This weekend I have been in Kehl, Germany, helping to train a group of Ukrainian preachers. I have been the speaker for the weekend.
One of the books I brought with me to read on the journey was Growing in Understanding: Devotions for Christian Academics by Dirk Jongkind. It sounds like a niche book, and in a sense it is, but it is full of wisdom about the opportunities and snares of any kind of academic life. In one devotion based on Hebrews Chapter 1, Jongkind talks about the idea of being a speaker.
In the first instance, there is the reminder that we speak because God has spoken.
The Bible begins in Genesis 1 with God speaking six mini sermons that begin, “And God said …”
God speaks and creation happens.
Biblical history is a breathtaking catalogue of God speaking to his world.
Any Christian speaker is an echo of the speaking God, whose work is described in the following way by the writer to the Hebrews:
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”(Hebrews 1:1–2)
Therefore, it is a great honour to stand in the tradition of those who have communicated God’s message over the centuries. I guess that all of us are thankful to those who spoke the word of God to us faithfully. Perhaps we have our favourite speakers: maybe we are someone’s favourite speaker?
Dirk Jongkind wants us to think about the idea of being a speaker:
“The Christian social culture has some peculiar quirks. One of these is that there seems to exist a particular category of people, or perhaps better, a class of people, who can style themselves as ‘speaker’. The label ‘speaker’ apparently, indicates membership of a pool of individuals who are invited to deliver talks at Christian meeting and conferences.
‘Who are you?’ ‘I am the speaker!’ You can almost hear the capital S at the beginning of the word. Of course, not a few of those who put ‘speaker’ in their social media profile have an ambition to receive prestigious invitations and are simply advertising their availability.”
Here is the danger of being a speaker: we are tempted to take ourselves too seriously, to draw attention to ourselves and our cleverness rather that help people hear what God is seeking to say to them.
When I turn up at a church or event to preach, I tend to introduce myself as John, rather than ‘the speaker’. I find that it changes the dynamics of the conversation. I don’t want people to treat me differently because I am the ‘speaker’.
I don’t want anything in me to get in the way of people hearing God speak. If any reputation is at stake in the preaching of God’s word it is God’s reputation. If I am a ‘speaker’, I want to be God’s speaker, and for people to hear what God is saying.
Photo by Kane Reinholdtsen on Unsplash