Today I was asked to preach for someone while he was away on holiday. I said I would. He?s a friend, and it would help him out. Then, I got to thinking about it. No, I had not impulsively rushed into accepting the invitation, but it was the kind of reflecting that comes back when you realise there is more to a situation than you at first perceived.

This standing in for another means representing that other person. The folks who would normally hear their pastor will instead see and hear me. He will be gone, and I?ll be giving a message that he would have given were he present as he usually has been.

It?s quite a challenge to represent someone else. What does one do? Does one try to act like the other person, say what he would have said, stand where he would have stood, and wear the kind of clothing he would have worn? I don?t think that?s it. They might as well just put up a picture of the other guy and play one of his recorded messages over the sound system.

No, this kind of representing requires that one stand in the place of, but with all of one?s unique personality intact. There is no way I can sound like the other man, move like him, or preach just like him.

I used to preach to large groups, but since becoming a psychologist, I have met with one or two people at a time for individual or couples counselling, and I have worked with small groups of six to eight in group therapy. There is dialogue and discussion. There is give and take. The silence is as important as the time when people talk, and I have learned that when I?m talking too much , the other person is not doing the work he or she needs to do in order to get the most out of therapy. I?ve learned to interact more and talk less.

That?s not preaching. Preaching might be giving counsel, in the sense of encouraging or exhorting people on to bigger and better things, a more fulfilling way of life, but preaching is not discussion, and it?s not psychotherapy. Preaching can be therapeutic, but it?s different. Preaching is standing in for God, representing God?s thoughts to God?s people. That drives some to shout at the congregation and others to tremble before them.

When I stand in for my pastor on Sunday I will do that as me, completely me, the new me, and there is no other way I can do it. That?s what authenticity is. I wear jeans when I attend church, and I?m going to wear jeans when I preach. My practice of psychology and my training as a therapist have changed the way I understand communicating, and there?s no way I can step into that moment when I begin to preach and do anything but bring all I really am, right now, to bear on the task. I will represent my pastor in that I will be taking his place with his people, but I?ll have to do it my way, in my language and with my voice.

Some 2,000 years ago Jesus was born, and they called Him Immanuel, which means ?God with us.? He represented His Father to the people. After Jesus left, those who know Him and follow Him represent Him to those who don?t. That?s the model. The one standing in for someone else has to do it with authenticity, in his or her sole fashion, unique language, individual dress, and original demeanour. That is also the model. When I stand in the place of my pastor, what will make that a true representing is that he and I are both committed to the same thing, thinking God?s thoughts, using God?s words in our own ways.