Preachers don't get out much. My wife has been telling me that over what seems a life time of Saturday nights at home. Of course, she is right, and even more right than she probably realizes. The truth is most preachers do not get out of the rooms of their denomination or tradition very often. We talk to folks of our own tribe, get caught up in intra-tribal intrigues, jealousies and admirations. We even listen to and critique sermons in "our room" (even if it is a chat room!). That is why I have always appreciated the Beecher Lecture series.

For well over a hundred years, these annual lectures have allowed those of us who are called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to stand in a larger room. Every lecturer seems to have been aware of the ecumenical context. As I read the addresses in their published form, I am struck by the speakers' attempts to translate a point about preaching or the theology that informs it to the widest possible audience. At the same time, I am thankful the tradition of the speaker is not denied or hidden. Indeed in most of the lectures, it is an element that sheds new light, or at least perspective, on our common calling.

For example, Charles E. Jefferson, speaking in his Beecher Lectures at the early part of the twentieth century, does not disguise his very free church view of the use of a common lectionary to be followed in the reading of and preaching from scripture. For him, following a table of readings devised by people three hundred years ago "irritates and fetters" ministers in the doing of this work.1

Joseph Sittler, a Lutheran delivering lectures in the same series at the middle of this century does not apologize for lifting up the importance of lectionary liturgy. He even chides his listeners, "let us not blanch in free church horror."2 This truly ecumenical spirit, while sharing the best of one's traditions with others of various communions, has been a hall mark of the Yale lectures.

Dr. James Forbes' lectures in 1986 stand also in this larger room. But even in that larger room, Forbes opens some windows that bring fresh air to all who approach the "burden and joy of preaching." Following the pattern of the best Beecher Lectures, James Forbes speaks to the widest possible audience, but speaks solidly from his own tradition.

He grew up in the cadences of the African-American Church, and in school heard the preaching of Mordecai Johnson, Howard Thurmon, Gardner Taylor, Samuel Proctor and Martin Luther King, Jr. His experience would not let him settle for a preaching that sought to speak only to the head, or solely to the heart. Before he encountered theories of proclaiming the whole gospel to the whole person, he had the experience of being caught up in such preaching by guest speakers at Howard University. His experience was even closer to home. He grew up in the United Holy Church of America. His roots were not only in the black church, but the American Pentecostal movement.

His experience as a student and later as a teacher at Union Theological Seminary has given him a deep love and commitment to the Church universal. He is in no way narrowly partisan on his approach to preaching. He has become convinced that much of contemporary preaching misses what was an unquestionable prerequisite for the preaching of his youth. Preaching, his father, Bishop James A. Forbes, Sr., would have called anointed preaching.