What The Blues Teaches Us About Preaching
Some have said that I spend too much time writing about “style.” These individuals say that what is important is not the “style” but the “content.” They argue that one of the greatest problems with much African American preaching is spending too much time worrying about the style.
This is a very good Question. It is too bad that there is not a universal answer. It is highly dependent on where you preach. For example, there are some contexts where preaching longer than 20 minutes may cause people to start fidgeting. There are other contexts where the people would feel cheated if you only preached for 20 minutes. While there is no universal answer to the question, there are some principles to keep in mind.
How Long to Preach Read More
Frank Thomas, in his important book They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God: The Role of Celebration in Preaching writes:
Exegeting the Text for Relevant Preaching Read More
One of the problems that often rears it’s head in African American worship is when celebration is abused. Martha Simmons referred to this dynamic among some whoopers as the “dark side of Whooping.” This is when the power of whooping is used to mask a preacher who has not done his or her work to provide a solid presentation.
When Celebration Goes Bad Read MoreHere we provide an example of putting a partial sermon together quickly. The method can easily be expanded to create a full sermon.
Quick Sermon Example Read More
Gardner Taylor writes:
The Preacher’s Dilemma – Preparation or Trust Read MoreThe heart of the preacher’s dilemma is how to trust God wholly and at the same time to prepare diligently…Most of us discover that sermons are born of a mysterious romance between preparation and inspiration.
William Willimon continues to challenge my preaching and preaching training in his helpful work The Intrusive Word. He writes on page 73:
Preaching as an Asault Against the Obvious Read More
Walter Brueggemann writes in the book Testimony to Otherwise: The Witness of Elijah and Elisha an page 5:
Constructing a Community Read More
1 Corinthians 13:11 states, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” The other day, I reflected on two preachers. Both were considered great preachers during their college years. One preacher used to put together pieces of the “shouting portions” of other preachers and parlayed that into many speaking engagements. However, over the years, his preaching has gotten much more sophisticated. He continued to work on his preaching.
A Tale of Two Preachers Read More
Marva Dawn in her helpful work A Royal “Waste” of Time writes
Many of the bad decisions that are made about worship touch only the surface needs of our society and not the hidden influences or powerful forces that make true worship both difficult and essential.
Surface Needs or Deeper Needs Read More
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:
Preaching for Healing or a Cure Read More
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.
Ben Bacon asks an interesting question in the comment section of the post “What’s Missing from Your Preaching.” He writes:
Engaging the Society Read MoreGreat 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?