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I just read an interesting little book by Jim Schmitmeyer describing the need for preachers to get their hands dirty, involving themselves in the real lives of the people that they preach to. Schmitmeyer is a Roman Catholic priest, so his sense of what preaching is differs from mine. The sermon examples are considerable shorter and less expository than what I would want to offer. Still, his encouragement towards involvement in the lives of our listeners makes the book worth reading. The book reads easily, offering many stories and examples of the kind of workplace ministry that sustains his preaching.
In the conclusion to the book, Schmitmeyer recalls a childhood incident, working with his father and his older brothers. “The sadness grows heavier with the years, and my Sabbath rest grows restless,” he writes, “As a boy I learned there’s little comfort in a pile of hay. But this itch tonight has nothing to do with chaff sticking to a sweaty back. Rather, it’s a nagging sense of weakness – and a youngest son’s worry that in his life his back has not sweated enough. That’s why I’ve written this book. And it’s why I have spent my life trying to heft the Word of God to my shoulder like a sack of feed, only to feel as weak as a thin-armed boy (114).”
I resonate with that image. My father used to say that preachers should go out and work a little in the real world before endeavoring to preach in the pulpit. I’ve done some of that “real work” but it’s been a while. I understand what Schmitmeyer is saying about a back that has not sweated enough. I appreciate that we all have different gifts, but if we intend to preach to differently-gifted people, we need to spend some time living in their world and walking with them in their shoes.