Hello
@Baby Cottontail, the only reason
(that I can think of) to avoid teaching the Incarnation, the Cross and/or the Resurrection, is to avoid talking about the very reason that the Lord Jesus came here, to save us from our sins and to reconcile us to His Father .. e.g.
Matthew 1:21; Romans 5:8-10.
I can certainly understand why you are upset. Maybe you should ask your pastor and see if you can figure out what's behind this new "trend" in your church
(and if this change of direction is permanent as well).
God bless you!
--David
David,
Thanks for your kind message. The only thing that I can pinpoint as being the possible cause of the issue is a move towards more contemplative spirituality on the part of the pastors. I started detecting this around last Christmas, with some of the things both pastors were saying in the online services.
They wanted us all to read an Advent devotional with selected readings by Henri Nouwen (not sure if I spelled his name correctly). They also did the same thing for Lent (Lenton devotional by the same author). They also had zoom Bible Studies around Christmas time with a study book about spiritual disciplines. They began a sermon series on that same topic. This is when I started questioning some of the sermons. However, it was all online at the time, and I thought it might become better once that sermon series was over.
As the pastor had not even been at the church a year when the pandemic hit, I had not had a lot of time to evaluate the content of his sermons before then. He had had some good sermons, but he had not been my favorite speaker. Under him, there had never been a time when I had been in anticipation of his sermon.
Over time (especially since Advent) I have been increasingly disappointed with his sermons. The Good Friday, Easter, and this past Sunday have been the worst so far. The Good Friday and Easter sermons really, really disappointed and angered me.
He is not the congregation though. If enough people are unhappy and complain to church council, there is the possibility of him getting transferred out. As far as I can tell, it is only the pastors who are pushing against the death and resurrection of Jesus, although I really don’t know where people in my church stand on these doctrines.
Admittedly, there was a time when I was in high school and college when apparently there were some people in the congregation who had been against hearing on these topics. When I was in high school, the associate pastor at the time was not likely a believer. He was a major influence in getting the contemporary service started at the church. He convinced the committee that started the service to not have any crosses visible at the time. They “didn’t want any strange or unusual symbols that no one would understand.” I only found all that out later, after I had graduated from college. Someone told me about it, and I had it confirmed with someone who had been on that committee.
I also got to know the pastor of my church quite well after I had graduated from college. (This was a pastor who had started at the church while I was in college). She told me that when she first came that some people had told her that they didn’t want her preaching about Jesus’ death or resurrection. I have no idea who those individuals were, and that was long enough ago that some of them may be dead by now. I didn’t hear it directly, but my pastor told me about it when I was telling her about some of the frustrations I was experiencing there at the time.
That particular pastor really tried hard to turn things around. She held real Bible studies in which people learned about their Bibles. (One of my old Sunday school teachers from my elementary school days had made the comment that up until that Bible study, she had not known where Matthew was in the Bible). People in the congregation developed a passion for the Bible, and some people began meeting together and studying the Bible together. That pastor really preached the gospel, and people’s opinions were changed. People had uncovered crosses that had been hidden before. They brought Bibles out for people to read. Things really began turning around in that church.
Pastors do have a lot of influence in the direction that a church takes.
Could there still be a remnant of laity that are opposed to the gospel? Sure. But I had not heard anything recently. I don’t think that would be the cause of the pastor not preaching on the death and resurrection of Jesus. If he truly believed these things were essential, he would still preach on them despite any requests from laity not to. He would have stood up to them just as the former pastor had done when she told them she preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and if they didn’t like that, they would have to find themselves a new pastor.