The sermon archive is kept in chronological order, beginning with the most recent sermon. Scroll down to see previous sermons. The first four sermons comprise parts one, two, three, and four of a five-part series on preaching. If you'd like to read these sermons in order, scroll down to the sermon dated July 27, then go back up to August 3, 17, and 24.
August 24, 2008
Matthew 16:13-20
Rev. Jeffrey L. Phillips, pastor
Today’s sermon is part four of a five-part series on preaching, the goal of which is to help you be better listeners so you can get more out the sermon.
Last week we talked about hermeneutics, the way people tend to read and see important things like God, the Bible, Jesus, and life. To be a good preacher and a good listener to sermons, it’s important to know your hermeneutic – how you approach such matters.
I gave the example of the story of the loaves and fishes last week, but I could also have talked about Noah and the ark. How you preach and hear this story depends greatly upon the “lenses” through which you “see” the world, God, and life. You see, Noah and the ark can be “read” as a judgment story because God is so angry with the world’s violence that God destroys creation. It can also be “read” as a story of grace because God decides to give creation and humanity a second chance. The ark which bears Noah, Mrs. Noah, and the animals also bears the promise of a new beginning for the earth, as well as a new relationship with God. How you preach this story, and how you hear it, depend largely upon whether you tend to read the Bible as a book of judgment or a book of grace (or both), and whether you understand God to be a God of judgment or a God of grace (or both).
We also talked last week about how the biblical text becomes a sermon. I told you about how I plan sermons and scriptures a full year ahead every summer, and how I go about writing my sermon every week. What I didn’t tell you is that I also spend a lot of time just mulling the scripture around in my head as I go about my daily activities. I pray about it. I have it in mind as I visit with church members and engage in other tasks of ministry. And then I write it on Friday or Saturday, sometimes in the form of a manuscript, but sometimes in the form of notes (more on that in a moment).
As we said last week, the way in which the ancient text becomes a sermon for today is an act of holy creativity. It’s Holy Spirit stuff - the Spirit at work in the text and the preacher, setting her heart and mind on fire with something to say to the people. In the writing phase, the preacher needs to get passionate about something in the text, discovering something she considers necessary for people to hear. She needs to find something in the text that is not just interesting, but compelling so that the sermon will be not merely interesting, but will convey a sense of urgency. When I’m ready to write the sermon, I’m searching for what grabs me in the gut and the mind. This is the Holy Spirit’s work, and, when it happens, the sermon is spirit-filled because the preacher, during the writing phase, was spirit-filled. And the result is a sermon you want to listen to.
My preaching professor, Peter Gomes, had a phrase for what the preacher is looking for in the study and writing phase of sermon preparation: “the burden of the text.” After considering the text in its historical and literary contexts, and after reading it a dozen times in different translations, where is the weight of this text? What is its emphasis? After sifting it through the strainer, what falls through as less important, and what kernels of lasting truth remain for people today?
A colleague of mine calls it “the hook.” As she reads, studies, ruminates and ponders the text, she waits for something to grab her – some insight or word or observation that she makes her interested in the text enough so that, when the sermon is preached, it will be interesting to her people. I like that – the idea that the biblical text is so powerful that it “hooks” us, and then reels us into its truth claims that are both ancient and modern. The “hook” is like an “Aha! Moment” – the moment you find something in the passage, and say, “Yes, that’ll preach!”
How do preachers get inspired? How do they rev up their engines so the Holy Spirit may speak a Word to them that they can pass along to their people? My secret is coffee. Yes, better preaching through caffeine! Deadlines also help. Knowing that it’s Friday, and that Sunday is right around the corner puts energy into the creative process. Unlike people facing the April 15 tax deadline, preachers cannot file for an extension. Sunday is coming, and you’ve got to have something to say. So you just do it!
Here’s another “trick” of mine when I experience writer’s block as I’m attempting to write a sermon that doesn’t want to be written. I always return to the text, which is, after all, the basis of the sermon. I put aside all the commentaries and other people’s sermons on the text, and I go back to the verses themselves. I start at the beginning of the text and read through it one more time, waiting for the “hook” to sink into me. It always works!
Of course, a sermon must be applicable to the real lives of the listeners. It must give people something to take home to ponder, inspire, and help them live the Good News. Yes, it is the preacher’s task to make the sermon applicable, but it’s also the listener’s job. My primary job as preacher is to tell the story, and make sure you understand it. My job is also to suggest in general terms how it relates to the Christian life, but your job is to ask yourselves how this specifically applies to your life. You need to do this yourself because everyone’s life is different. Listeners need to be running an internal dialogue as the preacher is talking – not asking, “When will this be over?” or “What am I doing this afternoon?” but, “What is she saying?” and “How does this apply to me?”
Sometimes that work is done after the sermon is preached – as you reflect on it later. Sometimes things have to work on you a while before they mean anything to you (that’s true about a book you read or a movie you saw). My sermons are always available online by Sun. afternoon or Tues. at the latest if you wish to give them some further thought.
Last week I used the conclusion to the Joseph story in Genesis 45 to show how the ancient biblical text can become relevant to today in a sermon. This story is an easy one for preachers to relate to daily life. It’s about forgiveness, reconciliation, second chances, joy after suffering, how God guides people to good outcomes, how the dead can live again, and how faith requires risk. These are all themes that translate well into life today because we all need forgiveness, reconciliation, second chances, etc.
Other Bible passages are harder to apply. For example, Paul speaks at great length in 1 Corinthians 10 about a great controversy in his church: whether Christians should eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. This text is hard to preach on because the issue Paul addresses “back then” is not an issue for us “today.”
So how does a preacher make it relevant? Well, you need to find the “burden of the text.” You need to sift through the cultural elements from the first century and find a biblical principle in the passage that speaks to today. This is hard, but it can be done.
In this case, some members of Paul’s congregation are appalled that some fellow Christians are supporting the Corinthian pagan system of idolatry by buying meat that had been offered to idols. Paul tells his people that it doesn’t really matter what they eat or drink. As Jesus said, it just doesn’t matter to God what you put in your mouth. All food is lawful, no matter what ancient (biblical) Jewish dietary laws say. However, he goes on, if you eat meat that was dedicated to idols and it causes fellow Christians to stumble in their relationship with God, then it would be better not to eat that meat. Think of others before you exercise your Christian freedom, Paul advises.
How does that relate to us? As in the first century, God gives us great freedom today to do what we want. The question for us, as it was for Paul and his congregation, is not whether certain behaviors are “lawful” or not in an abstract way, but whether they hurt others when we do them. Are there any behaviors we might do today that don’t really matter in terms of our relationship with God, but that do matter to others? Paul’s advice back then is good advice for us today: don’t just consult the rule book when you decide what’s right or wrong, but consider the impact on others when it comes to how you live. That’ll preach!
Form and Content in Preaching
For the content of a sermon to be heard, it must be presented in a compelling form. Sermons must be engaging. The goal is not to entertain, but sermons must keep the attention of the listener. How is that done?
One way is to pay attention to how you put the sermon together. They used to say that there was only one way to construct a sermon: “three points and a poem.” (Actually, no one ever told me to construct a sermon in this way, and I can’t believe that any preacher actually ever followed such a simplistic outline!)
As I see it, there really is no set formula for putting a sermon together. After all, sermon construction is an art, not a science. Every sermon needs to include the text, a general application to everyday life, illustrations and examples, but there is no particular order in which those elements need to come.
Sometimes I start with the pastoral, human problem that I want to address in the sermon, and then I move to the text. For example, in a sermon about forgiveness, I might begin with a question: who here has ever felt bad about something they did? Or I might tell a story about someone who did something for which they later experienced forgiveness. After that, I would relate this theme to the text of the day, speaking about the forgiving nature of God.
But I could just as easily start with a metaphor or analogy about forgiveness, and then proceed to the specific human problem, and then go to the text (or, after the metaphor or image, then the text, and then the subject of forgiveness as a daily issue for people).
Or I might start with the text, re-telling the story and explaining what the passage is about. Then I could relate it to our lives today, sprinkling in some images, examples, humor, and language that help listeners grasp and retain the concept.
The point is this: there is no “standard” outline for the beginning, middle, and end of a sermon (at least not for me, and what congregation wants to listen week after week to the same preacher who uses the same format in her sermons?). No matter the structure of the sermon, the important thing is that by the time it’s over, the listener should know three things: 1. what the text is (the words themselves or the story itself), 2. what the text is about (the “burden of the text”), and 3. how it might apply to her or him. It doesn’t matter how you get there, but that you do get there!
For most of my career I’ve been a manuscript preacher, staying close to the words on Sunday morning that I wrote during the time of inspiration on Friday. In the last five years, I’ve moved more toward using notes. As you can tell, today’s sermon is preached from notes, not a manuscript. A few times I have trusted the Spirit enough to preach outside the pulpit with no papers at all. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of these forms of sermon delivery.
With a manuscript, you stay on your subject, and you remain true to the inspiration you experienced when the sermon was written. That’s an advantage. The disadvantage, of course, is that you lose eye contact with your congregation, and eye contact conveys sincerity and connection between speaker and audience. And, as they say, sincerity is the most important thing, and if you can fake that, you can fake anything! (By the way, this is the effect that politicians go for when they speak to people. They want to “look you in the eye” and “speak from the heart.” They know that this endears them to people. The truth is that politicians “fake” this all the time by using teleprompters, those transparent screens from which politicians read their words while giving you the impression that it’s all memorized or that they’re speaking from the heart. What phonies!)
Speaking from outside the pulpit conveys sincerity and warmth, but it poses problems as well. One is that the preacher may get off track. Another is what he is to do with his papers, even if they are just notes. I struggle with this, but I think good preachers struggle with these issues because good preachers know that the way a sermon is presented is just as important as what’s in the sermon, and that the best sermon will not be heard if it is not presented well.
Of course, the studied use of gestures, facial expression, pace, and the tone and volume of voice is also important in preaching. Sometimes people criticize preachers, saying, “He missed his calling; he should have been an actor.” Well, the truth is that effective preachers (and other good public speakers) need to know and utilize basic acting skills. Public speaking and acting require the same skills when it comes to delivery, and the difference between a preacher who is not theatrical at all and one that knows something about drama is clear: people dread the one, but want to listen to the other.
We’ll end our series next week by saying a bit more about form and content, then considering the importance of Jesus in Christian preaching, and then concluding with how preaching is both prophetic and pastoral.
August 17, 2008
Genesis 45:1-15
Rev. Jeffrey L. Phillips, pastor
Today’s sermon is part three of a five-part sermon series on preaching. The goal of this series is to help you understand what preaching is all about so that you, as listeners, might get more out of the preaching moment.
Hermeneutics, theology, and preaching
I’d like to introduce you to a $20 seminary word: “hermeneutics.” It refers to the way we tend to see and understand the things we read and hear. You see, the way the preacher and listener tend to understand God, the Bible, Jesus, and life determine the way the sermon is constructed and heard. And it’s important that both preacher and listener be aware of their hermeneutic (the lens through which they tend to see God, the Bible, Jesus, and life) – so that the preacher might be a better preacher and the listener a better listener.
For example, the last time we were together we heard the familiar story of the loaves and the fishes. This story could be preached (and heard by you, the listener) in at least four ways. I know which way I’d tend to preach it as a preacher. Which way would you tend to hear it as a listener?
First, it could be preached and heard as a miracle story that actually happened, “proving” that Jesus is the Son of God and that we should believed in him.
Second, it could be preached and heard as an ethical story that calls us to share with others as Jesus shared with the multitude that day. After all, the text records Jesus telling the disciples, “You get them something to eat.” Perhaps he says the same thing to us today in our hungry world. Some interpreters suggest that the people in the crowd actually did have food, but that they didn’t share with each other until the boy shared his lunch. This is an example of how preachers sometimes insert something into the text that is not there (a dangerous practice), but it does show us how this story can be used to call us to share with others.
Third, the story could be preached and heard as an argument for the importance of communion. After all, Jesus does the same thing with the loaves and fishes that he does at the Last Supper with the bread and cup: he takes, blesses, breaks, and gives them to the people. Scholars are convinced that this is not a coincidence, but an example of how important communion was in the early church. You could preach a good sermon on that point alone.
Fourth, the story could be taken as a parable of grace, revealing God’s nature as a God of abundance and plenty. Jesus and the text reveal to us a God who wants to feed us, take care of us, and give us more than we can ever need or imagine. Where Jesus goes, there is always enough love and forgiveness. No one is left out; all are included. Our God feeds all who are hungry for the things of God.
In case you can’t tell, this is how I would probably preach this story. Why? Because this is my hermeneutic. This is how I tend to understand the Bible, God, Jesus, and life. I’m really not interested in whether the story happened or not, but in how it shows us that Jesus’ God - our God - is a God of grace. Our God is a lover and a giver, and I think this is a message worth proclaiming.
So, before I write a sermon, I need to know what I think about God, the Bible, Jesus, and life. And before you listen to a sermon, you need to consider how you tend to think about such things. It will make you a better listener if you attempt some answers to these questions.
Who is God? For you, is God a distant, judgmental God, like the principal you may have had in fifth grade who was always wagging his finger at you, telling you to be good and threatening you with detention if you’re bad? Or is God for you a God of intimate tenderness, a God who is on your side, and who is always forgiving you and wanting the best for you?
What is life? Is life basically a test and a struggle, or a good gift from a good God to be enjoyed and used wisely for others? Is life about how you perform, and if you do well, then you go to heaven when you die, and if you don’t, then you go to hell? Or is your basic view of life a more positive, and yet ethical, one?
What is the Bible? Is it basically a book of rules and scientific, historical facts, or is it a source of revelation about God, as well as a source of inspiration and direction for life, but not to be taken literally? Is it God’s Word (God being the author), or is God’s Word contained in its very human pages?
The way these questions are answered shapes the way we preachers preach and you listeners listen. Being aware of how we preach and listen allows us to better know what we’re preaching and what we’re listening to. We pay more attention to what’s being said – and not said – if we know what we believe before we listen to a sermon. For preachers, knowing how we tend to understand a text helps us consider other ways to understand texts and preach on them. For you listeners, knowing what you’re listening for helps you consider new ways of hearing texts and sermons.
From Text to Sermon
So, how does this (Bible), get to this (manuscript)?
Every summer I prepare a yearly worship plan with scriptures and sermon themes for the ten program months that begin in September. This gives me an early idea where I think the text is going and how it might be preached - how God’s story, my story, and the congregation’s story might come together around this text to form a sermon that will help people in their daily Christian life. It also allows Stephanie and her people to plan music accordingly.
There are a couple of dangers in planning so far ahead. One is that we cannot know the ways in which we may change in the time between when the plan is written and the sermon is preached. The preacher, congregation, and the world itself may change in ways that make the plan obsolete – or at least in need of revision. Second, by doing it this way, I’ve already decided to some extent what the text says before I actually do the hard work of finding out what the text says. Sometimes, as I do that work in the week before the sermon is preached, I end up preaching a different sermon than the one I had planned to preach back in the summer. So, in both cases, flexibility is needed. It’s good to have a plan, but it’s also good to be flexible!
Here’s how I prepare the sermon every week. When I start my work week on Tuesday, I begin my reading for the sermon. I typically consult a number of resources concerning the text. Let me show you some:
The New Interpreter’s Bible
Pulpit Resource
The Living Pulpit (for topics, not texts)
The Christian Century
Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (reflections on the Bible written between the first and fifth centuries)
I mine a number of online and other resources to find relevant stories, jokes, and illustrations. For example, when I preach about spiritual healing, I use this book of true healing stories compiled by local UCC pastor Bobbie McKay and her husband Lew Musil (Healing the Spirit: Stories of Transformation). Rather than copying the exact words from these resources, I try to put them in my own words.
In the week or two before writing the sermon, I also think about it a lot as I go about my daily activities. My conversations, observations, and pastoral care activities, as well as my Tuesday morning Bible class and Confirmation class often provide insights that contribute to the sermon. I also pray and meditate about the text quite a bit, too, before sitting down before the computer screen.
And then, on Friday (or Saturday, if I’m behind!), I write the thing. Sometimes the writing takes the form of a manuscript, but sometimes I simply make notes, which I use in the pulpit. Once in a great while I trust my memory and heart enough to just stand up and deliver my thoughts!
So, how does “back then” (the text) move to “now” (the sermon for the people today)? It’s really a Holy Spirit thing. It’s hard to describe. I’ll say more about this next week, but, for now, let me illustrate how this happens by taking today’s text and showing you how I would make it into a sermon. The text is the conclusion to the familiar story of Joseph and his brothers.
First, I would re-tell the story a bit because I can’t assume that people know it, even though it was made into a Broadway musical!
Joseph is the favorite son of Jacob, who gives the lad that coat of many colors. Joseph’s jealous brothers decide to be done with him, and throw him in a pit, leaving him for dead. As luck would have it, slave traders save Joseph from the pit and take him to Egypt, where he eventually rises to become Pharaoh’s prime minister.
Meanwhile, there’s a famine back in Canaan. Jacob sends ten of the remaining eleven brothers to Egypt for food. Benjamin stays behind with dad. The brothers end up meeting Joseph, whom they do not recognize (but he recognizes them!). Joseph tells the brothers to go back to Canaan and bring back the one remaining brother, Benjamin. Joseph holds brother Simeon to make sure they come back. The brothers return with Benjamin, much to Jacob’s dismay. Simeon is freed and a royal feast is proclaimed.
Joseph plays one more trick on his brothers. He fills their sacks with grain, but secretly places his own silver cup in Benjamin’s sack. After they depart, Joseph sends his police after them. The police look through the brothers’ sacks and find Joseph’s cup in Benjamin’s. They’re all hauled back to Pharaoh’s court.
Brother Judah pleads with Joseph not to enslave Benjamin for his “crime.” After seeing that his brothers now have a conscience, Joseph can no longer continue the ruse. In one of the most dramatic moments in the Bible, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. Following their initial fear and shock, they all hug and weep for joy. Joseph assures them that all is forgiven. He holds divine providence, not his brothers, accountable for what has happened. What’s important is that they are all alive and together again. “How’s dad?” Joseph asks. “Go back to Canaan and get him!” Then there’s more hugging and weeping for joy. The brothers are brothers once again - reconciled and reunited.
What a story! And it will preach! Its themes easily translate to today. This story is about many things – all of which are just as important now as they were when they were first written down: forgiveness and reconciliation; second chances; the process of redemption; how joy can follow suffering; how broken things can be mended; how God guides people to good outcomes no matter how up and down the road there may be; and how the dead can live again (Joseph was as good as dead to his father and brothers, and then he comes back to life, a theme that should sound familiar to any Christian).
And the story’s about risk: how Jacob risks Benjamin, and the brothers risk Simeon - about how faith requires risk, believing things will go well even when they appear to be doomed. It’s about how God can turn the tables, returning dignity to those whose dignity has been taken. Like the loaves and fishes, the Joseph story is a parable of grace: God gives us not what we deserve, but what we do not - second chances, forgiveness, and the opportunity to live and love again.
Believe me, there are a lot of sermons in this old tale, for people today need forgiveness, reconciliation of relationships, encouragement in knowing that God is at work in the difficulties of life, and faith in believing that what is dead, dying, low, or despised can actually come back to life and be raised to a place of honor.
Yes - this will preach! And so will almost every story and passage in the Bible.
Next time, I will speak about the critical relationship between form and content in the art of preaching, and how Christian preaching must always reveal Jesus Christ.
For now, let me repeat Franklin D. Roosevelt’s simple but important advice about public speaking: “Be sincere, be brief, and be seated.”
Amen!
August 3, 2008
Matthew 14:13-21
Rev. Jeffrey L. Phillips, pastor
Today’s sermon is the second part of a five-part series on the topic of preaching.
Last week I defined preaching and its purpose, saying that preaching is simply proclaiming the Good News. I said that the sermon can be compared to the proverbial three-legged stool, the three legs being God’s story, the preacher’s story, and the congregation’s story. Last week we addressed “God’s story,” saying that because God’s story is found in the pages of the Bible, this requires Christian preaching to be biblical preaching. Concerning the “people’s story,” I noted that the people need to be eager listeners if they hope to get anything out of a sermon.
I continue today with “the preacher’s story,” and conclude with a final word on “the people’s story.”
The Preacher’s Story
Sermons are delivered by real people called preachers, and it’s foolish to think that the personality of the preacher is not involved in the content and delivery of a sermon.
Ministers wear robes on Sundays in an attempt to symbolize that, when doing their official duties, such as preaching, they are no longer individuals with unique personalities, but representatives of God and Christ, untouched by their individual histories and characteristics. This is also why judges and justices wear robes. The idea is that when they put their robes on, they are no longer persons with individual histories and beliefs, but impartial administrators of “justice” who are immune to the things that make them the unique people they are.
This is crazy. Robes cannot hide the fact that every person is impacted by every event that has ever happened to her in her life. Preachers – and judges – bring to their work their individual histories and personalities, including their political and social beliefs. (In terms of judges and justices, all you have to do is review their rulings over time, and you will see that this is so.)
The truth is that every preacher has a story, and that story shapes the content of every sermon that preacher preaches.
By story, I mean the preacher’s personal and family history, but also the theological and political commitments he brings to this work. I mean the preacher’s race, age, sex, and every thing that has ever happened to him, as well as every influence that has ever flowed into his life: it all contributes to the sermons preached by that preacher.
And, by “story,” I also mean the preacher’s personal faith journey and relationship with God. Every preacher has a unique faith history – times in her life when she experienced God as close, and times in her life when she really struggled with God, as Jacob struggled with the angel at the Jabbok. This, too, goes into every sermon delivered by the preacher.
Preachers don’t need to talk about themselves explicitly during the sermon for their “story” to influence the sermon. It just happens – naturally. For example, if a certain preacher has experienced physical or spiritual healing in his life, you can expect that the theme of spiritual healing will be common in his sermons. How could it not?
Good preachers pour themselves into their sermons - not just their intellectual reflections on the text, but their doubts, their joys, their sorrows, their concerns, their faith, and their whole lives. This means that they also pour their biases into their sermons, and that good preachers acknowledge the limits of their knowledge and experience, as well as their prejudices. Good sermons are delivered by preachers who know that they don’t know everything, and that their judgments can be unfair and just plain wrong. Good sermons are delivered by preachers who have a humble awareness of their limits to fully understanding “the truth.”
That’s why I say that as much as sermons are based on scripture, there’s a great deal of the preacher that gets into the sermon as well. And that’s one reason why two preachers preaching on the same text will come up with two completely different sermons. All preachers are different.
And each preacher is different at different times in his life. A sermon I preached on a particular passage at the beginning of my career probably bears little resemblance to a sermon preached on the same passage today. Along the way, we preachers learn things – or we should. We grow as human beings. We grow as Christians. That’s why I don’t preach old sermons (well, very seldomly do I do that). Something that interested me about a text five years ago will probably not interest me today. Why? Because I am a different person – and the world is a different place, and the congregation I am preaching to is a different congregation! The Word must be a Word for today – not five years ago!
Related to this is the perceived character of the preacher – and the relationship between the preacher and the congregation: important factors in any sermon.
If the words coming out of a person’s mouth are to be believed, the person speaking them must be believable. Listeners must trust the speaker if her words are to ring true in the ears of the listeners. As the preacher preaches, members of the congregation are asking themselves (even if it’s subconsciously): is this preacher trustworthy? Is this a person who lives the way she speaks? Is this a person who practices what she preaches? Is this a person of integrity? If so, maybe her words can be trusted. If not, then they can’t.
This means that a lot of my effectiveness as a preacher has nothing to do with how faithful I am to the biblical text, or how well-reasoned my comments are, or how well-crafted my words are, but on how I function as a pastor when I am not in the pulpit. You see, the words of an unfaithful pastor do not ring true. If the words don’t match the moral and ethical life of the pastor, they will not be heard.
On the other hand, a good pastor can say some very challenging things in a sermon and be heard because she is a faithful pastor, providing effective pastoral care and leadership to a congregation.
Likewise, this is why preachers should never preach other preacher’s sermons – at least not without coming clean and giving credit to the other preacher. Listeners need to know that the words and ideas coming out of their preacher’s mouth are his words and ideas. This is essential to establishing a preacher’s credibility with her congregation. Only preacher who are authentic – who embody the saying “what you see is what you get” – are believable and can be trusted.
The People’s Story
God has a story. The preacher has a story. The people in the congregation also have a story.
Actually, there are many stories in the congregation, and the Good News of scripture and the passions and interests of the preacher must somehow meet and include the many stories of the people in the pews.
By “the people’s story,” I mean several things:
1. The particular theological and cultural history and character of the congregation. Every congregation is different, and a preacher better know his congregation. Are they liberal, conservative, moderate, confused? What is their educational level? Have they had good or bad relationships with previous pastors? What is the ethnic, economic, and age make-up of the congregation? What’s the mission of this congregation? What’s it all about?
2. What’s going on in people’s personal lives? What are their significant joys, concerns, doubts, and questions? The problem is that all of those things are always going on in the lives of people in a congregation. Yet, the preacher must be aware of these pastoral issues and incorporate them into the sermon (not every personal issue every week, but over time).
3. What’s going on in the corporate life of the congregation? Are they growing, declining, looking forward to something, dreading something? Have there been significant recent joys or losses in the congregation? Are they happy with themselves as a congregation? Are there tensions?
4. What’s going on in the community, nation, and world? This, too, is part of the people’s story: their social context. Are people concerned about the economy? The war? The election? The environment? Is their community growing, declining, changing, stagnating?
5. How is the congregation’s relationship with God? Is this a spiritually vital people? Is it a congregation that finds it hard to relate to God? Are they more prone to belief or skepticism?
A speaker who doesn’t know her audience is unlikely to connect with them – to know what their needs are and be able to address them. And, of course, such an audience isn’t likely to get much out of the spoken word.
One more thing about the people’s story. It’s amazing how often a preacher thinks he’s clearly communicated something to the congregation, only to have people come up to him after the sermon and say something that indicates that they got something out of the sermon he did not intend. It happens all the time!
It shows how the Holy Spirit is involved in this funny form of communication called preaching. Once the Word escapes the preacher’s mouth, it hits the listener’s ears and heart in ways that are out of the control of the preacher. The words of the sermon often trigger thoughts, questions, and associations in the minds and hearts of the listeners that take the message in directions other than the preacher intended. You can only hope and trust that the outcome is spiritually profitable for the listener!
Next time (Aug. 17) I will speak about how the loaves and fishes story we heard read today illustrates another important point about preaching, as well as talk about how sermons are constructed to connect the ancient text to the demands and problems of today.
July 27, 2008
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Rev. Jeffrey L. Phillips, pastor
Today I begin a five-part sermon series on preaching. Yes, preaching about preaching – something I’ve always wanted to do before I die or retire (whichever comes first).
Today I ask: what is preaching? Well, preaching is not just standing up and talking for fifteen or twenty minutes. There’s more to it than that!
Preaching plays a central role in the history and liturgy of both the Christian and Jewish faiths. This is especially true for Protestant Christians. Luther and Calvin, founders of churches that left the Roman Catholic Church, believed that preaching had been neglected by that church. It needed to be restored, they argued, to a place of prominence in the life and liturgy of the church. They never elevated preaching above the sacraments (baptism and communion), but they did believe that preaching was as important as the sacraments in awakening people to God’s nearness. Thus, today, we Protestants continue to have a high view of preaching, and we expect to hear a sermon in every worship service.
Both Catholic and Protestant pastors are ordained to be “ministers of the Word and Sacrament.” This is what we do. That’s why we earn the big bucks. Preaching well and administering the sacraments faithfully is at the heart of our job description. Preaching is certainly a big part of my job – and my life.
So, what is it? Preaching is proclaiming the Good News. Preaching is feeding the people with the things of God. Preaching is not a Sacrament, but it is sacramental. Like the wine and bread of communion and the water of baptism, preaching delivers to God’s people the message and reality of God’s love for all through Jesus Christ.
Preaching may be compared to the daily meals we eat with friends and family. Both sustain and nourish us on a regular basis, even though we don’t remember the details of them. Just as we will not remember exactly what we ate at any particular past meal, we will probably not remember any particular sermon we’ve heard in our lives – even the one preached last week or even today! Still, just as our daily meals provide food for body and soul, so the “sermon meal” we receive every week in worship keeps us connected with eternal things.
There are a lot of negative popular attitudes about “preaching” and “sermons.” The words suggest one person talking down to another – someone lecturing another. One often hears, “Don’t preach to me!” and “There she goes, giving one of her little sermons.” But this is not what Christian preaching is.
Christian preaching, at least in liberal or open minded churches like ours, is not telling people what to think or how to live. In mainline Protestant churches and other free churches (such as in the Baptist tradition), people who listen to sermons are under no obligation to agree with the preacher. However, they are under the obligation to think for themselves, and hopefully the sermon assists in that process.
Sermons shouldn’t be occasions for the preacher to “talk down” to people. I hope you never have to endure a preacher whose attitude is, “I have faith and you don’t” or “I have all the knowledge and you don’t.” In Christian churches (again, especially churches like ours), we all stand as equals with and under this Word. We are all learners. We all stand before this Word in celebration and gratitude for it. We are all accountable to this Word as an external Word – a gift from God to us all.
Sermons also ought not to be persuasive in tone (although some are). The purpose of a sermon should not be to change people, argue with them, or try to move them from Point A to Point B in their thinking or opinions. Sermons that try to make people “less racist” or “more sensitive” miss the mark.
The goal of a sermon is also not to provide information. A sermon is not a lecture. If it’s information you need, then go to a library or the Internet. We do not need more information in our lives; we need inspiration. A sermon is not about learning things, but growing in one’s relationship to God. As we Protestants often say, we are not saved by what we know, but by our faith in the God of Jesus of Nazareth. Sermons ought to ignite that faith.
So, again: preaching is the proclamation and celebration of the Good News of God’s love for all in Jesus Christ crucified and risen.
This series will cover the following:
August 3, 2008
Preaching: Revealing God’s grace, plenty, and love
Theology – how we understand God. Hermeneutics – the interpretive lens.
August 17, 2008
Preaching: From Text to Sermon
Sermon how-to and forms; relationship between content and form; translating from “then” to now;” applying sermons to everyday life.
August 24, 2008
Preaching: Revealing Jesus
Preaching is always Christ-centered.
August 31, 2008
Preaching: Calling People to Faithful Living
The pastoral, evangelistic, and ethical dimensions of preaching
As you can see, preaching may accomplish things, but its principal purpose is not to do anything but proclaim and celebrate the Good News. It’s as if the Good News found in scripture is so good that it simply must be shared and extended in some form. Traditionally that is a spoken form, although sermons can also be sung, dramatized, and presented in more visual ways, such as with video clips.
I also hope this series will help you get more out of the sermons you hear.
The Sermon: God’s Story, the Preacher’s Story, and the People’s Story
When I was in seminary, someone taught me that a sermon combines three “stories:” God’s story, the preacher’s story, and the people’s story. Today I only have time to cover the “God‘s story” part of this equation and a bit of the “people’s story.” Next week we’ll address the rest.
God’s Story
The story of God’s love affair with the world – God’s story – is found in many places, but for Christians, God’s story is most reliably found in scripture. Therefore, Christian preaching is always biblical preaching. A sermon is primarily a reflection on a biblical text.
Christian sermons are Bible-based because we believe that there’s Good News in there! There’s God in there, and the preacher’s job is to let God shine through the text and its interpretation. It’s not that we believe the Bible literally. In our church, we don’t. But we do believe that God’s Word is contained in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Testament, and that, if we pay attention to these texts, they can be life changing. Sermons need a foundation, and the best foundation is not an article in this morning’s New York Times, or one of Aesop’s fables, or a popular movie, or even the sacred writings of another faith. Our foundation is God’s Word found in the Bible.
The sermon deals with a particular biblical text. The sermon wrestles and comes to terms with both the surface and the below-the-surface aspects of the text. It considers the original meaning of the text (as far as that can be deciphered), as well as the history of its interpretation (and misinterpretation) in the church.
The sermon is based on the outcome of the preacher’s – and the listeners’ -serious engagement with that text. The sermon takes the text first, comes to some conclusions about it, and then applies it to the lives of the congregation. Sermons are therefore not primarily topical – addressing “issues” like war, abortion, sex, or money. A sermon is not “what Jeffrey wants to talk about today” or “what Jeffrey thinks will interest the people today.” A sermon is about God! And what we know about God comes mostly from the Bible. And we find out what the Bible has to say from serious study of it. This process allows scripture to be the external referent God intended it to be – something outside us to inspire and direct us.
In other words, sermons start with the Bible, stay with the Bible, and only finally address what the Bible means for us today. That’s why preachers must explicitly address the text in the sermon - in some sustained way. No, a sermon is not a Bible lecture, but the preacher must get inside the text with the people in order to help them understand why it is being applied the way it is.
Now, because people are often ignorant of the Bible, some simple re-telling and explaining of the text is needed in the sermon. For example, last week’s sermon was about Jacob’s ladder and Jesus’ parable of the weeds and wheat. I would never assume that people know these stories. They must be introduced and re-introduced in some way and at some point in the sermon.
Throughout my 24-year career, I have been a lectionary preacher, meaning that I have followed the texts assigned by the Revised Common Lectionary for every Sunday. The lectionary is a three-year cycle of readings observed by Catholic and mainline Protestant churches. The advantage of the lectionary is that it takes preachers and congregations to scriptures they would not otherwise visit if they had to choose for themselves what passages to use for Sunday worship. This, again, allows scripture to be the “external referent” it needs to be in order to speak a Word to the people that is not just the word of the preacher. Lectionary sermons are more likely to be based on the Bible than sermons in which the topic is chosen first, and then the preacher finds a scripture to “back it up,” a form of preaching that is dangerous because the preacher has already decided what the text says before she does the hard work of finding out what the text really says. That is why I’ve always embraced the lectionary in my preaching.
However, there are many interesting Bible passages that are not in the Revised Common Lectionary, and another thing I’ve always wanted to do before I die or retire is explore these passages. That’s what I plan to do over the next ten months – from September through June. This way, the texts will be fresh and new to me, and when the preacher explore Bible passages that are interesting to him, that enthusiasm and interest should be conveyed to the listeners, who should therefore get more out of the sermon. We’ll see!
The People’s Story
I have just one thing to say this morning that comes under this heading (we’ll do “the preacher’s story” and the rest of “the people’s story” next week).
They often say that the more you put into something the more you get out of it. This is also true about sermons. Successful sermons require eager, active listeners. A preacher can talk all day, but if the people aren’t listening – really listening – nothing is communicated, like the proverbial tree that falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it. A preacher can preach the most brilliant sermon, but if the people have already decided that they don’t need to hear the Word today, that sermon will have been preached in vain.
That’s the meaning of Jesus’ parable of the sower. The seed falls on the path and on rocky ground where, in both cases, it does not take root. Jesus’ meaning is clear: sometimes God’s Word falls on deaf ears – ears that cannot or do not want to hear it, ears that don’t think they need it, ears that do not expect to get anything out of it. Just as the seed on the path and on the rocky ground does not take root, a sermon preached to inattentive and uninterested ears will mean nothing to the owners of those ears.
“Well, I sure didn’t get anything out of that sermon!” you might hear people say as they leave church (although no one ever says that in this church, I’m sure!). But I wonder when people say that: were they listening with eager ears, ears that come to the sermon time desperate for a fresh word from the Lord?
The truth is that if your heart - and ears – truly desire something of God in a sermon, then you will get something of God out of it, even if it’s not the “best” sermon in the world. The “success” of a sermon depends as much – or even more – upon the expectation of the listener as it does upon the sermon itself.
Hearts and ears, then, need to be spiritually prepared to hear a sermon. To use Jesus’ metaphor, the soil needs to be tilled and ready for that seed to be dropped into it. A sermon has great potential to lift you up when you’re down and challenge you to act when you have decided not to act. It can bring you into God’s presence when you had thought that God was far away. But it can only do those things if the listener thinks he needs those things. And that requires spiritual preparation, and such work can only be done by the listener. If you begin to listen to the sermon with the attitude that you just can’t wait to hear what the preacher has for you today, then you will definitely get something to sustain and nourish you in your relationship with God and your daily Christian walk.
Next week: “the preacher’s story,” the rest of “the people’s story,” and preaching as revealing God’s grace, plenty, and love.
The Weeds are in Here!
Matthew 13:24-43 and Genesis 28:10-19
Rev. Janet MacLean, guest preacher
July 20, 2008
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
An image came across my desk this week inspired by our passage from Matthew this morning. It was a cartoon. Two sheep are discussing the gospel message – one is wiser than the other. This week the wiser one, David, asks Ted what he is doing with a weed-whacker. Ted replies that Jesus’ story would have gone differently with the right equipment. David exclaims: ‘Ted you are not called be a divine weed-whacker! Besides most of the weeds are in here!’ (pointing to his chest). ‘This is going to hurt me more than you’, Ted shouts as he moves the whacker toward his friend’s chest.
Most of the weeds are in here! (pointing to chest). Most of the weeds are in here!
As my family can attest, I am not much of a gardener. There are no plants in my house, my lack of attention and my cats over attention ensure any I would bring home a short lifespan. I do have a yard – a lawn which has a certain number of dandelions. I have aspirations for more than a lawn – a splash of color here or there. At the moment however, I have dirt swatches with weeds.
When I first paid attention to the green stalks along my driveway, I was surprised by how fast they grow – seemingly overnight they shoot up. And when late August arrives and my grass has started to show the wear and tear of the
I am always surprised by the interesting shape of weeds – leaves broad with curly edges or thin and spiky. I am confused by their variety and wonder hopefully if some might actually be ‘plants’. Yes, I know, weeds are plants, aren’t they?! In fact ‘weeds’ are the undesirable plants. Even though they might have roots that can be eaten – dandelions, or fresh leaves that brew lovely tea – mint, or beautiful tiny splashes of blue or white at their tips, someone somewhere has determined they are unfit for the garden. They are not fit. They are not perfect.
Our journey into perfection begins this morning with Jacob. We encounter him on the road to his mother’s family home – in search of a bride. Why? He has stolen the birthright of his twin, Esau and Esau is angry. Jacob’s mother Rebecca is worried for him and finagles Isaac into sending Jacob away to find a bride. Let me break it down: Jacob is on the run because he is a frightened thief! Hardly perfect!
Yet, in his sleep, he dreams of blessing. Yahweh stands beside Jacob, watching the angels move up and down the ladder to heaven and Yahweh promises land and descendants and glory. Even more, Yahweh promises presence: ‘Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’
When Jacob awakes, he is so moved by his encounter with the Divine, that he builds a shrine. Even in the midst of his trickery, Yahweh is not finished with him yet. Despite his imperfection, Jacob recognizes the movement of God in his life, for life.
Most of the weeds are in here! (point to chest)
And yet, even though most of the weeds are in here (pointing to chest) we are not encouraged to pull them out – Jesus tells us to let them stand – they will be dealt with later.
The story we encounter in Matthew is in the midst of a series of parables – all rooted in the farm – seeds, sowing and reaping. His listeners were well acquainted with agricultural rhythms, with weeds and wheat.
They knew that weeds will grow up amongst the wheat. They knew that the weed and the wheat were nearly indistinguishable until they ‘headed out’. By the time it was possible to tell them apart above the ground, their roots were intertwined below the ground. To pull the weed was to pull the wheat. The weed of which Jesus speaks was poisonous – causing dizziness and diarrhea. Lets make no mistake, when the field was harvested, the wheat had to be separated from the weed. This was done by hand – and while the seeds were easy to tell apart – they were tiny! Separating them, destroying the weeds was tedious and critical work.
Jesus tells his disciples that this is the work of God – separating the weeds from the wheat. It is very tempting to act the judge over someone else’s weeds – but you are not to judge, Jesus says. Only God can judge and God will judge in God’s time.
My primary work this summer is with seminarians – students who have come to the hospital to gain experience in pastoral care and to explore a bit why they do what they do. One of my students, Ben, is a gifted musician. In the second week of our program he brought his drum to chapel and played it during meditation. He also told us how important music is – his drum, his guitar, writing songs. Last week when we were planning a service for a large educational gathering, I invited Ben to accompany the congregation as we sang. It went very well, and Ben played beautifully.
This week, he told me that he was very grateful for my invitation to play – it was the first time he played his guitar in worship. Oh, I was set back – his skill is one that I long for!
Ben explained that when he prepares a sermon, or writes a song, it has to be very good – he has given up perfection, per se, but it has to be very good before he will let it stand. He works long into the night on his sermons and he does not perform his music. He is not able to share his gift. He is so aware of his weeds that he cannot see his wheat.
This is why we are to leave such judgments to God – humans are quick to condemn. Our understanding is so bound by our circumstances and frame of reference. More often than not, we judge ourselves in comparison to each other, not according to God’s yardstick. Our standards change – thanks be to God they change! Just consider what behaviors, such as slavery and apartheid, good Christians have condoned.
I am not saying that we are supposed to passively accept evil. “We must understand its root and seek to eradicate it.
What we must not do is to judge others as finally evil. It is not for us to judge who is evil and who is good. That is for God and God alone. We are given assurance by God that evil will not triumph nor exist in the coming Kin-dom. There is hope of a right ending, the weeds will be harvested first and then burnt, and the good will see God.” (Katherine Hough)
In fact the weeds that will be harvested and burned are the weeds that are in here (point to chest). Remember Jacob? He was full of weeds, as were the disciples when Jesus told them this story. Judas was a thief, James and John were fighting for top dog designation, and Peter, Peter was carrying a sword.
Weeds were in here! (point to chest)
Gramma’s story.
But God wasn’t finished with them.
“You can change your direction if you are sick and tired of the way you have been living. A narrow mind can expand. A racial bigot can make a friendly gesture. A thoughtless motorist can start controlling himself and his car. [As long as we live, there is the possibility that we will grow and change.]
We should try to be as little part of the problem as possible, and to be as much part of the solution as feasible. [But let us make no mistake, we are human]. A mixture [of good and bad] we will remain, until the last harvest is brought in.” (Donders)
Each of us is both weeds and wheat. Our job is to cultivate our wheat and let God attend to the rest.
The weeds are in here! (point to chest)
William Blake wrote:
Man was made for joy and woe
and when this we rightly know
thro the world we softly go.
Joy and woe are woven fine
a clothing for the soul divine
under every grief and pine
runs a joy like silken twine. (Wm Blake)
The weeds are in here! Don’t become so focused on your neighbor’s weeds that you forget your wheat. Remember the blessings God has showered over you, move toward them, share them, let them shine. That is all that is required. Amen.
July 6, 2008 – Independence Day Service
St. John UCC and Congregational UCC, Arlington Hts., Illinois
Rev. Jeffrey L. Phillips, Pastor, St. John United Church of Christ
Galatians 5:1, 13-14
“Freedom” is probably the American word – the word most often used to describe what America is all about. You see it on patriotic memorials and parade floats this time of year. You hear it in songs about our nation, and in countless political speeches. Yet, what is freedom?
For many, the word is reduced to this simplistic meaning: being able to think or do anything you want. For many, freedom means license.
Yesterday was a beautiful holiday weekend day on which there were many, many things a person could choose to do: parades, cookouts, swimming, carnivals, work in the yard or garden, or just sit and relax. For many, a day like yesterday is what America is all about – being free to do whatever you want, and no one can stop you.
This is what freedom means, but only partially. True freedom is more than the opportunity to choose from a hundred different opinions and activities. True freedom is not license – neither in the civil or religious sense of the word. Freedom always involves obligations and responsibilities.
In the civil sense, freedom is always comes with costs. As they say, “freedom is not free.” Some of the costs of freedom:
- Defending and improving our nation. This includes military defense, but it is more than that. It means ensuring that our nation live up to the high ideals of our Constitution, including the civil liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights. It means striving to make our land a place of equal opportunity for all, a place where democracy flourishes, and the rights of the minority are safeguarded, even as the majority rules. It means promoting the rule of law and respect for human rights, and ensuring that everyone enjoys the blessings of this land.
- Paying taxes (like it or not!)
- Serving on a jury when David Orr summons you to do so.
- Obeying the law.
- Voting.
- And, as we were all supposed to learn back in civics class: being an informed citizen – learning what’s going on, and what’s going on behind what’s going on. It means reading the Internet and the newspapers, and discussing what’s happening with fellow citizens.
You see, civil freedoms are exercised only within the context of civil responsibilities. You can’t have one without the other: freedom and responsibility.
This is true in the religious sense of the word “freedom” as well. We see this in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, often called “the epistle of Christian liberty.” Paul preached that Gentiles could become Christians without submitting to Jewish laws such as circumcision. Although Paul was himself a Jewish Christian, other Jewish Christians opposed his teaching in this regard because it seemed that Paul was discarding the Law that had made the Jewish people who they were. To them, he seemed to be allowing any kind of behavior at all from these Gentiles. Paul’s Jewish Christian opponents accused him of being a libertine.
His answer to his opponents? No! I am not saying you can do anything you want and call yourself a Christian! In fact, I’m saying that although Christians are free from the needless requirements of the Law, they are now bound to a higher ethical demand: sacrificial love of one another. This is God’s freedom through the Lord Jesus Christ – responsible freedom.
Paul is saying in Galatians 5 that we Christians may be free from the details of Jewish Law, we may be free from sin, we may be free from the divisions of nation, race, and class, but we are free from these things in order to be free to be responsible in our relationships with God and others. This is God’s kind of freedom, and it is beyond measure.
Paul makes his point using the metaphor of slavery. Christians may no longer be slaves to the Law – obeying religious rules just for the sake of obeying them. But now, because of Jesus Christ, Christians are slaves to something better and beyond measure: the worship of God, and the service of God and God’s people. Christians have exchanged one form of slavery for another.
This brings to mind the Exodus story. God sends Moses to speak to the Pharaoh, instructing him to tell the king, “Let my people go!” That’s the line we all remember from the song by the same name and the movie with Charleton Heston. But there’s more to the quote than that. God commands Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go so that they may be free to worship and serve me.”
This is God’s freedom - a freedom to love, adore and give one’s self completely to the Author of Liberty, freedom to be a slave to other people and the common good of society.
We in the United Church of Christ believe in responsible freedom - not freedom that encourages a person to believe anything he or she wants to or do anything he or she wants to do without regard for the community, but freedom that always has one aim: to serve God by building up the community and repairing the world.
There’s a great pamphlet available in the lobbies of both of our congregations. It’s called, “The United Church of Christ: Who We Are and What We Believe.” In the “What We Believe” section, the sixth paragraph is entitled, “Responsible Freedom.” I quote from that paragraph:
As individual members we are free to believe and act in accordance with our perception of God’s will for our lives, but [emphasis mine] we are called to live in a loving, covenantal relationship with one another….
I think one could argue that the United Church of Christ is perhaps the most American church, not only because we were there at the founding of our nation (and before), but because this concept of responsible freedom lies so close to the heart of who we are both as a nation and a church. We Americans and UCC members treasure this peculiar understanding that freedom means nothing if it is not used to benefit the common good.
It is fitting therefore that we gather together today as the two United Church of Christ congregations in this community to celebrate God’s gift of freedom, and to recommit ourselves to use this gift wisely.
[Pastor Rex Piercy’s comments followed.]
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