This is the second blog post
about preaching without notes, but this one is more focused on preparing to preach. In the previous post, I invited preachers to take
the plunge off the high dive and preach with fewer and fewer notes as a way to
be more engaging, connected and authentic.
This post is to invite preachers
to go deeper into their preaching – into the text, into the context and into the
community. Not every sermon can be preached everywhere, but every preacher can
prepare a sermon for a specific place and time that is sensitive to the
moment and contextually appropriate.
When I helped my son learn to be
in the water as a baby, he thought the surface of the water was all there was
to it. He floated with his floaties, he splashed with his hands in the swim
ring, and he held on tightly as he rode on my back along the surface. We got
him to put his head under the water's surface once or twice and he freaked out
a bit. So for the most part he was fine above the water. As he gained more
confidence, we took him to swimming lessons and he learned the treasures of the
deeper water. He could not believe he had never experienced the "deep
end." Now he could dive into the water, swim deeper into the water, dive
for things at the bottom of the pool, and other more exciting things - like
take on the waves at the Jersey shore or boogie board on a North Carolina
beach. He was in heaven ... all because he learned to break the surface.
In preaching, too many preachers
stay on the surface in their sermon preparation, in their sermons, and in their
understanding of the listeners who will receive these sermons. They keep their
floaties on. They stay in the shallow end of the pool. They avoid the big waves
of controversial or complex texts. They splash around a lot seeming to be
making a lot of impact when all they are doing is stirring up the surface. And
they ignore the "deep end" of the text and the context. It is
unfortunate for them and very often for their listeners as well.
So first let's talk about going
deeper in sermon prep.
One of the most important parts
of the preaching process is not deciding what goes into a sermon; it is more
about deciding what needs to stay out. As preachers prepare to preach, they
should be doing biblical exegesis to learn all they can about the text, research
the circumstances of the text (author, place, time/context of writing, style of
writing, etc.), and work to find connections between the text and their
particular context (time, place, situation, congregational make-up, etc.). They
should also be considering stories that will illuminate the text for their
people. They should be pondering current events, their own lives, and the lives
of their people in relationship to preaching any given Sunday.
All of this is vital for the
process of crafting a sermon – no matter what delivery vehicle you are using.
However, the problem for many preachers is deciding what goes into the sermon
after that research. Some decide to preach what I call the "kitchen
sink" sermon. They have thrown in everything but the kitchen sink.
These types of sermons can provide a lot of historical and exegetical
information for the listeners, but might be so much more than the current
circumstances warrant.
I went to church on vacation a
few years ago and the preacher was using the Good Samaritan text for their
sermon. They spent 12 and 1/2 minutes of their 18 minute sermon telling us
about the historical circumstances of the time, describing the history of the
Jewish/Samaritan conflict, describing the road system in the area, talking
about the inn system of the day, etc. by the time they got to the story itself
-- they seemed to have lost most of the congregation, myself included. Often a
little bit goes a long way. One or two short sentences briefly describing the
context of the story would have been enough. It was a moment of too much.
Going deeper does not mean
utilizing everything you find in your exegetical process ... it means analyzing
those depths for what is necessary and important for the listener in the
context in which you preach. It means creating a message that enables people to
enter into the story without being inundated with so many facts or historical
details that do not drive the sermon toward greater connection and engagement. It
means using the relevant information you find in your exegesis in ways that are
relevant to the sermon and context.
Maybe you want your listeners to
picture a time in their faith journey when they felt alone on a road, set upon
by forces bent on destroying them, and feeling left by the side of the road ...
and were rescued by someone unexpected. In this case some visualization of the
road might be a way into the depths of the sermon. But do they need a full
history of the road systems of the day? Probably not.
Going deeper in your preaching means
making important connections between the text, the context of the day, and your
own listeners. It does not mean sharing
every tidbit of information you have discovered in your exegesis.
Edit your research and edit
yourself. Analyze the material and analyze its effectiveness in helping to
further your proclamation. That is the key in going deeper.
Sometimes preachers preach as if
this will be the only time they will ever preach on a particular text. If you preach from the lectionary or just
think you might preach a series on similar texts someday - store the research
in a file (physical or digital) so you can come back to it someday, but
remember you will need to once again analyze it for the context of that
preaching as well.
Going deeper is an important part
of sermon preparation but it does not mean pulling up and spilling out all of
the water you pass through.
Be selective, be critical, be
relevant. But still go deep.
