A quality sermon
I often wonder, during the more than 120 masses I sit through each year, why there can’t be more quality sermons. I imagine creating a sermon is difficult. As a matter of fact, this site grows out of the idea that I thought I could create a weekly sermon as good or better than the ones I’ve been hearing. I may be wrong about that, and it certainly isn;t easy to be compelling and moving on a scheduled basis. The real question is ‘what makes a quality sermon?’ Thomas J. Leonard (I have no idea who he is!) offers these Top Ten Elements of a Great Speech. I thought we could deconstruct the sermon and see what happens.
1. A proper introduction and/or self-introduction.
Many sermons fall down right here. If you don’t grab the audience, it’s hard to get them back. One of the better preacher at my church used to start with “while I was in Target the other day” or “as I stood in line at the grocery store.” This helps to humanize him, and connected the sermon immediately to us, as we thought “this might actually apply to my everyday existence.”
2. Acknowledge and touch the audience.
The preacher is a step above us all, literally and figuratively when he enters the pulpit. Somehow, a preacher needs to be sitting with us, and not above us. Otherwise the sermon is just dogmatic, and the sentiments lost on folks who can discount it with “he doesn’t understand what it’s like down here.”
3. A concise statement of purpose of the speech.
Many preachers bury the statement of purpose late in the sermon. If you front-load it, it’s heavy-handed. However, if you bury the lead too far in, we never get it. The drone has become too loud, and we can not be called to attention to hear the most important statement of all. A clever or moving anecdote followed by our statement of purpose brings it home. Say it a few times. It helps.
4. Acknowledge and honor the audience’s resistance and doubts about your topic/purpose or about you.
A good preacher knows just how to make us all feel in the same boat. “I know you have bills to pay, I know you have mouths to feed, I know the economy is hurting us all, but God’s work is even more important today then ever! Men and women are struggling to meet their obligations, and they need our help. Heaven knows that it might someday be us in need. I would come to the community just the same to ask on your behalf. Be there for your neighbors.” Find a man not reaching for his wallet, and I’ll show you a deaf man.
5. Create a sense of urgency.
Why is this important to me? I’m a pretty good guy. I don’t have to be that much different in my day-to-day life. Often the story is of some person who had a life changing event and can no longer do what is needed. The man killed after a fight with his wife. The father whose daughter runs away, and he realizes he’s never told her how much he loves her. The son who gets a girl pregnant because his family was too embarrassed to bring up sex. These stories create an urgency, a “don’t let this happen to you” vibe.
6. Present the solution.
There is a lot of thought and reflection required in religion. Thought and reflection are easy to postpone. People need actions that they can enact that will create the change sought. Sure, it would be great if we were all holy and virtuous, thoughtful and community-minded. We’re not. Being faithful is difficult for many of us. We need to be led. We need to be told what to do. Those who do should be kind enough to say QUIETLY to themselves that they already do these things, and be encouraging to those who don’t. Too often preachers aren’t prescriptive for fear of offending those who don’t need prescriptions.
7. Make your specific points, the steps needed and the obstacles to reaching the objective.
Walk me step by step through the process. “If he were to have done this, then that, then the other thing, he might have made it work.” If it sounds simple and accessible, I can do it.
8. Share or draw a conclusion.
Now we need to take the whole thing and sum it up. Remind me of why I need this. Let me know that this is not just about what is right, but how my ever-living soul benefits from this. Tell me how this is better for you, me, my family, and my faith.
9. Ask for something: action, willingness, a change, support.
You can leave church with the idea that the changes asked of you are so far beyond your control or grasp that you can’t manage it today- it will have to be for another day. A good sermon gives us something to do right now. “Go home and sit with your children, and tell them how you feel.” There should be a long-range plan, but we need to be aware of the first step, and we need to know that it has to happen- now.
10. Q&A or a fresh statement of the speech.
In my opinion, this comes at the end of the service. The sermon is buried mid-service. We need to be sent out the door with our marching orders. The last thing I hear needs to be your call to action. Remind me before I go to get it done now.
The best sermons I’ve heard have often been from non-priests. Rabbis, Ministers and deacons. People who, in my opinion, lead lives more closely related to those of their parishioners. They can marry. They can have children. While they are still religiously ‘above’ where we are, their status as family men and women puts them one step closer to ‘us’ on the ladder.
