Look at the Preacher

When I was in those first days of preaching, it was not uncommon for folks to speak of the music setting the table for the preacher.   Of course, those days were also days when worship was preaching oriented.  Everything centered around the preaching which was the main event.  Nowadays, it is different.  The other day someone told me that music was the major reason they chose the church they attended.  Instead of setting the table for the preacher, many a preacher wants to go and hide somewhere after the music is finished.  If worship was once preaching oriented, it is surely music oriented now.

None of this is to say that music is not an important part of any worship experience.  It has birthed life into many a dead congregation.  And when it is well done, it inspires and touches deep places in the heart.  It is most likely to reach us at an emotional level which is something preaching should do, but does not always do.  In some places so much time is spent with the music there is little time left for the preaching which may be acceptable to some preachers, but this one always tenaciously guarded preaching time.

Maybe what caused the shift was not so much the attractiveness of the music as the failure in the pulpit.  Mediocre preaching is easy.  Preaching that is excellent requires more time and energy than most of us want to put into it.  Preaching professors always said an hour in preparation in the study for every minute in the pulpit.  Too many preachers have gotten too immersed in being a CEO which translates into a diminished spiritual life.  Too little knee time, not enough time being saturated with the Word, and too much time at the altar of staying busy has ruined many a preacher.  Before we start fussing too much about way people are drawn to the music, it might be a good thing for those of us who preach to look at the preacher.