Thursday, June 27, 2013

What should a sermon be?

What should congregants expect from a sermon? Should it be entertaining? Should it keep you from falling asleep? Should it be educational? Uplifting? Spiritual? All of the above? Some of the above? Something else?

I'd like to posit that, at a minimum, a sermon should be understandable, and that I, as the listener, should be able to summarize the point of the sermon in one or two sentences.

To use a structure I've heard in the past, the person preaching the sermon should do 3 things:

  • Tell us what you're going to say
  • Say it
  • Tell us what you said
Let me give you some background on me. I've been a member of Unitarian Universalist congregations for almost 20 years. Without going into detail (you can find it at the Unitarian Universalist website) UU churches use a form of governance or organization known as congregational polity, which says that the congregation is the ultimate source of power and authority for itself. There's no higher group that exercises authority over a congregation. Unitarian Universalists aren't required to subscribe to a specific creed. Rather, UUs are expected to use the UU Principles and Sources to come to our own conclusions about what to believe or not believe.

I'll be honest - some might say I'm not a very good UU. I don't study sources of information in an attempt to determine what I believe and how I should live my life. Some would say I'm not as serious about my religion as others might expect of a UU congregant. Unitarian Universalism is very big on Social Justice, and I do spend time participating in various justice projects my churches have initiated.

Other than that, I'm a consumer of religion. I go to church most Sundays, and hope to occasionally get something out of the service - especially the sermon - that will make me an ever-so-slightly better person.

I mention being a UU because I'm guessing that it's easier for ministers that espouse a specific creed to preach sermons that are understandable. They might not always be invigorating, but if you preach about one of the commandments, it's difficult for a listener not to at least be able to summarize the point of the sermon after hearing it.

Unitarian Universalist ministers (and lay people who preach at lay-led services), on the other hand, have a virtually infinite number of topics available to them. They can be overtly religious (choose something from any of the world religions and expound on it), moral, or philosophical. A sermon can be commentary on the news, or a factual description of an individual from whom we should be able to learn. Since UU ministers have "freedom of the pulpit", the congregation can't tell the minister what to say or not say. Topics can be suggested, of course.

Because of this breadth of possibilities, I sometimes think it's sometimes more difficult for a UU minister to nail down a specific point and speak to it. Too many times, lots of ideas and thoughts are put out, without these ideas and thoughts being tied to some specific point. Or perhaps they are, and I just miss the point. But if I miss it, I suspect that there are any number of others who also missed it.

So I'm just going ask ministers (UUs and others): please tell us the point you'll be trying to make before you start. At various places in the sermon, please tell us how what you just said applies to the point. And at the end, remind us of what the point was. If I can summarize what you said in one or two sentences more often than not, I'll be very grateful.



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