Stumbling over the Cross: Preaching the Cross and Resurrection Today by Joni S. Sancken (review)

As one who preaches most every Sunday, I very much appreciated reading a book designed to be a practical resource for preachers. The theme of the book and the motivation for writing it are given in the opening page. While working on her doctorate at the Toronto School of Theology under the direction of Prof. Paul Scott Wilson (who also writes the foreword), Sancken ‘‘began to be bothered by what seemed to be a striking omission in many of the sermons I was hearing and reading. Many sermons lacked theological grounding—I noticed a particular absence when it came to talking about Jesus’ death and resurrection. Even during Lent and Easter, these events were not given as much emphasis as I expected’’ (xxi). In fact, Sancken goes on to offer some startling statistics. In surveys of recently published sermon anthologies, ‘‘only about 35 percent of the sermons mentioned or addressed the cross in any way’’ (ibid.).

The purpose of her book, then, is not only to help reverse this trend, but to provide concrete, hands-on tools and resources for preachers to integrate the cross and resurrection into every sermon as the background, if not the foreground. In five well-laid-out chapters she offers ways into her theme. Chapter 1 begins by recognizing how challenging it can be to make the prioritizing of the cross in sermons, given both the weightiness of the theme and the fact that most people seem to be looking for lighter ways toward hope. Sancken goes on to identify six basic characteristics of sermons that prioritize the cross. They ‘‘1) Acknowledge evil. 2) Name hope. 3) Maintain a sense of tension and contradiction. 4) Are grounded in scripture. 5) Address personal and social implications of the cross. 6) Address the fullness of the Christ event’’ (22).

In chapter 2, Sancken tackles Christology and the historical and doctrinal debates around atonement theology. Unfortunately, she argues, abstract theory has undermined a more relational understanding of cross/resurrection and the rich biblical metaphors and conceptual imagery that can nourish great sermons. She walks through some of the dense terrain of atonement theology with a certain ease and mastery. She explains complex doctrinal arguments in accessible language.

Chapter 3 engages the reality of religious pluralism in our post-Christendom context in North America. Even though emphasizing the cross/resurrection can appear to create a barrier between Christianity and other faith traditions, Sancken argues that we best honour and respect our brothers and sisters of other faiths by getting better at articulating what makes us most uniquely and distinctly who we are.

Chapter 4 addresses the challenge of preaching within a larger consumer-driven culture where the church can feel pressured to serve the needs of seekers rather than challenge worshippers to giving, service, sacrifice, and the cost of discipleship.

The final chapter offers practical resources and tools from sermon templates, forms, and styles, to ideas for every season and occasion in the church year. Sancken also provides many illustrations through the published sermons of great preachers of various traditions.

Even though this is a great book, there are a few weaknesses. Sancken uses many examples from some brilliant sermons, but too often the quotes she provides from the sermons are not long enough for the reader to get the effect of the brilliance, and she fills in the gaps by describing in her own words what the sermon is doing. Perhaps this is an attempt to use fewer words and more examples. For the reader who is less familiar with the sermons, however, the effect is to flatten the brilliance.

Also, and more substantially, even though the very theme of the book is the cross and resurrection as a unified pattern, Sancken doesn’t explore sufficiently how the cross shapes the resurrection and how the resurrection shapes how we experience or open ourselves to experience...