They Like to Never Quit Praisin' God: The Role of Celebration in Preaching (Revised, Updated)

By Frank A. Thomas and Henry H. Mitchell

Through the unique lens of African American preaching, Frank Thomas explores the theology, dynamics, and guidelines for celebrative preaching. "They Like to Never Quit Praisin' God: The Role of Celebration in Preaching" provides the steps that are essential to understand and experience the Gospel through celebration and praise. This revised edition is updated with two new sermon illustrations and a sermon preparation worksheet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pilgrim Press
• Release date: Apr 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9780829819892

Frank A. Thomas

Frank A. Thomas, PhD, serves as the Director of the PhD Program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric and the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller Professor of Homiletics at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana. Thomas is the author of How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon and Introduction to the Practice of African American Preaching, released by Abingdon Press respectively, February, 2018 and November 2016.

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Introduction

A CALL TO THE MINISTRY OF THE SCRIBE

Chronicling the African American Preaching Tradition

IT IS A GREAT PRIVILEGE and humbling honor to write this introduction to the revised version of They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God: The Role of Celebration in Preaching. When the book was first published in 1997, I never dreamed that my editor, Kim Martin Sadler, would call me sixteen years later and tell me that the book was a classic, and therefore worthy of a revised version. Across these many years, I have discovered that I, along with several others, are chroniclers, interpreters, scholars, and scribes of the sacred tradition of African American preaching. It is my hope in this revised version to call forth another and more numerous generation of scholars and scribes to continue to explore, mine, document, and share the rich insights of the African American preaching tradition. In the closing years of my ministry, my life’s work now is to develop, mentor, encourage, inspire, and do whatever is necessary to cultivate a cadre of scribes and scholars committed to transform the world through sharing the genius of the African American preaching tradition. I want to explain the need for the ministry of the scribe/scholar, give examples of the importance of scribes in the biblical tradition, extend a clarion call to the next generation to become scholars and scribes of this venerated African American preaching tradition, and, finally, say thank you to so many who have helped me to become a scribe and scholar.

THE NEED FOR SCRIBAL MINISTRY

While many African American preachers are great orators and communicators and have mastered the oral delivery of the sermon, it takes another set of skills altogether to bring the oral sermon onto the written page. The best of African American sermons are so creative, dynamic, and performative, so based in call and response between preacher and audience, and so filled with Spirit-led spontaneity and living presence, that it is a tremendous challenge to capture the preaching moment in writing. On the other hand, while the oral tradition of the African American sermon is valid, proper, and authentic, and many sermons have traveled for years in the oral tradition, we have found that some of our best preaching genius has gone to the grave with preachers because much of that genius was not written down. Or, if it was written down, it was not accessible to the wider community because it was in church basements, in personal and convention archives, or in the hands of family members not sure how to get the genius out to the general public. It is here that the need for scholars and scribes stands front and center stage. I have coined a term for this skill to transpose the African American sermon from live performance to written page—written orality. It is the role of the scribe and scholar to operate in written orality and transfer the living presence of the sermon to the written page for purposes of archiving, transmission, study and spiritual benefit, method analysis, and teaching for future generations. Someone reading this introduction might feel the faint urgings to the ministry of the scribe, so please allow me to explain in further detail.

The ministry of the scribe/scholar is a special calling, involving a unique set of skills. First, one must understand the nuances and the inner workings of the constructed and delivered African American sermon. Then, one has to construct homiletical theory to explain the genius of the tradition and how it works. There are many preachers who demonstrate homiletic genius, but if you ask them how they do it, many cannot articulate the theory of what they are doing. Scribes and scholars articulate homiletical theory that helps explain genius, which gives hope to those of us who are not born natural preaching geniuses, and therefore must by the apprehension of method develop our preaching acumen. Most preachers can tell you that a sermon was persuasive or not persuasive. Scribes/scholars tell you how the sermon persuaded and why it persuaded or did not persuade. Scribes/scholars are preacher-scholars who are dedicated to preserving a preaching tradition for both posterity and also skill development in the here and now. It is important to look at the honored tradition of the biblical scribes.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BIBLICAL SCRIBES

Scribes take confidence from the lineage of great scribes in the Bible, for example, Baruch ben Neriah.¹ In all likelihood, we would not have known what the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah said, if Baruch had not written it down. Baruch was the disciple of Jeremiah, and, after the temple of Jerusalem had been plundered by Nebuchadnezzar (599 BCE), he wrote under the dictation of Jeremiah, the oracle of Jeremiah. This oracle foretold the return of the Babylonians, and Baruch had the audacity to read the oracle at the risk of his life in the hearing of the Jewish people. King Joachim (Jeremiah 36) burned the first version in his anger at what was said, and Baruch wrote a second and enlarged edition. Baruch was with Jeremiah during the last siege of Jerusalem and witnessed the purchase by the prophet of his ancestral estate in Anathoth (Jeremiah 32). Scholars believe that after the fall of the Holy City and the ruin of the Temple (588 BCE), Baruch lived probably for some time with Jeremiah at Masphath. Not only did Baruch pen the book of Jeremiah, but there is also the Book of Baruch, occasionally referred to as 1 Baruch, a deuterocanonical or apocryphal book of the Bible. Although not in the Hebrew Bible, it is found in the Greek Bible (Septuagint) and in the Vulgate Bible. (So, you see, occasionally, scribes do their own original work as well!)

Without the scribal work of Baruch, we would not have Jeremiah; without the scribal work of Mark in reference to Peter, we would not have the first gospel, known as Mark. Without Luke’s scribal work in reference to Paul, we would not know as much about Paul, and would not have Luke-Acts. There are also countless nameless and faceless scribes who recorded for posterity the words, deeds, and sayings of preachers, teachers, prophets, and the holy men and women of God. It is in this tradition that we stand as we chronicle the very best of the African American church. It is this impetus that gave me the passion and energy for the original publication of They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God, Preaching with Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons, 1750 to the Present, this revised version of They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God, and future books that I will develop and write. It is this passion that has carried me these many years in the teaching, practice, and chronicling of African American preaching, and will carry me forward into the future until I, as the old preachers say, Lay down my sword and shield. Let me issue a direct and clarion call to the next generation.

THE CLARION CALL TO THE NEXT GENERATION

We celebrate the scribal ministry and I would like to recruit a new and younger generation of scribes to mine and develop this African American preaching tradition. There is a need to continue collecting, editing, practicing, and studying the African American preaching tradition, and explaining it to ourselves and the broader population. I am planning to branch out in new areas. I have a vision for the very first PhD program in Black Sacred Rhetoric/African American Preaching. I want to develop and mentor scholars who will go out and transform the quality of preaching that is done in this nation based upon the genius and experience of the African American preaching tradition. I am currently exploring this vision at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. Look forward to future developments.

I love the African American preaching tradition because African American preaching has saved my life. Actually, the Bible saved my life, but how could I hear without a preacher? African American preaching introduced me to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; it encouraged and offered hope to me in the most difficult times of my life; through vivid illustration of the Bible, it taught me how to be a man, a person of integrity, and a true servant. Out of gratitude, I want it to save the lives of others, so I want a cadre of scribes and scholars to explain it, teach it, practice it, theorize about it, write about it—all with the desire that someone, as Paul says, might be comforted with the comfort that we ourselves have received.

oneThe Performative Tradition of African American Preaching

IN THE OPENING LINES of Preaching with Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons, 1750 to the Present, Martha Simmons and I penned these words:

Given the span and scope of the tragic, tortuous, and yet triumphant history of African Americans in North America, it is legitimate to ask this question: What has sustained and liberated blacks during more than four hundred years of systemic slavery, racism, hatred, violence, and second-class citizenship. Yet, by all accounts, black religion and religious institutions . . . have been the most vital instruments of black survival and liberation during their four-hundred-year history in North America. . . . These institutions have been led by some of the most imaginative and skilled leaders, orators, and preachers in history. . . . [T]he delivery, creativity, charisma, expressivity, fervor, forcefulness, passion, persuasiveness, poise, power, rhetoric, spirit, style, and vision of black preaching gives hope to a community under siege.¹

I take great satisfaction in these words because they express the very heart of the African American preaching tradition: the why, what, and how of the very best of black preaching. They convey the mission, vision, and effectiveness of the African American preacher. Finally, they voice the courage, hope, and determination of the African American community. I am proud to stand in this noble tradition as a practitioner, scholar, and critic (in the best sense of the word), and ultimately as a scribe. In this brief essay, I want to interpret, explain, and celebrate the performative tradition of African American preaching.

To begin, it is important to define the African American preaching tradition in greater detail so that we all have a common understanding of what we are speaking about when we say the African American preaching tradition. I want to explore this definition by what we might call characteristics of African American preaching. I recount five characteristics that are listed in Preaching with Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons, 1750 to the Present, and I add a sixth. The six characteristics of African American preaching are: the centrality of the Bible, the importance of experiential preaching, existential exegesis, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, suspense that leads to celebration, and the performative nature of the sermon. Let me briefly clarify these characteristics:

1. The centrality of the Bible. This is not to be mistaken for a rigid biblical literalism. The Bible is seen as the inspired and dynamic source for understanding the world and the wise guide for life’s decisions. Homiletician Cleophaus LaRue suggests: More than a mere source for texts, in black preaching the Bible is the single most important source of language, imagery, and story for the sermon.²

2. The importance of experiential preaching. The Bible comes alive by means of an eyewitness style of picture painting and narration. The preacher stirs the five senses, and, as a result, the hearer does not just hear about John the Baptist in past biblical times; rather, John the Baptist is present in the room, seen, heard, touched, and felt by all. I heard James Forbes Jr. tell the story that Gardner Taylor was preaching the biblical story of the prodigal son. In a particularly poignant moment, Forbes recounts that Dr. Taylor said, Look, the boy is coming up the road now! Forbes says he turned around, looked to the back of the church, and saw the boy coming up the road. The African American sermon is experiential.

3. Existential exegesis. This is a particular form of exegesis that joins biblical scholarship to existential human need. African American preaching operates from the perspective of a close observation of the Bible and human need, which directs the sermon to resolve existential concern. The sermon is never academic alone, but exegesis addresses human need and illustrates for hearers the true meaning of life and living.

4. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The preacher is dependent on a power beyond the preacher’s power. The Holy Spirit ultimately shapes and delivers the message through the preacher. The sermon is not simply the words of a human being, but the very voice of God speaks through the preacher.

5. Suspense that leads to celebration. The preacher structures the sermon to hold suspense as long as possible, and after the suspense is resolved, the preacher celebrates the good news with a powerful and uplifting conclusion. The weight that the black church places on a good conclusion to a message is unparalleled in any culture. The majority of the time, the close is reserved for pure celebration, and close the preacher must.

6. The performative nature of the sermon. The word of God must be embodied in the total person of the preacher, including head (rationality), heart (emotionality), and body (physicality). The word must be incarnated in the total person of the preacher and not just the rational aspects of the preacher’s being, hence the performative tradition of African American preaching.

Perhaps I can illustrate what I mean by performative by the story of Bishop George A. Stallings Jr’ s appearance on the Phil Donahue Show in 1990. Stallings, who served as a Roman Catholic priest from 1974 to 1990, announced on the show his break from the Catholic Church and explained his controversial decision. Donahue was going to commercial break, and he showed a clip of Stallings preaching. Stalling was in full performative flight. He was animated, in rhythmic cadence known as whooping. Stallings twirled, and in the best sense of the word, performed the sermon. Donahue came back after the break and asked, Now really, does it take all of that? Of course, he was referring to the emotive and animated performative style of Stalling’s preaching. From my remembrance, this is the gist of the conversation: Stalling said to Donahue, Phil, aren’t you a member of the Catholic Church? Phil replied, Yes. Well, said Stallings, Does it take all those candles, smoke, and incense? Does it take all those statues, those robes, regalia, and protocols by the cardinals, bishops, and the Pope? In my interpretation of what he said, he was not trying to be disrespectful. I interpreted his comments to mean that there are natural limits to what words alone can accomplish, and because of this words must be performed. One of my major mentors said this:

Most of the world’s religions, for all their emphasis on holy writ, and sacred teaching of the masters, have understood the limitation of words. From the very beginning, it was realized that even holy words were not necessarily efficacious. In fact, drama first emerged out of a desire to add spectacle and intensity to religious observance.³

This is what I mean by performative: that it is necessary in religious observance and preaching to add spectacle and intensity to religious ceremony. Stallings was suggesting that all religious traditions add spectacle and intensity to religious observance, and, therefore, it is categorically unfair to ridicule African American religious observance when Catholics have similar dramatic practices. In my estimation, virtually all religions perform their tradition. All religion is performative, if it is to be memorable.

I recognize that some might be offended by the word performance in regard to preaching and religious observance, but I am not apologetic. In fact, performance is what all of us do all the time. When attempting to explain this principle to a group of students, I once said: I have to perform this lecture. If I do not perform it, your critique will help me quickly understand the limitations of my performance by dozing, inattention, or apathy. In other words, I want to suggest that a boring lecture is a bad performance.

My daughter is the fashion police of our house and, before I go out in public to important events, I must pass her fashion inspection. One day, after considerable deliberation, I decided to put on what I thought was fashionable. I put on a shirt and brightly colored ascot and went to her for inspection. After laughing, her comments were, Please take that outfit off! You cannot pull it off. She meant I could not perform the outfit. In her mind, I did not have the right amount of suave, debonair moxy to pull the outfit off. I did not have the sufficient level of cool to perform the outfit. This brings to mind that you are performing whatever outfit you are wearing as you read this book. We perform all the time. I want to turn now to more formally define the performative tradition of African American preaching.

THE PERFORMATIVE TRADITION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PREACHING

Several scholars have attempted to capture the performative aspects of African American preaching by relating the preaching performance to music and, in the case of Kirk Byron Jones, William Turner, and Barbara A. Holmes, the jazz performance.⁴ Holmes states that the jazz sermon may incorporate improvisational changes of rhythm and meter, the counterintuitive layering of Scripture with the local context, the willingness to employ the body as well as the voice, silences as well as the ‘whoop.’⁵ The improvisational nature of the jazz sermon, such as its changes of rhythm and meter, digression from the prepared text, the ability to employ the body as well as the voice, and silence as well as the whoop, begins to further clarify what I mean by the performed African American sermon.

With this in mind, and from my own experience in the rhetorical practices of the African American preaching tradition, I have come to understand performative traditions to be based in four aspects: a performative tradition has to be performed, no preacher is an isolated performer, performative traditions are learned through practice and observation, and, lastly, audience feedback and improvisation are critical.

The first aspect of a performative tradition is performance itself; a performative tradition has to be performed. Someone must consciously identify him- or herself as performing a tradition, which means there must be a preaching agent. And every preaching agent performs the tradition with some purpose in mind, not aimlessly, but with intent, purpose, and direction to accomplish some goal—what I would summarize in the African American tradition as hope.

The agent must also have some level of talent and discipline. To offer unique excellence in the performance of the tradition, the agent must have unusual talent and discipline. In his book The Jazz of Preaching: How to Preach with Freedom and Joy, Kirk Byron Jones illustrates this point when he says:

When you honor the craft and the tradition by offering unique excellence, the accomplishment gets noticed by the guild if not the masses. Art Tatum is regarded by many as the greatest jazz pianist of them all. He once told Oscar Peterson, whom many believe to be the second greatest jazz pianist ever, "Listen, there’s an old man in Kansas City. He knows only one chorus of the blues. The man can’t play the second chorus. And every time I’m