it is written...one does not live by bread alone

I'm at the National Festival of Young Preachers in Louisville, KY this week recruiting for LSTC. So far it has been a different experience, most of the participants are Baptist and look at me sideways when I say I'm Lutheran (and don't get me started on their views of women or gay preachers). One girl I talked to I asked her what she wanted to do after college, her response: "I want to preach." I proceeded to try to get her to talk about that, to then drop the seed about seminary as a good option after college. My next question to her was pretty straightforward: So you're thinking about ordained ministry then?

The answer shocked me. No. I just want to preach.

No seminary, no theological education, (seemingly) no desire to preside over communion.

Just preach.

To me, that's not a job that is self standing, you preach in addition to presiding over the Eucharist, or being a service minister (AIM, Diaconal ministry, Deaconess...).

But to just preach. There was passion there, passion for proclaiming the gospel. of the 120 students here, protestant denominations are the minority by far. There is a lot of passion for preaching, I've watched some sermons where these preachers have more passion than I have pairs of pants, and for those of you who know me, that's quite a few.

But is there something missing from all this passion? Jesus says (one of his coming on stage moments) that we are to remember that 'it is written, one does not live by bread alone' but that does not mean that we are to not eat bread. Jesus does not say that we are not supposed to be service leaders in the world. Jesus says not bread alone.

We can have passion for preaching the gospel of Christ, but we need equal passion for serving the neighbor, for worshiping the living and risen Christ child, for remembering Ephiphany, the revealing of Christ the human in and to the world. We can have passion for preaching the good news to the world, but where are we left when we stay in the pulpit all day? Once the congregation exits the church building do we stay standing in the pulpit, preaching to anyone who has ears to hear? Or do we get out there, go into the world and live lives that strive to emulate Christ himself, breaking down walls of injustice and persecution in the world?

As for me, I'll have my (communion) bread and eat it too. And pass it around to the world in need.