Kathy Black provides a helpful distinction in her book A Healing Homiletic: Preaching and Disability. She speaks of the difference between what she terms “Cure” and “healing” on pages 50-51. She writes:
Category: blog
Should I Write a Draft of my Sermon?
Preachers who preach from a full manuscript have no choice but to answer yes to the question. However what about those of us who preach from an outline or from even fewer notes? Must we prepare a full manuscript? This is a good question. I think that the benefits of preparing a full manuscript whether you use it or not far outweigh the liabilities. I want to describe a few of the benefits.
You Spend More Time on Rhetoric
Engaging the Society
Ben Bacon asks an interesting question in the comment section of the post “What’s Missing from Your Preaching.” He writes:
Great observations, Sherman. Our social structures and customs are not the same as when the biblical writers first penned the Bible. In a way, all preaching engages the culture because of the unique nature of the scriptures themselves. What principles would you encourage for engaging/critiquing your own culture in a sermon? What place does it hold in the sermon itself?
Responses about the Prosperity Gospel
We don’t get many comments on SoulPreaching.Com. However this post on the prosperity Gospel has elicited a number of interesting ones that I didn’t want the readers to miss. The original article can be found here: http://shermancox.wpengine.com/prosperityfalse.
A Deeper Joy
Dr. Michael Williams wrote:
Preaching from the Margins
The Jazz Theologian has just written an article for reflection. The article is entitled “Marginal Christianity.” In that article, Robert Gelinas uses Dr.
The Prosperity Gospel’s False Promise
Marvin McMickle, in his work Where Have All The Prophets Gone writes about one of the biggest heresies that has grabbed hold of the church. This one is the idea that Christians are some how immune from suffering, sickness, or pain.
Understanding The Struggle
Some preachers preach a message that demonstrate that they are disconnected from the pressures and pains of the lives of their congregants. No doubt being a pastor has unique challenges, but some preachers are not able to translate their own struggles into something that can be useful to the congregation.
Preaching an Old West Theology
William Willimon in The Intrusive Word writes that “We ought to preach as if we were opening a package that could be packed with dynamite.” By that he means that we should expect dislocation, surprises, and jolts. Too often we package our sermons in a neatly finished package where we know all the answers and God always acts the way we expect. We create a world in the sermon that is much unlike our own world.
Good Always Wins?
The Power of God is not Theory
Olin P. Moyd writes in The Sacred Art: “The power of God is not Theory. The power of God is action.” What Moyd is getting at is that when we preach about the power of God, it is important not to turn it into a theory. I remember when I was taking Calculus in college.
Two Tips That Will Improve Your Preaching
There are many things that you can do to improve your preaching. However there are two specific things that will help others understand what you are attempting to say in the sermon. The first of these is to shorten your sermon.
Shorten Your Sermon
Our Great Temptation
One of the greatest temptations preachers face is not to teach hell fire and obedience. Neither is it necessarily to preach a grace that does not lead to and is devoid of obedience. Some might argue that it is to preach an individualistic gospel without any repurcutions for our corporate living. Others might say that it is to totally ignore individual piety as an important category for theological reflection.
Preaching What People Want to Hear
Our Main Task as Preachers.
William Willimon writes on page 129 in The Intrusive Word:
Our main task is not to be entertaining, or interesting, or thoughtful in our preaching. Our task is to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them … and teaching them.
What to Remember for Special Day’s Preaching
This past week a customer purchased a few of my books and wanted some sermon consultation on an upcoming sermon. He was to preach for an education day program. As we progressed in the steps of my own sermon creation methodology I emphasized a few points to my student.