Preaching Habits

 

There have been in recent years several significant books on the dynamic of habits. I have read much of the literature on this topic and watched several YouTube videos that show both the benefits of habits and the downside of habits. I would like in this blog to apply some of this to our preaching. 

Habits that Help

Right up front, we should acknowledge that we clergy have formed some significant habits around how we prepare our sermons. For example, I keep an illustration file that contains material and stores from different sources that I may use at an appropriate moment in a sermon. I draw these from wherever I can find them. In recent years this has included items from the internet. Mostly in my early days of preaching, these were from books or articles. Occasionally, I borrow from other preachers. When I do this, I cite the source. I was once disturbed by hearing a preacher use an story from The Anglican Digest that I had read the past week. It was disturbing because he made it first person, as if it was his experience. Of course, this is plagiarism. As one of my teachers once said, “Stealing sermons is like stealing shoes. It’s wrong!”

Another habit that I have developed over the years is doing my research on the lectionary readings on Mondays and start writing the sermon (or outline) on Thursday. I always do my final version of my sermon on Saturday. For many years, I also had a habit of reviewing the Gospel readings for the next season of the Church Year. This became even more necessary with the three-year lectionary. In my last decade of full-time work, I would just review my notes from past studies. In other words, sometimes our habit help us. 

I mention all this because they illustrate habits that help me prepare for preaching better. I have known a couple of Presbyterian preachers who prepared an outline of sermons for the next year. I cannot imagine doing this. However, my sermons have both a title and a descriptive sentence (often called a “sermonic sentence”), and I keep these in order from Advent though Pentecost. That way, I can look back on my last year and see if a particular form or theme has been overused. 

 On the other side of the preaching event is another habit that some of you have discovered. It is to periodically ask your congregation for feedback.  Providing a structured way for people to give such feedback is a habit that many clergy have found helpful. The topic of helpful habits for preparing a sermon is one that could be shared in a discussion group with other preachers. 

Unhelpful habits We Should Avoid

The top of my list would be using the same form for every sermon. As I have mentioned elsewhere in my blogs, I learned the need to vary the form of my sermon from Fred Craddock in his classic text “Preaching.” 

In speaking of the forms of oral communication available to a preacher, this is what he says. “The forms of which we speak are and have been for centuries the common store of writers and public speakers. In other words, these structures have demonstrated repeatedly that they can carry the burden of truth with clarity, thoroughness, and interest, and therefore, have come to be regard as standard.” 

Then he lists eight these. He uses descriptive terms and not those of classical rhetoric.

  What is it? What is it worth? How does one get it?

   Explore, Explain, Apply

   The Problem, the solution

   What it is not, what it is

    Either/or

    Both/ and

    Promise, fulfillment

    Ambiguity, clarity

    Major premise, minor premise, conclusion

    Not this, nor this, nor this, nor this, but this

    The flashback (from present to past to present)

    From the lesser, to the greater 

Then he observes, “No small amount of biblical, theological, and pastoral instruction, encouragement, and urging can be framed on these forms with a minimum of distortion, reduction, or dullness.” (Preaching, pg. 177) He is right! In my sermon note pad, I keep a list of these forms and during preparation I ask, “Which of these forms will best communicate this sermon?” I find that if I don’t remind myself of these variations, I tend to overuse two or three of them. I find that many preachers do not even try to vary their form. Like the torture bed of mythology, we arbitrarily make every message fit our favorite form. 

The Most Overused Form

I have no doubt which of the above forms is used and overused by too many Episcopal Clergy. It is the “Explore, Explain. Apply” method. I call this the Seminary of the Southwest Form because I worked in the Diocese of Texas for almost 10 years, and it was the form most used by their graduates. They have developed a form for their sermons and their habit of using it over and over makes preaching predictable and sometimes boring. I also observe that over time the applications tends to be too overused. We need to remember that even the most profound truths repeat time and time again become cliches. 

Another over used form comes from 19^th century preaching and is essentially a written form. I was once on the staff of a large Episcopal Church. The Rector was conscientious in putting together his sermons. Unfortunately, he had learned to use a common 19^th century form. It was Introduction, 3 points, and a conclusion/application. I once asked him why all his sermons had 3 points. He observed that they could have less or more, but that the 3-point division was easy for him to build upon. What he did not observe was how his congregation had learned his form. If he took to long for his first point, people began to look at their watches. He had become predictable. 

Another Rector of a large church said he used the 3-point sermon because 3 points were all his people could remember. It made for what he called “a logical progression.” I have the same dislike for the 3-point sermon used constantly as I have for those clergy who have told me that they only preach for 10 minutes because “that is the limit of how long people will listen.” When I teach preaching, I share that time is a secondary value in a sermon. Then I add that a 10-minute sermon that is bad is 9 minutes too long. 

The habit of using the same form all the time is a bad one no matter what that form may be. Besides, why not take the great insight from Craddock. Why not use a form of preaching that best fits the text before us. Trust me, people will listen and will be able to follow and remember. He also observes that another positive use of these forms is variety. Develop the habit of asking, “What oral form would best serve the message of this text and the message of my sermon?” 

For example, recently the lectionary had what I consider the singular hardest passage for Episcopal clergy to preach. The pagan widow pleads for Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus responds with “Is it right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs?” I read and listened to several attempts by Episcopal preachers to deal with this text. I noted that all used the Explore, Explain, Apply method. And what did they explore? In this story Jesus sounded cruel. If he said this to the widow, he may even have been racist, but he was certainly heartless. They went on to explain basically that Jesus would never have said such a thing. Obviously, the problem for our clergy is that the story does not fit our 21^st century view of Jesus. It did not allow him to be (a) human, (b) someone who could be astonished, (c) confrontational, and most of all (d) Jewish. A better form would have been the one intended by the gospel writer, “Not this, not this, but this!” I think a better message from this story is “Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, was astounded to find faith were his people never expected it to exist. We Christians can find too that faithfulness isn’t only the prerogative of God’s chosen people!” 

Use of a Narrative is an Underrated Habit

If you want a suggestion for a more effective and usable form, I suggest Narrative with the use of elaboration, teaching and illustrations. Recently, I joined my fellow 8 0’clockers at Grace and heard an excellent sermon using just such a form on the parable Jesus told of the two sons. As you remember. one said “no” to working in the vineyard but later repented.  The second son said “yes” but did not go. Our preacher started in the right place. Staring at us she asked the question that led Jesus to share this parable. “By what authority do you preach?” She noted, it was a fair question by those appointed to authority themselves. Her ending drove home her point. When we speak God’s truth, the words contain their own authority, just like John the Baptist and Jesus! 

Summary: In learning to Preach Better, there are habits that help and habits to avoid. Building on the good habits makes us a stronger communicator of the Gospel. Avoiding bad habits, makes us a more interesting and effective preacher.

Develop Your Preaching

Underscoring the difference between oral communication and written communication is important in preaching. Improving our oral communication is an important skill for any preacher. 

In this blog, I want to share how my own preaching developed. Your preaching should develop in your own way given your own personality and preferred style. But avoid arriving at your own comfortable way of preaching. Learn to stretch yourself. People will thank you. 

Why this is a Pivotal Time for Preaching?

Most historians agree that the Protestant Reformation was directly connected to the invention of the printing press. Some even suggest that written communications revolutionized the whole of Western culture. But today, our society is becoming increasingly more visual. Hence the rules of oral communication also work better because oral communication is most effective when it paints a picture for people. 

What I was Taught and What I learned

At my seminary, the assumption in both the preaching classes I had was that a sermon was something we wrote. That was modelled for us by almost all my professors. The most glaring exception was the Dean in my last year. Dean Allen was an entirely oral communicator who never used notes and extensively used story, narrative, and illustrations in his preaching. Several of my professors let us know that his “wasn’t normal” and to try an avoid this. After all, as theologically trained people, we wanted to be theologically and biblically precise. I would add that even if we were wrong, we still needed to be precise, but perhaps I am being unfair. 

So, I went forth with text in hand for all my preaching opportunities. I guess because my personality type was more intuitive, I often felt that my text stood between me and the congregation. It often did not feel natural to the way I spoke or even taught classes. The sermon seemed forced even when I thought the content was good. I often heard “nice or interesting sermon.” Since I grew up in the South where the words nice and interesting are not necessarily complements, I didn’t like this feedback. 

Preaching is after all a form of Communication. 

The first change for me was when I began to read more books on communications in general. In these, the main points were often about communicating better. My training had been on communicating more accurately. One phrase I found in a book in the late 80s on creating presentations stuck with me. It was called I Can See You Naked. (I think today it’s in its 30th edition!) The author used short chapters, illustrations, and practical advice, hence, modeling what he was teaching. One chapter was titled Lectern or No Lectern. The author said no lectern because lecterns reminded people of pulpits and “we all know how boring preaching is.” From this communication book, I resolved to never bore people again! 

There it was the unspoken truth in many churches. Preaching was often boring. It was in this book that I was first confronted with the idea that oral communication was different than a lecture or sermon which were often written and hard to follow. This is a point that Fred Craddock reminded his students about throughout his text Preaching. But it would be several years before I discovered Craddock. I hope you have discovered him. I was the beneficiary of hearing him on tape and then at live workshops on two occasions. 

My question and quest became what was I to do? The idea hit me that most PowerPoint presentations for example could produce notes and these notes make for excellent outlines. So, I moved to experimentations with outlines instead of a written pulpit sermon. I still wrote a sermon (I still do at times) but now I converted them into outlines for preaching. 

You know, typically something like this:

1: A Introduction

1: B The Text repeated

2: A Who wrote this and why 

I meant well, and it worked better. But I remember the day I looked down at my outline while preaching and I had written 3:a Walmart illustration. I paused and looked again and said to myself, “What the hell does that mean?” When I figured it out later, I discovered the two-fold problem. “Walmart” didn’t bring back the illustration and the illustration didn’t really follow the point I had been making that well. It was just an interesting illustration. 

Discovering a Narrative Outline? This led me to more research and one day I discover the term “Narrative Outline.” Maybe you use this yourself. A narrative outline doesn’t have numbers or titles like a formal outline. It has the NEXT SENTENCE you intend to say. So, when I finished my point, I would look down and see, “This reminds me of a run in I had with an angry shopper at Walmart.” The first sentence did two things. At first, it made preaching easier. I often still use a narrative outline for sermons. However, over time I noticed something else. Shouldn’t the point of my last paragraph naturally lead me to the next sentence? 

The reason the Walmart story didn’t come naturally is because often this next sentence was a change rather than building on what had come before. Today, I carry a narrative outline into the pulpit but by the next service, I do not need it. Often when I review my outline on Saturday night, I find that some point doesn’t really fit. I thought when I wrote it, it did. But now with some space I see that it doesn’t fit. So, I take it out. 

I call this the pruning stage when I lecture on preaching. I point out that this pruning almost always strengthens my message. I have heard lots of sermons that could use such pruning. As you can see, preaching from a text often doesn’t help you see that your points aren’t organically hanging together. A narrative outline often makes it obvious. 

Okay confession time, some illustrations are just too good to take out, but at least I am forced to admit why it is there. The danger with this, of course, is that the illustration is so good, people often remember the illustration and forget the point of the sermon. This is NOT good communication and blaming it as the Holy Spirit is a dodge. 

In my next blog, I want to build on one of Fred Craddock’s tremendous insights about the relationship of a sermon to its text. 

Let me close by asking, are you developing as a preacher? I am 77 and I still read books on preaching and communication. I like to think that old dogs can learn.

 

 

  

Preaching Better: Helpful Hacks

 

I have been listening to sermons by mostly Episcopal Clergy for over 52 years. I have also taught preaching at seminaries and in numerous workshops. And of course, I have preached many sermons. Often, I find some common mistakes we make that contribute to making listening to our sermons difficult for our members. Here are a few things that I have discovered, used, and recommend to our clergy who want to be more effective preachers of the word. 

Remember that sermons are oral communications. One comment that I often hear from our clergy is that they would never get into the pulpit without a manuscript in front of them. When I hear this, I say something like “that’s fine as long as you don’t read it to your congregation.” What is wrong with reading a sermon? 

The point here is that the rules of oral communication and the rules for written communications are different. The oral communicator has the advantage of eye contact, of allowing voice inflection to underscore a point, and of using body motions and expressions to communicate.  Written communications use a different set of assumptions. 

For example, writing allows for more precise language, and I often think that such preachers are communicating more with their seminary professors than with the folks in their pews. It also allows the reader to gaze back in the text to remember the thread of thought. This doesn’t work in oral communication. This is why many written sermons sound like essays. I recommend to such preachers who really prefer this method to consider adding printing out the sermon for their congregations or sending them out as emails. 

I once met a pastor from Korea that had a congregation of over 10,000 members. He told me that his sermons went out to his members the week before he preached them and then the small groups in his congregation discussed them after he preached them. Most of us Episcopal folks don’t have the discipline to do such work, but then we don’t have 10,000 members who pay us to primary preach. I should mention that was a Presbyterian and his sermons were longer than 20 minutes.  My point is that he used the written form to enhance his oral communication. If you use a text, try this to enhance your effectiveness. 

Why All This Matters.  To further drive home the importance of the difference in oral and written communications, I point out to manuscript preachers that just about the best compliment they will get goes, “Gee Father (or Mother) you preached that sermon just like you weren’t reading it!” Bishop John Coburn was the only Episcopal preacher I’ve heard that always used a manuscript but never seemed to read it. I asked him once about this. His response was telling. He said he would never be comfortable in a pulpit without a text, but then he added that of course he memorized the sermon before he preached it. 

I recommend Preaching Without Notes by Joseph Webb as a wonderful book to underscore this difference and to show ways that manuscript preachers can bridge toward more effective oral communication. For example, he reminds his students that if you have a story or narrative in your text, it is easy to look up and tell the story. Like any good story or joke, they have a beginning, middle, and ending. Often the ending has a unique twist to it. This draws people more into the communication process.  

In a recent Podcast on changing peoples’ minds, the speaker, also a writer, shared that research shows that narratives and stories are much more effective in opening people up to new things while rhetorical arguments tend to only reinforce people in their opinions and attitude as a natural internal resistance and pushback to what they are hearing. Have you won any political arguments lately? Probably not by arguing.  

One last thing on oral communications, most of Jesus’ sermons and teachings were narrative and stories. Well, who wants to preach like Jesus? 

And Illustrations Matter!  I have heard and read several teachers on preaching who tend to treat illustrations as “superficial.” This seems to suggest that illustrations are nice but more like fluff compared to didactic material. Contrary, I have found that our listeners often need an effective illustration to drive home the message and make it memorable. Good preachers I know keep files of illustrations to use at appropriate moments. They know that if you can’t illustrate it, it may not be as insightful as you think. 

But what do I mean by “effective illustrations?” First, I mean that an illustration should be directly related to the point you are illustrating. This takes time and thought which by the way is why I seldom write or create a sermon on Friday or Saturday. I prefer my study and first outline be done on Monday. Then I ferment and finally I edit and create the final outline. More on outlines in my next blog. 

Second, I greatly appreciated Bruce Thielemann’s insight that there are some illustrations that are particularly effective at speaking to our listeners’ cultural understandings. One example from historic American culture is what he calls “the myth of the wisdom of country folks verses the foolishness of city folks.” 

A guy from Houston gets in his sports car and takes a road trip to East Texas. He goes down a freeway, then turns on a county road, and finally follows a gravel road till he gets to a farmhouse where the farmer is sitting on his front porch. He spins his convertible to a stop and says to the farmer, “Hey old man, have you lived here all your life?” The farmer thinks for a moment and responds, “Not yet!” 

Such a story makes even city folks laugh at themselves. Thielmann lists five of these cultural examples that I’ve used often. It is worth reading his notes on preaching. He is my favorite preacher of all time. 

Let me close this first blog on preaching hacks with an insight that has helped me when it comes to illustrations.  I read an article back in the early 2000s about “younger” people. By this the author mean “people younger than 40.” I was 58 at the time. He wrote that the average American under 40 years of age have seen 98 movies for each book they had read. I tried this out on folks at the Cathedral. I stopped using books as a reference in sermons and started using movies whenever I could. This got immediate positive feedback especially from parents who told me that their children paid a lot more attention when I mentioned Star Trec or The Lord of the Rings. I noticed the parents did too. My rule is to never mention a book when a movie would work better for our listeners. And even if your congregations are bell-curve 65, even we watch movies. (For NCIS fans, I call this the Tony Principle. 😊) Everything you need to know to illustrate is found somewhere in a movie!

In my next blog, I will share how I transformed preaching that I learned in seminary into more effect oral communications.