The problem was not raising his voice--this pastor is a very animated preacher with a very animated personality. But he sensed that at one particular point when he raised his voice, there was anger and bitterness lying behind his words. So he apologized.
I heard about this example and almost teared up. As a congregant in the pew, I would be touched, even if I thought the apology unnecessary, because of the pastor's humility and repentance.
As a fellow pastor, I am convicted about the number of times when I have raised my voice in the pulpit with unhealthy motives and sinful feelings at work. I excuse such moments with self-assurances that I am presenting hard truths and trying to wake people up to certain realities.
But the reality is that it is the Gospel that changes hearts and it is the Gospel that takes hard truths (like the depths of our sin) and brings us from conviction to comfort and lives of gratitude.
When I raise my voice, it should be to join the angels in singing praise to the Lamb and encouraging others to join in the song.
I am convicted that I should be more prayerful and gentle from the pulpit, and comforted by the knowledge that God's people come to hear God's Word, not my voice, and thus will often find conviction and comfort where it can be found. May I find it there too.
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