The Gospel is Justice: A new book from Brehm Preaching’s Jennifer Ackerman

The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Ackerman, director of Brehm Preaching, a Lloyd John Ogilvie Initiative, has written a new book.

If you’re reading the gospel and don’t see justice, I don’t think you’re really reading the gospel. Because it’s entirely about God breaking in to a broken world and setting us free. That’s what justice is about. —Jennifer Ackerman, Director of Brehm Preaching: A Lloyd John Olgilvie Institute.

With the discord we find in present day life, we wanted to find out how those called to the pulpit can respond. We sat down with Jennifer Ackerman to talk about her new book, “Preaching the Gospel of Justice.”

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Brehm: Tell us about your book.

Jennifer: When the Bible talks about justice, it’s always about seeing people who are unseen, treating people who have been marginalized as if they’re fully part of the community. It’s about God working with Israel and saying you have to get rid of these idols because they are for selfish gain. They are turning your attention to things that are about you instead of turning your attention to me and what I want which is the flourishing of all the world.

We miss that because we want justice to be about what makes us feel better and what frees the people that we care about. It’s very hard for us to let go of our own version of idolatry today and be able to be truly radically inclusive the way we see Jesus doing and the way we see God pushing, pushing us to do throughout scripture.

Brehm: What are some present day challenges preaching in a modern world?

Jennifer: One of the big misunderstandings is that this person who stands at a pulpit has all the answers. They went to school and learned the right way to do things, say things, believe things— and that’s never the case. All of us are wrestling with it ourselves while looking for a word for ourselves as much as for our community. It’s always a communal act, as much for us as for the community. We’re not always preaching to, we’re preaching with. When we have this idea of the “Sage on the Stage,” it separates the preacher from the people. 

We need preachers who are courageous enough to bring their authentic voice. To speak courageously about the things they’re seeing, the things they wonder about, the things they are curious about. My hope for vibrant justice preaching is that people will have courage to try things and get it wrong. To reach out to people they wouldn’t normally reach out to. To move outside of our little silos that don’t allow us to participate in the full community that God has called us into. 

The more preachers have the courage and the curiosity and the creativity to look at God’s word and make it part of a conversation, the more it gives people permission to work on that themselves. That’s how a grassroots movement grows. That’s what Christianity is. It was a movement of people from the fringes who believed Jesus was showing a different way to live, a way to live according to God’s principles of what justice really looks like. 

Brehm: What do you love most about preaching?

Jennifer: I don’t love preaching. In fact, I feel a little skeptical of any preachers I hear who say I just love preaching. To me preaching is a burden and it’s one that I carry with some amount of joy and delight. It’s an honor and a privilege. To say that I love it is just, I don’t. For me, it doesn't honor the burden that it is. We’re being asked in some way to be a voice, to proclaim the voice of God, and who am I to be someone to do that? Who is anyone to be someone to do that? And so every single time I preach, it carries with it a great burden. That’s why I hope that I can steward wisely. 

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“Preaching the Gospel of Justice” by The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Ackerman is now available to order.

Learn more about Brehm Preaching here.