A Review of Housing the Sacred
Having read several books on preaching this semester, I was sure I would find nothing new or exciting in Glen Wiberg's Housing the Sacred. Coming into this book with low expectations I was delighted to find that Wiberg speaks my language. As a former English major with a love of poetry and metaphor it was a joy to read this book as page after page was full of language that presented familiar themes in a new and vibrant way.
In Housing the Sacred, Glen Wiberg, the pastor emeritus of Salem Covenant Church
has written a book on preaching filled with the wisdom that comes after decades of soaking in the Word of God and proclaiming that Word to the church. This book overflows with sound advice from a seasoned pastor passing on his own experiences to benefit another generation. Wiberg writes as a pastor who is still on the journey of discovering what preaching is all about. As the subtitle to the book hints at, this book is about what he has learned and is still "learning about preaching." In this book he offers his own story not as a template or a blueprint but as a way to assist pastors in "finding one's own way from preparing the house to delivering the good news" (Wiberg 96).
Housing the Sacred is built around an architectural metaphor that draws upon the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the temple to explain the elements involved in preaching. Wiberg's thesis is that the goal in preaching is to find a way to "house the sacred" and use one's "art, skill, and poetic imagination so as to reveal the presence of God" (4). To that end each chapter of the book begins with Wiberg unpacking an architectural metaphor related to sermon-making (like how the preacher should "prepare the house"), followed by a sermon that demonstrates what this might look like in practice.
Each chapter of the book like a gourmet meal provided much to chew on and savor, but the second chapter of the book on "Preparing the House" was one that really breathed new life into sermon preparation. Wiberg lays out four ways to engage the text: 1) Imagination - a pastor needs to read in a such a way that it feels like like the first time he/she has read the text, 2) Senses - Building off of imagination, all one of one's senses need to be engaged in bringing the text to life for the listeners, 3) Emotion - by bringing out the emotions found in the text, one gets beyond the scholarly aspects of the text to the deeper parts that resonate with our humanity, 4) Design - the sermon should take listeners on a trip, rather than simply list three points (20-24). Reading this chapter, the quote that hangs with me the most is the Frederick Buechner quote in Wiberg's discussion of the senses. He says to "listen to your life" (21). What congregations need more than anything is not a scholarly pastor who engages the text at an intellectual level alone, but a poetic pastor who delves into the text like one mining for gold who shouts "Eureka!" on Sunday mornings as they relay this new discovery to the flock.
My only critique of Wiberg's book comes in his chapter on "Delivering the News." This chapter features a discussion on turning the sanctuary into a lecture hall. Wiberg's concern is that some churches in projecting the outline of a sermon or the main points onto a screen are robbing the sermon of its ability to keep listeners in suspense or surprise. The problem he sees in this approach is that listeners cannot join the preacher on a journey if they already know where the journey ends. I understand Wiberg's concerns, but I wonder if a teaching approach to preaching is really a bad thing as we live in what Wiberg calls a "bilically illiterate culture" (90). For those who have not really engaged the Bible, I feel that it might be appropriate at times to use a teaching approach to preaching as a way of demonstrating how one can engage the scriptures and apply it to one's own life.
After reading this book I hope to take the lessons about preaching as a communal act into every congregation I serve. In the first chapter of Housing the Sacred, Wiberg tells a story about a prayer meeting before a morning service with some elders at the first church he served. Before going up to start the service, one of the elders pointed Wiberg to Acts 2:14 where it says, "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice" (5). The elderly gentleman's point was that the preacher is never alone. The whole community is involved in the act of preaching as the preacher gives voice to the faith of the community.
So how does one involve the congregation in the act of preaching? Wiberg offers helpful advice in his chapter on the "Front Porch" where he talks about listening to other voices in preparation for preaching. This could be done in a formal way, either in a meeting with deacons or a weekly Bible study meeting where the biblical text is opened and the preacher listens to the voices of the people as they encounter the Word. This can also be done informally, by simply taking this text out into the world as the preacher visits with his congregation.
Overall, reading this book fed my soul and gave me a lot to think about in terms of my own preaching. At just around one hundred pages, it was a quick, but rewarding read and I think that quick and rewarding nature might be what has me returning to this book time and again when I need inspiration and a reminder of why I preach. I preach as Wiberg says because in the sermon "Jesus is trying to speak once again in his own community" (91). So I hope in my ministry to engage the text in such a way that while my voice may be the one hitting peoples' ear drum, Jesus' voice might be the voice speaking to their hearts.
