I thought your post was through provoking; hence, my lengthy comment.

b) Did you mean to write (weak cover up)? I think you did because I thought an “over up” was another term for a disclaimer or something. Also, I don’t mean to just point out a typo I just don’t know what an ‘over up’ is if there is one.

c) I may not believe war is wrong. I do believe there are wars which are justified and other that aren’t. The shirt is one of many. There is poverty, thirst, hunger, etc. It is not stating that Jesus is against war (or poverty, or thirst, or hunger) it’s that he is greater than the commotion and unfortunate results of it. I’ll admit, the first time (and only time) I wore it was a spur of the moment thing and was one of my only clean shirts (maybe I should do laundry more often). Since no one said anything to me about it (remember “Brew U” in 9th grade) I assumed it would be fine to wear it again if I was down to a couple of shirts. You may be unaware of this next part which is kind of funny… I chose to wear that shirt on Sunday since I was in a rush to make it there at 7 and it was the first shirt I saw unknowing that was the topic being talked about. Aric told me what was up so I went back home and got the other clean shirt and it was fine.

d) I didn’t mean this to be this long.

I speak on behalf of one preacher-me.
1. You said, “I feel like they are required to preach whatever the church believes.” Simply, this is because most preachers work at churches that share the same beliefs about what the Bible teaches. So, when I preach I preach what I believe the Bible to say which happens to be what the church also believes.
2. The very nature of preaching is proclamation of truth, not suggesting the various viewpoints. It seems that there is something distinctly different between the role of a pastor/elder/shepherd teaching the Bible and the role of another person who might be teaching about the Bible (i.e. seminary professor, sunday school teacher, small group leader, etc.). The former has a responsibility and calling to “preach the word” (herald the truth) which lends itself primarily to telling one viewpoint (i.e. the preacher’s understanding of what the word says”). The latter has more of an option to share various viewpoints and just give you good arguments for each. If every time a church leader stood up he/she gave option a, option b, option c and just left it up to you, then most people would live in the same way (i can live like option a, option b, option c, because good argument can be made for each).
3. There are times when preachers preach what the church believes, not what he believes for the following reason – “love for the brother.” For instance, if a church (senior pastor) believed that drinking a beer was wrong, but someone on that staff did not hold the same conviction the person on staff would be stupid to openly endorse her own belief. Why? Because there is a greater purpose that would not be served by blasting the church with a dissenting belief, the greater purpose is the work of the gospel. Or, if a person on staff did not share the same passion for a 200 foot white cross and the person did not feel that offering a dissenting opinion would result in a change of decision about the cross, then the person would be stupid to say what she believes. Or, what if someone believed the war was wrong, but he was playing guitar in a church comprised largely of the generations which feel proud of our countries willingness to go to war against terroism (pro-war). He has two options, state his belief (with a t-shirt) which will rarely (if ever) actually change someone’s opinion on the subject of war. But, what may happen is those that are seeing his viewpoint on a VERY debatable subject might make the issue of war the center of their attention instead of God. The other option is for him to hold primarily to a deep conviction and passion for the redemptive message of the gospel and secondarily to whether or not he thinks war is justified.

You see, over the years I have grown to believe so much in the power of the gospel and the centrality of Jesus Christ that my differing beliefs in some of these areas are shared only with my closest friends out of love for those who I co-labor with and a love for the main thing – the gospel.

All that said, maybe you are just hearing crappy preaching.

but there have been plenty of times when i’ve wanted to just raise my hand and ask “what about the other side?”. those opposing sides are so necessary, even with the fundamental questions of “who/what is G-d or Jesus?”, “who are we”, “who says scripture is scripture”, and “why aren’t there more ice cream trucks?”. unfortunately, the Sunday Morning Sermon isn’t a very conducive venue to hear all of those sides. even if a pastor is presenting her message in a way that intelligently expresses multiple points of view, it’s still her own experiences and understandings with a few very specific ideas.

i do think every local church has to make an effort to answer key life questions. but they have to be willing to be a part of the bigger answer that the church universal provides. to be a part of that bigger answer, we have to be willing to live in the tension between opposing sides; or the “grey” instead of the “black and white”. we have to be willing to do the hard work of learning all the sides that present themselves. we have to be willing to be changed; not just by other christians but by developments within science, humanities, and the current state of all creation.

i don’t think you can do all that in a sermon on sunday morning.

you’re awesome brewster.

peace
aric