Sermons

SUN., AUG. 23, 1992, 6:40 AM
FARM, STUDY

As usual on a Sunday morning you shall participate in a worship service, one feature of which will be a sermon. This is a time when a worship leader speaks, for some minutes, in an organized fashion, about some aspect of life, earthly or heavenly, that he wants his listeners to consider. There are many styles, both denominational and personal, and there are many approaches a preacher can use. You like sermons. You like to be the one who gives the sermon. Hear, then, o son, some Sunday observations on sermons… and know that I shall hear many today and shall be helping with many of these.

There are two basic theories or principles of sermonizing. One is that the preacher should take a text from Holy Scripture, one or more, and develop the sermon out of this portion of the Word. She can use commentaries written by others who have studied the Scriptures, can relate it to present life, or can try to have listeners understand and appreciate it as he does. The Scripture may be a major or a minor part of the sermon, but in this theory it is the basic guide to what is said.

The other theory is that the sermon should come from the spirit of the preacher, developing spontaneously, hopefully by revelation from Me, from Jesus, or some saintly source. The preacher may or may not have a title or a basic idea. The sermon comes forth when the preacher faces the congregation. His calling is to preach, and he just knows a sermon will come forth in a semi-to a very mystical way. Many of such preachers are well-grounded in Holy Scripture, and they just trust that the appropriate passages will “come to mind” when such are needed.

Now obviously these are polar theories, but there are many combinations. A sermon may be somewhat organized, the preacher working from prepared notes but allowing the examples to develop during the actual sermon itself. Or it may be quite well organized, but the preacher departs from her text because of some “leading,” sometimes from Me. Then there may be a return to the organized text or a continued extemporaneous sermon.

My mention of notes leads to the observation that there also is a range in styles of preparation. At one extreme the sermon is completely developed before the worship experience, written or printed out, and it read, word for word as the sermon. This guarantees that the special words, phrases, and details of examples will be heard, these having been developed in a quiet time of contemplation and study. Those who read such sermons may be skillful to inept at so doing. Some of such sermons are better read later than listened to as they are read.

The other extreme is complete reliance upon the internalization of the message. There are no notes and certainly no manuscript. There may have been specific preparation, so that key words and phrases have been memorized, or the preacher may just know that a worthwhile message will erupt from him when sermon times comes. She is free to use Scripture, personal experiences, and happenings in the congregation, the community, and the world in the spontaneous creation of a sermon.

Most of those who tend toward this latter approach are or feel they are lead by Me, and they trust that the right words and ideas will come forth. Some of these are true pastors, and their sermons emanate from the pastoral experiences rather than from texts, expositions, and commentaries. They spend their time “out in the world” rather than in the study, writing a sermon. They see the sermon as just the natural outgrowth of personal ministering.