Willimon on Heb. 11:29-12:2

He doesn't have a post this week at Theolog, but lectionary preachers might be interested in William Willimon's sermon on Heb. 11:29-12:2:

To be a teacher of any kind is to allow the past to have its way with us. And that’s powerful stuff. One reason I think our culture tends to be a-historical, tends toward a kind of studied amnesia, is that the past is our greatest accuser. Not only our greatest teacher, but also a revolutionary force. As G.K. Chesterton said, one of the difficulties of modernity is that we keep talking about how free we are. We’ve freed ourselves from our past. All that does, said Chesterton, is that we’ve become slaves to that arrogant oligarchy of those who just happen to be walking about at this moment. Chesterton also said that being a “traditionalist” means a determination not to automatically dismiss any man’s opinion outright just because he happens to be your father. I worry about the church. So much of our worship today, so much of current church life, about the worst thing you could say about it is…it’s contemporary. It is no more than with the times.

Amen.