My friend Lamonte preaches in a different cultural context than I do. His congregation is more vocally interactive than mine. Way more interactive. For example, in his tradition if the pastor pauses while preaching, often someone will cry out, “Help him Lord,” even as others echo, “Uh huh,” and “Amen.”
Now, I am not suggesting that we begin the practice per se at our church in the rural Midwest. If someone yelled, “Help him Lord,” during one of our services, the congregation would probably assume that a child was about to be drug out for a spanking and that his grandmother was interceding on the defendant’s behalf. Or, that a wife was very upset with her husband and that there was a question as to whether or not the husband would survive. Either way, everyone’s attention (including the pastor’s) would be irretrievably lost.
Still, there is something to learn from people in the pew crying out, “Help him Lord.” Such prayers reflect a good theology of preaching. They remind us that when the Word is preached, we are looking for a fresh event of the Word of God. Confidence is not in the pastor. Rather, it is assumed that ,apart from the Holy Spirit, the pastor won’t survive in any meaningful way.
Reflecting this same dependence on the Holy Spirit during preaching, Spurgeon insisted:
If there is to be a divine result from God’s Word, the Holy Ghost must go forth with it. As surely as God went before the children of Israel when He divided the Red Sea, as surely as He led them through the wilderness by the pillar of cloud and fire, so surely must the Lord’s powerful presence go with His Word if there is to be any blessing from it. (Quoted in Rediscovering Expository Preaching, page 102).
Pray for your pastor with the urgency that you would have prayed for Moses and his rod if the armed Egyptians were backing your family into the surf of the Red Sea. Indeed, consider how little ability any pastor has to meet the needs of a congregation, and at whatever volume is appropriate to your cultural setting, earnestly cry out, “Help him Lord.”
“If someone yelled, “Help him Lord,” during one of our services, the congregation would probably assume that a child was about to be drug out for a spanking and that his grandmother was interceding on the defendant’s behalf.”
Almost lost my morning coffee on that one, Chris!
Though calling out during the service may not be culturally correct, I do think that our pastors benefit from our attentiveness during sermons….looking, taking notes, nodding, smiling, laughing (appropriately, of course).
I guess our church is in the middle of the road. There will be some “amen’s”, etc. but haven’t heard any “Lord help him’s”. But I do think a good balance is in order.
Thanks for sharing this humorous post. I enjoyed it.
Blessings,
Mark
Thanks Mark.