Subjects of their own Liberation: Envisioning the preacher's role

Clarity about the preacher's function and objectives go hand in hand with an understanding of the most appropriate means of communication.

Brazilian pedagogue Paulo Freire has deeply inspired my teaching and preaching both in Honduras and in North America.(1) Freire's participatory, problem-solving model did much to empower the base community movement in Latin America.

Peasants and workers who were once passive receivers of monologue-style preaching, teaching and liturgies began to read and discuss the Scriptures for themselves- becoming subjects of their own liberation process with the help of priests, pastors and lay leaders who functioned more as facilitators than authorities.(2)

In my preaching and teaching I envision my role as that of a facilitator and midwife. As a facilitator I seek to do everything possible to set up an encounter between God and the people through assisting them to reflect on their own lives, the Scriptures and each other's experiences and viewpoints.

As midwife I assist during the birthing process recognizing that the work is done by the Spirit in intimate communion with people in the depths of their beings. I seek to be present as appropriately as possible -- getting out of the way or intervening when necessary. I set up the birthing room as it were, making sure that the interpreting process gets off to the best start with a given group and text.

Trust must be established between myself and the participants, the participants and each other and the group members and the Biblical text. The chosen Scripture must be introduced in a way that gives people a place of entry into the foreign world of the Bible. Barriers between reader and story must be addressed through introductory remarks and questions that invite the people to ponder and discuss the Biblical story.

Simultaneously I labor to help people identify contemporary equivalents to the Biblical narrative (location, characters, verbs and other details) in their own lives and world. I strive to bring people to understand the deeper meaning of the Biblical stories as these stories illuminate their own lives and surrounding world.

My objective is that people would find themselves inside the text as met or addressed by YHWH, Jesus, one of the apostles -- or whoever mediates the message or saving action in the Biblical story. I see myself as one who pulls people together for a potential encounter: a life-giving meeting between individuals and God that may result in comfort, healing, a change of heart, call. I am an unknowing midwife at best -- not knowing what the encounter will birth.

My hope is that this meeting will lead others to discern God's call on their life, when they will discover their highest vocation. People receive their vocation as they begin to follow Jesus, who turns common people into disciples and followers into recruiters of yet more disciples, who are sent into every nook and cranny of the world.