
Brenda Neuhaus
2.7K posts

Brenda Neuhaus
@BrendaIMax
Crazy mom to beautiful twin boys; wife to the best guy in the world. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable Gift!




I’m wresting with this in my own preaching, teaching and writing. I’m beginning to see how my own communication style has been shaped by this the postmodern mood. To what degree this is contextualization or syncretism… I’m not sure. But here’s how pastors calibrated to the old, cynical vibe. 1) Writing for the cynic. All pastors imagine people when they write sermons - we want our words to land in real life. But sometimes it’s like we’re afraid everyone is Tyler Durden. 2) Deflecting cynicism by expressing cynicism about *other* are Christians doing wrong. We laugh at the Westboro people and scoff at literalistic readings of Genesis. 3) Showing hyper-sensitivity to deconstructive narratives in the church. (For example, pretending like church abuse is totally pervasive and taking every claim of church hurt as legitimate without question). 4) The heavy use of irony in humor. A kind of cool, “hipster” Christianity (see @brettmccracken on this). 5) Avoiding sincere bodily and verbal expression as “cheesy” or “over the top.” It’s not cool to care. So if you care, take care to not look like a church lady. 6) Fourth wall breaking. In other words, hyper-awareness of how the medium of preaching piques cynicism in others. Pastors know that others are cynical about pastoral motives (greedy, celebrity hungry pastors). So we break the fourth wall and name their cynicism about the office of pastoral ministry, hoping that if they see we can the (potential) ruse, then they’ll believe we’re above it. Deadpool preaching, if you will. 7) Too little emphasis on the Holy Spirit.

The young women are being hailed heroes, but they see the situation much differently. ky3.com/2024/11/08/chi…






Trump says he will fire America’s military generals and replace them with NASCAR drivers and football coaches






