Living a Running Homily
One of the questions that I am asked most often by young leaders is what I think about seminary as a way of preparing for ministry. More than a few friends have been surprised by my emphatic responses that have discouraged that path. While I see the value of continuing an education, our culture has somehow made the leap that obtaining a degree qualifies a person for leading the church. Seminary is not inherently bad by any means, but it, in and of itself, can never qualify someone to lead.
I have become quite passionate about pointing this out. In fact, one of my favorite scriptures is Acts 4:13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. The best way to learn to lead like Jesus is by intentionally following Him.
During my early twenties, I actually had the opportunity to go to seminary myself while I was on staff as an associate pastor of a small church. My weeks were super busy, starting with a Sunday schedule that started at 7 AM and lasted through a late night supper with friends after our Sunday evening services. For most of that time, I was working a full time job as well as putting in part time hours at the church. And then I got married! When my wife, Adriane, would express her doubts about whether this kind of schedule was healthy for us, I would just encourage her that it would all be worth it because we were “following Jesus”.
I want to be very clear, that I do not blame anyone (other than myself) for the insanity of my schedule during those times. I was a young, ambitious world changer, and I was doing what needed to be done so that I could get to where I thought I needed to go. Thankfully, God, in His mercy and grace, would drop reminders into my life that inspire of all of my desire to impact the planet, I was not actually the Messiah and I didn’t need to live with the complex.
God used different people to remind me of this over those early years. The senior pastor that I was working with, Gene Tilly would often remind me of the need to take a day off or get away with my wife. My parents would express their concern when they felt like my life was starting to spin out of control. And then there was Dr. Allen McKeithan, or “Brother Mac” as he was affectionately called. He was one of my professors in seminary and also served as the dean of our campus. He also spoke into my life in a way that had a profound impact.
Dr. McKeithan often expressed that he saw potential in me to become a strong leader, but he was willing to express his concern for me equally as strong. He expressed these concerns with a lot of grace, but would allow me feel the weight of the consequences during times when my busy life would catch up with me.
I remember this particularly on one occasion when I allowed myself to get so run down that I got sick and slept through a speaking engagement that he had set up for me. Not only did I sleep through the speaking engagement itself, but I also slept through his phone calls to check in on me. When I woke up the next morning and called him to apologize, he was gracious, but also took the opportunity to point out that the lifestyle that I was living was not sustainable.
Shortly after this experience, I was taking a hermeneutics class that Dr. McKeithan was teaching. One night, he was going through all of the different types of sermons, explaining what each was and how they could be utilized. We talked about the value of expository teaching and when a topical series might best serve the church. There were several types of sermons that we talked about that night, and just about the time that I thought I was through taking notes for the evening, Brother Mac let us know that we were to quite finished. I had no way of knowing that the way he would go on to explain that last type of sermon would have such a huge impact on my life.
“There is one more type of message that I want to talk about. It is the running homily.” I looked around the room to see if anyone else had a clue about what he was talking about. “Does anyone know what a running homily is?” Brother Mac asked. I have to be completely honest and say that I don’t remember whether he asked that question to everyone or not, but I remember very clearly that it felt like the question was being asked directly to me.
I shook my head as I wondered what I was about to learn. “A running homily is when you start with any scripture and spend the rest of your time pointing to Jesus.” As he talked about the importance of keeping the person of Jesus central in our preaching, I recognized that it was even more important to keep Jesus at the center of my life. All of my busy rushing around, trying to get qualified to do something great for God was actually leading me away from following after Jesus.
Several years later I came across the Pete Greig poem, The Vision. It resonated with me in such a clear way because of the way he opened his first stanza.
So this guy comes up to me and says, “what’s the vision? What’s the big idea?”
I open my mouth and words come out like this… The vision? The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
I was obsessed with developing vision for our church. I was also obsessed with the greatness of my potential destiny, but was I obsessed with Jesus? As I began to think about what needed to change in my life, I quickly realized that it was not my preaching style. It wasn’t that I needed to do more or learn more – it was that I needed to get my eyes back on Jesus. If I could learn how to really follow Him in every circumstance, then I would always know how to clearly point to Him.
Life these days is plenty full but it doesn’t seem as busy as back during those early years. I think that in learning to follow Jesus in the midst of everyday responsibilities, the fullness of life seems much more connected to the purpose of knowing Him and pointing others to Him. I haven’t mastered following Him, but I have made it my aim, and as I do, I remember back to that hermeneutics class. As Adriane and I look to Jesus to know how to build our family, raise our daughter and point others to Him, I find that what Brother Mac taught me has become the prayer of my heart: Let my life be a running homily.
Are there places in your life where the pursuit of fulfilling your destiny are actually leading you away from following after Jesus? Comment below if you have thoughts on this or other insights connected to this post.
Written by Brad McKoy
