Two kinds of sermons that are difficult to hear

“One must not forget that there are two kinds of preaching difficult to hear: poor preaching and good preaching.” 

- Fred Craddock, Preaching, 65.

"I Have a Dream" turns 50 today.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It would be more accurate to call it a sermon.

Time Magazine's latest issue is dedicated to remembering this historic American moment and does an excellent job of allowing participants of the march to tell their stories. The issue is worth picking up. Reading it, I was struck by how many of the participants understood the march in the context of their faith.

Jerome Smith, one of the Freedom riders, recalled "It was a procession of church. It was never, ever a march. It was a congregation that was answering the call."

I learned that at a particular moment in the speech, King began to struggle with his material, material that had been assembled by a committee of people. It wasn't until King heard from behind him the voice of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson saying, "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin. Tell 'em about the dream" that King set aside his prepared text and transformed this speech into a sermon.

As Martin set aside his notes, one of his speech writers, Clarence Jones, turned to the person next to him and said, "These people don't know it, but they're about ready to go to church."

Indeed. Among the many things Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us that day is the often forgotten truth: a good sermon can turn the world upside down.

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There are many great biographies of MLK. The only one I know of that focuses on his preaching is Richard Lischer's The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America. I found the book fair in its treatment of Martin Luther King as an actual human being and not simply a non-human icon of some sort. It is also an excellent look into the rich history of African American preaching in our country.

Will Willimon's sermon, "Together..."

Together ... from St. Luke's UMC on Vimeo.

This sermon was preached at St. Luke's UMC Gethsemane Campus (Houston, TX) on January 8, 2012. Find more from St. Luke's at their vimeo site here.

Be Alive! Pay Attention! Follow Jesus!

Chuck Campbell talks about the presence of good preaching and the importance of living a life apart from one's preaching. Thanks to the folks at www.workingpreacher.org for another good video clip.

Friday Links: What is good preaching?

Amy Butler, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., asks the question: What is good preaching?  I like her answer. You can find more from Amy at her blog Talk With the Preacher.

CBF Oklahoma had their Fall Gathering back on October 15, 2011, but the videos from that day have just made the web (thanks to Bruce Prescott).  Preston Clegg, Meredith Stone, Kyndall Renfro, and Lavonn Brown preached on the four freedoms (Church, Bible, Religious, and Soul). The sound on the video isn't great, so you'll need to be in a quiet spot to listen, but the sermons are good.

Preston's sermon is especially inspiring for the the preacher working in a local church. His opening illustration, "The corner of Benton and Plumb," did everything an opening illustration should do. It hooked me into the sermon and had me contemplating the truth of his main point without even realizing that he had gotten me to do some deep thinking. Preston and I were at Truett Seminary at the same time, it's no surprise to see him doing so well. I've included his sermon below. The actual sermon starts around the 4:30 mark.

Preston Clegg on Church Freedom from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Willimon on the God Who Gathers In

"Gather Them In" from St. Luke's UMC on Vimeo.

Brevity and Boldness: A word from Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, Jr.

Great word on brevity and boldness from Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, Jr. Favorite line, "A bad sermon can be forgiven if it's short. A good sermon can lose its way if it's too long."




found on www.workingpreacher.org

Episodic, narrative, or something else? Thomas Long explores the current state of preaching in America.

If you follow homiletic discussions, you know that over the last fifty years, narrative preaching has been the main form of preaching taught in mainline seminaries. This is primarily the result of the New Homiletic pioneered by Fred Craddock, David Buttrick, Eugene Lowry, and Henri Mitchell. The reach of their influence has extended even into evangelical circles. Haddon Robinson, by his own admission, has moved towards more narrative preaching in his sermons. In fact, I think at this point, Robinson ranks as one of the premier narrative preachers.

Within the last few years, there has been a growing consensus that narrative preaching is on the wane. There is, however, no consensus on what comes next. Here, Tom Long offers his thoughts. He touches on the advantages and disadvantages of both narrative preaching and another popular form of preaching, what he calls episodic, and what comes next. I find his critique of narrative preaching insightful. The problem is not so much with narrative preaching but with the fact that we live in a society that may no longer think in narratives. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts as well on where preaching is headed.

Five quick suggestions for making this week's sermon better

Jim Martin over at God Hungry blog gives five suggestions for better preaching. They're good. Check them out here.

Learning through imitation: A comment worthy of a post

Yesterday, my friend, Eric, left this comment on my post about listening to other preachers. It reminded me of something Augustine wrote, "The fact is, given a bright and eager disposition, eloquence will come more readily to those who read and listen to eloquent speakers than to those who pore over the rules of eloquence." I liked Eric's comment so much I wanted to give it its own post so that it might get the attention it deserves. I'm going to give this a try very soon. I'll let you know how it goes.

"Research a friend of mine has done shows that repetitive listening to good sermons can enhance the listener's ability to understand and imitate vocal inflection and delivery pace, among other things. He requires his seminary students to choose a sermon (from a provided list) and listen to it over a period of three weeks. Week 1: 3 times consecutively three days in a row. Week 2: 2 times consecutively three days in a row. Week 3: 1 time three days in a row. This is based on the Suzuki music method."

Barbara Brown Taylor - Sacramental Sky

This is a Lenten Sermon that Barbara Brown Taylor preached at Duke Chapel last year. The sermon starts at 30:10 and lasts about seventeen minutes. I listen to a lot of sermons and this one is in my top three. The move she makes at the 38:50 mark, speaking of Abraham's eyes, and the way she returns to that image at the end of the sermon in a way that involves the listener is nothing short of brilliant. I'm blessed everytime listen. I pray you will be as well.

- The Short Preacher

Haddon Robinson on Preaching from WorkingPreacher.org