.20 next week and, as I do when I'm preaching, I'm constantly mulling over the passage, not least as I cycle backwards and forwards to the office.
Studying the passage afresh has reinforced in my mind the importance of "going on to maturity" (Hebrews 6.1). The Hebrew Christians weren't there yet, they needed some milk still – but they should have been further ahead; and reading through the argument of my passage, going on to maturity would be one of the ways (humanly speaking) that they would avoid the terrible risk of apostacy.
I was ruminating on this as I waited at a red light (yes, I'm one of those cyclists). As I pull away from the lights, I go into an easy gear. It gets me going and helps me build up speed quickly and, importantly, keeps me on the bike (my feet are clipped into pedals). But as I get going, it's useless to stay in such a gear. Not only would it take me an age to get home, it would do my legs in and, ironically, going very slowly is more likely to lead me to lose direction – it's easier to steer a bike that's going faster, it's much more stable.
Gears are good. I need both low and high of course. Try pulling away from the lights in top gear (bike or car). Pretty useless, on the whole. And when hard times come, as they invariably do – strong head wind, steep hill – sometimes I need to get into an easier gear again to make progress. But on the whole my journey home is about starting low and cranking up.
Preachers need gears. Of course there is a tension here. There are always those in our congregation who are starting out. They need the milk, not the solid food. But we're many of us guilty of the sin of lowest common denominator and, if that is the case, we will find that our congregations never go onto maturity. Pity the church whose pastor does not lead them in this direction and take steps to move them on. Not only is maturity an impossible goal, but the risk of apostacy is heightened.
Every preacher should have gears.
And use them.