The Oates Journal (ISSN: 1098-1446) is a publication of the Wayne E. Oates Institute addressing issues related to spirituality, ethics, and healing from the perspective of pastoral care and counseling.

Here is the test of wisdom,
Wisdom is not finally tested in schools,
Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it to another not having it
Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof.

-- Walt Whitman

Several years ago, a newspaper reporter who was writing an article on psychotherapy called and (somewhat skeptically) asked, "What is psychotherapy all about?" My reply was simple and to the point, "It is about removing the blocks of giving and receiving love." The way to begin is for you to clarify that your most important values are honesty and self-honesty. Honesty and self-honesty sound noble but are actually very difficult to achieve. However, it is living these values that evolve you into emotional and spiritual wellness. Usually spirituality is associated with religion. However, I view spirituality as an integral part of intimacy and communication. In fact, this whole paper is an exploration of the relationship of emotionality - that is the experience and expression of your feelings-to spirituality. I believe there is a sequential relationship. Specifically, the honest and intimate speaking of your deepest feelings will open you to spiritual experience. To be spiritually minded is in fact quite practical because it does not require any special time, place, or circumstance. What is spiritual is just a reorganization and reinterpretation of what is already present. It is simply a change of perspective from a more closed, fear bound, narrow one to a more appreciative, expansive, open one. Full sharing of feelings is a process by which consciousness is awakened, attitude is transformed, and the infusion of new spiritual meaning takes place.

I was excited about continuing my study in the newly instituted Doctor of Mininitry program as I sat in Dr. Wayne Oates’ office at Southern Seminary as a recent M.Div. graduate in 1973. Much to my dismay and surprise, Dr. Oates, in his wisdom, suggested I wasn’t ready to pursue this advanced study in ministry. With his usual grace and poise he recommended I do ministry for a few years and get some life experience. A few years, I thought; I am married, have survived an alcoholic family, and have been to school for nineteen years. What else do I need to know? Well, thank God he not only made that suggestion but also held me to it. Now some thirty-six years later, I find myself back in the parish as a part-time pastor to a small flock of folks out in the middle of the country. After serving as a professional pastoral counselor for many years, my visits and conversations with parishioners and Sunday morning sermons seem to all run together. In other words, I see these two functions of being a pastor as two forms of hermeneutic that inform each other.

In July of 2001, my mother and father were involved in a car accident caused by an unlicensed driver. My dad survived the accident, but after three days of struggling with significant injuries my mother died. Even though I had not lived in my parents’ home for over 30 years, my mother’s death was devastating to me. I remained with my father for almost two weeks helping him put his life back together, and then spent a week at the beach to put myself back together. Eventually, I had to face a very practical decision—when I returned to my pulpit at FBC, Winston-Salem, what kind of sermon would I preach?

Once upon a time, modern was a perfectly good word. Writers from novelists to reporters used it to describe everything from art to appliances. An abbreviated form of the word was used to describe that hip, young police unit, “The Mod Squad.” Anything described as modern was the newest, the most recent, and, subsequently, the most desirable. Then, in one of the more ironic twists in history, modern quickly became passé. Suddenly postmodern was the newest way to describe the current milieu. Postmodern society’s norms swept away the modern world view. Modern society’s values of knowledge, order, objectivity, and linear thinking gave way to post-modern culture’s appreciation for feelings, randomness, subjectivity, authenticity, and multi-tasking. In one clear example of the change between the two orientations to life, the blog replaced the network news as the driving force in the way individuals interpreted current events. Modern became “so twentieth century.”

It was Carlyle Marney (1973) who said it best "The pastor needs to be a leader, but if you get too far out in front of your people they will mistake you for the enemy and start shooting."' Every pastor who has ever tried to be prophetic knows the truth of this statement. Upon entering pastoral ministry we soon discover that proclaiming the whole counsel of God is not always the most popular pattern of ministry. However, this should not surprise us. When we study the prophets we discover that they were not exactly the most popular people in town. In fact, for the most part they were not rabbis who preached or taught in a local synagogue or temple on any regular basis. Standing as they did "outside" the parameters of their institutional religion they were free to expound as they deemed appropriate without regard to pastoral relationships. The pastoral persons were the rabbis and religious leaders who operated from within the cultus, not the prophets. (The lone exception to this appears to be Isaiah, depending upon how one slices that document.)

For years now I have taught aspiring preachers that the role of the preacher and the work done from the pulpit is very important and should never ever be taken lightly. The message or sermon delivered by the preacher is communication delivered in behalf of God, about God, and for the edification and benefit of those who hear. Stephen Farris (1998) points out, “Our God still speaks, and where there are people who will listen, nothing, not even the intention or performance of the preacher…can finally stand in the way” (p. 12). Undoubtedly, the pulpit is not a place for cowards, fakes, unprepared, or ill-equipped people who have been given the awesome task of speaking life into the hearts of those gathered. When preachers mount the pulpit it is not a time for “practicing” or delivering insufficient or damaged goods. The pulpit and the message spoken from it is serious business. In describing preaching, Jana Childers (1998) notes, “It needs a sense of purpose” (p. 27).  Why preach? I have taught my students to prepare to preach and mount the pulpit with a clear understanding. The truth of the matter is someone’s life may be hanging in the balance and he or she has come to the house of worship to receive a message of hope. They want to know that God sees where they are, knows what they need, and is delivering the care that they need to get them through. In essence, the pulpit continues to be an essential tool used to offer pastoral care. It is here where God uses the preacher to deliver care to those who have come to grab hold of a lifeline that will aid them in conquering the issues they face. The pulpit is a conduit from which God has and continues to offer care to God’s people.