The Reformed Blacks of America Blog has a post up on the community of care created by Alcoholics Anonymous groups. One seminary student said to the author:
“Michael, I felt more accepted and received amongst that group of individuals than I do my own church family.â€Â
The very interesting Blog Unashamed Workman has a post up on systematic sermon listening. The author notes that he listens to a lot of sermons, but has not systematically listened to sermons. Now he has compiled a list of sermons that will take him all the way through the Book of Genesis.
“Higher Compensation for Musicians” is the third trend that Martha Simmons wrote about in the African American Pulpit Spring Edition of 2007.
Now we continue our look in the I would encourage all to subscribe to the African American Pulpit Spring Edition of 2007. As noted before, that issue is dedicated to discussing 21 trends in the contemporary Black church.
I would encourage all to subscribe to the African American Pulpit and especially purchase the Spring Edition of 2007. That issue is dedicated to discussing 21 trends in the contemporary Black church.
Henry Mitchell notes that these two features of Black Preaching Style are not as dominant as other ones. Mitchell notes that aphorisms are common in all traditions of preaching, but aphorisms or “clever, pithy statements.”
In the Class Preaching in the Black Tradition, I saw one of my classmates, Rev. John Cox, with a hand held computer. I saw he had a hand held Bible in one hand and one of those computers in the other. He was punching things into it. I asked him after class, what is that computer?
As we continue our series on Black Preaching Style, Henry Mitchell notes that a slower rate of vocal speed is usually used when presenting Black sermons. He notes that there are those who do have rapid fire delivery. Dr. Frederick D.
Henry Mitchell states: “Real soul preaching demands rhetorical flair” in the book Black Preaching: The Recovery of a Powerful Art. He also states: “The flow and phraseology of the King James Version will never die in America while Black Christianity stays Black.”
Black preaching demands not just saying what you want to say, but the way in which you say it. The preacher should use “rhetorical flair” to aid the presentation of the gospel through the sermonic event.
As Henry Mitchell notes in his book Black Preaching: The recovery of a lost art, African American preachers often engage in a sermon that is “story telling.” sometimes they even change into the character that they are preaching and preach a first person story.
Call and Response is one of the central components of Black preaching. The congregational participation is so important that many preachers subconsciously pause to leave room for the congregation to respond.
Black preachers sometimes use the sound of words to make a rhythm. Sometimes this might be a pause for breath. Sometimes the very taking of the breath will make a noise that is a part of the rhythm. Sometimes even the organist joins in with the rhythm.
Brian Mavis has an article up on sermon title creation at this link. Mavis illustrates the importance of title by noting that the same book under different titles have had much different sales figures. Titles are very important. With that in mind one wonders why so little is written in homiletics texts on this subject. While I am by no means an expert, i have written on the subject in a few posts on this particular site.
