For one thing, our preachers tell us the wrong story entirely, saying not a word about the dark side–no, that’s too weak–about the dark center of the Gospel. They can’t bring themselves to come within a country mile of the horrendous truth that we are saved in our deaths, not by our efforts to lead a good life. Instead, they mouth the canned recipes for successful living they think they congregations want to hear. It makes no difference what kind of success they urge on us: “spiritual” or “religious” success is as irrelevant to the Gospel as is  success in health, money, or love. Nothing counts but the cross.

Robert Farrar Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching