A difficult and important task of preaching is to break through the multiplicity of barriers people erect around themselves that inhibit, if not deter, relationship with others (especially those with whom we differ) and with God. How can the preacher execute a word upon a listener that opens them up to the other? As a Lutheran it was impressed on me that there is a need for preaching that attacks, convicts, and puts to death the old sinful self in order that the gospel may truly be heard and received as a word that gives life or raises the dead. Or, at times, it may require speaking a word that reveals how we are already being put to death and proclaiming a word that raises us to new life. The hunch is this: preaching that word that convicts in order to free, or opens eyes in order to see, needs to be done with finesse and artistry rather than with a hammer. In other words, preaching to penetrate defenses needs to become more cunning and subversive, even undermining, rather than overt and authoritative. Fortuitously, the presidential election of 2016 took place during the course of this project, resulting in divisiveness the likes of which our country has not experienced in my lifetime. The need for subversive preaching that convicts all, regardless of color, creed, or country, is as vital today as it ever has been. Accompanying this hunch was the recognition that people’s willingness to live in Christian community amidst difference and otherness is becoming increasingly rare. Can preaching convict people of all stripes? Can it lead to embracing our commonality–sinners at the mercy of a redeeming God–and therefore a willingness to live together in charity, patience, tolerance, and love amidst our differences? It is the aim of this project to give some insight into the complexities of today’s context, to assist in the challenge of preaching for levels of difference, and to help preachers in their endeavor to execute a word that opens, convicts, frees and leads people into Christian community that embraces difference.
