I had a hard time making it through this book!
I kept stoping, every few paragraphs … to underline, to make a note, just to think, to wonder, and then to read the footnotes, and jump to my computer, to check out the websites and sources sited.
From the moment I started, the book grabbed my attention. It was clear - I was reading the work of a determined and devoted minister, one who takes seriously the essential elements of the Christian life: the Scriptures and the church’s story … theology and history … people and their times, their trials, and triumphs … and the words with which we’re blessed, and the words with which we’re burdened … the words spread before us, inviting us to choose wisely, to assembly phrases carefully, because of the Incarnate Word of God.
In other words, words count - because of their power - the power to call forth light or to bring down damnation, to heal a broken soul, a broken body, or send the hungry away with a dismissive word of judgment and “othering.”
George Mason is a preacher of great skill, lifting up the central concepts of the Christian Faith, for the people who strive to live this faith every day of their lives: the saints and the sinners (mostly one and the same), with hopes and dreams common to all, and faults and failings, all too common.
Dr. Mason is a sculptor - with hammer and chisel, taking the marble of words and shaping them with care … here’s a man who’s worked very hard at language … bringing out its delight with word play and creativity.
If he were a chef, we’d celebrate the careful manner in which he knows how to flavor the hearty stew of faith with just the right amount of humor and self-deprecating honesty. He is not a preacher who happens to be human, but a human who happens to be a preacher. I see in the sermons a real human being who has been called by God to step into the pulpit. A daunting task for anyone who dares to think about it, and Dr. Mason has clearly thought about it a great deal.
The man is a thoroughgoing Christian, which makes him an ecumenical Christian. To use another image, he paints a brilliant canvass of many colors, with layers of paint, applied in brush strokes, wide and furious, and dabbed and daubed in the smallest of details. He pays attention to the larger world of religion and philosophy - he has no need to diminish what others believe in order to bolster his own faith. Rather, he welcomes what others offer, and in dialogue with the world, he lifts up the Cross of Christ for all to see, without a hint of superiority, and suffused by the humble realization that God is at work all over the world, and if we listen with care, we can hear God’s love pulsing in every voice.
Struggle is evident … the struggle of a preacher who can see the glory of God, but is defied, as we all are, by the enormity of God’s love and master; the struggle to touch and embrace that which cannot be contained by words, but only hinted at, week-by-week … in song and prayer, and the discipline to keep on trying, bringing to bear on the lectionary the best insights the preacher can muster, not only from the deeps of her or his own soul, but from the daily effort to read the newspapers, books, and wade through the torrents of social media - to find all the possible material to highlight, underscore, illumine, and tease out the ideas, the images, and the invitations flowing from love of God.
Yes, pain is evident, too … as the nation grew more and more polarized, I could feel his struggle to highlight the issues, clarify the claims made by various politicians and preachers, and then to compare and contrast various ideas with the gospel he understands and loves, while honoring the congregation with its diverse opinions and cares. Dr. Mason knows, full well, in a polarized moment, decisions have to be made - knowing all too well that a decision to not decide is, in fact, a decision likely favorable to the wrong side of history.
A good preacher walks a balance beam … I’m not talking here about neutrality, relying on the simple nostrums of sweet Jesus and all is well with my soul, but a beam, a highway, or maybe a twisting pathway, heading toward the gospel.
On just such a beam, walking with care, as to not lose one’s head or heart in frustration and bitterness, and, at the same time, chomping at the bit, convicted by and conformed to the gospel, to the power of love, and not the love of power … eschewing the easy violence of harsh rhetoric and pointing to the strange and tragic love of guns found in too much of American Christianity, challenging such ideas because they are contrary to the Cross of Christ.
George Mason knows the church universal and what it can be, and what it must be. His years of love and work at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas were clearly driven by two marvelous elements: the love God, and a congregation ready to hear the fullness of the story, ready to get into “good trouble” for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the neighbor. Not all was easy sailing; that’s clear. But the fundamental nature of Wilshire Baptist Church provided a place where Dr. Mason, this scholar/pastor/preacher could fulfill God’s calling.
George Mason pays faithful tribute to his pulpit predecessors, and to the members who have walked the walk with him and his family. As he he notes, when first called as young man to church, a leader saying: I am not worried about whether he is up to the challenge, because I know we are. Great pastors do not make great churches; great churches make great pastors.
I was pleased to see illustrations used sparingly … like salt, to enhance and not overwhelm. Nor is he given to simplistic illustrations, full of miracles and transformations that all too often leave the honest hearer wanting, or worse, despairing for want of such victory.
A lot quotable quotes here … a lot to think about … a reader of this book will never be done with it.
The book works well - compiled by friends and colleagues, with guidance from Dr. Mason, it’s topical, chronological, and liturgical - guided by the Common Lectionary. Each writer introduces the section with analysis of the sermons selected and the man they know. It’s a brilliant way of moving the material along, helping the reader see the development, the shifts, the twists and the turns of the times, and the theological search for meaning, a search that never really ends.
Dr. Mason writes: This is a book I would not have created on my own initiative, partly because of the work involved in producing it, partly because of the presumption it would entail of whether my preaching is worthy of reproduction.
But after thirty-three years of faithful preaching and work in the community, and all around the world, friends and colleagues knew that one of Dr. Mason’s legacies, of which there are many, is the sermons he so carefully crafted over the years. Crafted with a great love for God and for the gospel, and a passion for what’s faithfully needed in the times of any moment.
The book is a tribute to Dr. Mason, like a festschrift, a giant thank you to the man and to Wilshire Baptist Church for their ceaseless efforts to build bridges, welcome every body, seek the counsel of God, face the hard questions, probe the Scriptures with care and creativity, ponder what love requires, and then finding the ways and means of nudging the world toward the kingdom of God.
This is a book for the shelf-at-hand, by the desk, for quick reference … these sermons can be read again and again and should be read again and again - they’re both pointed and timely, and wonderfully timeless in their depth and their reach …
The footnotes point to sources for further work and study are invaluable … with illustrations to fine-tune the thoughts … and an exhaustive index of all the lectionary texts he’s used.
A book for both the preacher in the pulpit and the people of the pews. A book for personal study, of course, and group study, too.
The reader will learn a great deal about the heart and soul of a serious preacher, and they’ll be encouraged to listen well, to take seriously, what the sermon offers, to know that while some sermons shine brightly with the gold of God’s love, and some not quite so brightly, every sermon is an effort of soul and mind, conjoined with prayer and praise, and the vast dreams of a world made new, to offer to the world the goodness and power of God’s love.
The preacher reading this will be moved to deepen the discipline of continued learning and writing … writing again and again … to hone the focus and sharpen the word, yet not too sharp, because softened with kindness, kindness enough that any soul anywhere can welcome and embrace the Word Proclaimed, the Word Made Fresh.
