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Charles Booth espouses
'prophetic' role for preachers

Booth preaching: "God will take care of you no matter what the test."

PHILADELPHIA (March 18, 2003) -- The preacher's dilemma is as old as preaching itself. Does the pastor fulfill a priestly role, focusing on keeping a congregation together through powerful, challenging sermon messages? Or, is a more risky, prophetic role called for, a role in which the pastor conveys the "truth" as he or she sees it. The latter approach runs the risk of alienating some parishioners.

The Rev. Charles Booth of Columbus, OH, left no doubt in anyone's listener's mind March 18 that the prophetic course is the only responsible one. The fourth presenter in this year's Preaching with Power series electrified his audience by preaching, as he called it, with "the scriptures in one hand and the newspaper in the other." With the nation apparently on the brink of a war with Iraq, Booth lashed out against what he views to be a flawed national policy, both regarding a war posture toward Iraq and opposition to affirmative action.

Booth in workshop: "Stuffing" the truth inside adds to preacher stress, he said.

Booth preached on passages in Exodus 3 that describe the burning bush that appeared to Moses in his 80^th year. "That bush … burns and is not consumed. You can trust this bush because of the voice (of God) that emanates from it." Booth said some may doubt the possibility of a bush that can so defy natural law. "But God's voice can speak through a bush just as clearly as God speaks through you and me." And he said that same voice speaks to the needs and predicaments of God's people in times of crisis. "God will deliver us in this time of crisis," he said.

Booth spoke inspirationally to those in the congregation who may at times feel like simply "filling a pew" and those who may be inclined in advancing years to ease into retirement. "Moses in his 80^th year had not yet been used for the purpose God intended," he said. As God took an ordinary bush and added voice and fire to give it dazzling excitement, "God can take you in your weakened state and empower you. You can't put out what God starts."

He also spoke bluntly about a tendency on the part of many preachers to be silent rather than prophetic from the pulpit with regard to controversial matters on the minds of their people. Speaking to preachers and seminarians in the audience, Booth said at one point, "Stop being wimps. The truth makes you free, and if (prophetic preaching) makes you enemies, remember it is not the people in the church that called you, it is God who called you. If God called you God will take care of you no matter what the test…" His sermon remarks seemed to echo an event held earlier in the day at the seminary. About 50 church leaders attended an ecumenical event sponsored by the Metropolitan Christian Council in Philadelphia. That event's theme was to explore "a return to prophetic preaching in a time of crisis."

Dessie Burgess, right, presented President Krey a $500 gift during the service at Janes Church. Mt. Zion enjoyed 40 years of pastoral leadership from the Rev. J.Q. Jackson, for whom the UTI Scholarship Fund is named.

At the end of the worship service, in a powerful moment at Janes Memorial United Methodist Church in Germantown, Booth called the entire congregation toward the altar and asked them to put their arms around each other in prayer.

A highlight of the evening was a $500 gift by Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Germantown to the J.Q. Jackson Scholarship Fund. The Fund provides scholarships to seminarians in the Urban Theological Institute, sponsor for Preaching with Power. The gift was presented to President Philip Krey by Mt. Zion parishioner Dessie Burgess. J.Q. Jackson served Mt. Zion Church for about 40 years. Jackson was one of the first two African American scholars to receive an advanced level degree from LTSP.