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Book Review
Preacher, Can You Hear Us Listening?
Roger E. Van Harn
Eerdmans, 2005, 146p
Review by Ray Hoekzema
‘Sermons” are now often called “message” says Van Harn. Technique and therapy tend to displace proclamation. It was a different story when Jesus preached His eight-word sermon: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21) He shocked His audience. It brought a crisis of faith for them. When Jesus preached that sermon, hearing God’s Word entered a new age. A church that is born through hearing ‘the word of faith’ lives and serves by continuing to hear that word. Peter and John could not keep from speaking about what they had seen and heard, (Acts 4:19) and prayed for boldness so others could hear.
Martin Luther and John Calvin both spoke about how God works to save people through preaching. Calvin in his Institutes sets forth as a mark of the church – “Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard…” Why listen to sermons? Because, as Scripture says: “Faith comes from hearing.” And that certainly was the conviction of Martin Luther who warned that those who were not satisfied with hearing and wanted to see with their eyes were lost. Hearing is the centre of the church’s mission.
Van Harn says that preachers are pioneer listeners on behalf of the community of faith before they are speakers. The Apostle Peter had to learn to listen before speaking. His speaking was frequently rebuked by Jesus. Even on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the voice of God was heard to say: “This is my Son, whom I love,….. Listen to Him!” How frequently don’t we read in Scripture “He who has an ear, let him hear.”
Preachers as interpreters of the Word are sinful men who are in desperate need to hear it says Van Harn, and they need to hear of the need of God’s people. The worst thing that could happen in the world has already happened – the crucifixion – and we call that day Good Friday. To hear is something that is crucial to a pastor’s ministry.
For preachers, it is an occupational hazard to be driven by the question “What shall I say?” instead of “What is God Saying?” Instead of listening carefully to the Bible text, all too often a preacher searches for ways to make familiar teachings interesting. Van Harn says: “Listening patiently to a Bible text, using available tools and skills, the pioneer listener can cut through the crust of familiarity and taste the bread of life afresh before breaking it for others.”
Clues to our deepest need cannot be known until we hear that God’s Word has its centre in the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Yes, says Van Harn, the Story with a capital S is the Gospel, the good-news Story of what God has done in the history of Israel and in the person of Jesus Christ. It is not a grand idea, a lofty ideal, a bit of good advice, a golden rule, or a worthy object. The Gospel is news that can be announced, proclaimed, published and heard. It gives us our identity, purpose, and hope. The easiest mistake to make in identifying one’s self with the text is to see it as a model for morality, rather than a mirror for identity.
This book is certainly recommended for preachers, but it is no less useful for elders who have been charged with the oversight of the preaching. No reader is excluded. This book will help everyone gain insight in what to listen for in a sermon; and as a result be blessed by the “Word of God.” There are several chapters that deal with matters that preachers will greatly benefit from in making sermons that can be heard, e.g. life-shaping events and seasons, life-enriching stories, reading the Bible through the spectacles of culture, and many more practical issues. An extensive Bibliography is included that is helpful in gaining even more insight in the subject of preaching. Some relevant questions are posed at the close of each chapter designed to stimulate deeper reflection.
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