He was short in stature and rather unassuming. He is depicted in artwork as balding with a long, white beard. He may not look like much but when he commenced preaching, all bets were off.
Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390) is regarded as one of the truly great preachers in church history. Even Jerome, a sought-after hermit who lived in the desert, traveled into town to hear him preach. Gregory didn’t aspire to become a preacher. His father who was bishop of Nazianzus (modern Turkey) forced him–pretty much against his will–to become a priest. Gregory wanted to become a monk, but his dad saw gifts in him for pastoral leadership. He initially called his father’s coercion “an act of tyranny.” Bet they had some father-son issues to work through! When Gregory replaced his father as bishop, his reluctance was already well-known to people in the pews. In his first sermon, he spoke about his initial hesitation, “As to the reasons for my original revolt and cowardice…It seems that nothing is so pleasant to men as talking about other people’s business.” Did you catch that? Human nature hasn’t changed much in seventeen centuries.
Gregory was reluctant to preach because he knew there was so much riding on it. It is no small thing to rightly handle the Word of God and faithfully appropriate it to people’s lives.
Forty-four of his sermons survive to this day. His homilies are dense and artful. His command of the language is impressive, as is his thorough knowledge of Scripture. Oration number thirty-eight was preached on December 25, 380AD. He began his Christmas message with the words:
“Christ is born, glorify him.
Christ comes from heaven, go out to meet him.
Christ descends to earth, be raised up!
Sing to the Lord all the earth
that I may join both in one word.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,
for him who is of heaven and then of earth.
Christ is in the flesh,
rejoice with trembling and with joy
with trembling because of your sins,
with joy because of your hope.”
We close with Gregory’s prayer for encountering God’s Word in Scripture: