0 Clowns in the pulpit

Found this sobering assessment of much of today's preaching, and I had to repost it... I doubt most of those who joke about in the pulpit really think very deeply about what their insertion of funny anecdotes and laugh-seeking one-liners communicates about what they view as their role, but the author of this article is right on... It communicates a light esteem with which God is regarded, and the frivolous irrelevance that the preaching task represents.  The preacher CANNOT involve himself is seeking the amusement of his hearers as a running thread in his preaching, or the hearers are in danger of adopting that which is communicated by such preaching.  

Anyway....do read this excellent piece by Jeremy Walker at Ref21.