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How Many Basic Sermon Types?


glintofpewter

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Interesting response from a pastor

 

If the preacher uses the Scripture as a "jumping off place" then she will preach the same sermon every time. "Every preacher has only one sermon,"

If the sermon is an exploration of the Scripture then there will a variety of sermons which may fall into a list of themes.

 

Dutch

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That's an interesting observation. I can't really make broad general statements about something like that, for my actual 'church experience', and therefore paster/sermon experience is very limited, but, even at that, I have observed that in a few preachers I have had occasion to hear preach at least a few times, some have seemed to preach the same sermon, the same theme, over and over,no matter of differently they might try to context it. I don't know that I would have thought of it in just those words, but that does sum it up.

 

Jenell

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If the preacher uses the Scripture as a "jumping off place" then she will preach the same sermon every time. "Every preacher has only one sermon,"

If the sermon is an exploration of the Scripture then there will a variety of sermons which may fall into a list of themes.

 

Dutch, I am not clear on what the pastor meant by this. Since the scriptures are quite diverse and represent many different perspectives, I can't see how this would lead to "only one sermon." I must be missing a key point.

 

GEorge

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Since the scriptures are quite diverse and represent many different perspectives, I can't see how this would lead to "only one sermon."

George, You are assuming that the preacher will listen to the Scripture and how it intersects with his congregation today.

 

There is a series of animated stories of the Bible made by NEST. They were not perfect and I never showed the story of Abraham going up the mountain to sacrifice Isaac. A sales rep said to a group of teachers and parents, "Isn't it wonderful that you have an alternative to TV shows and Hollywood movies for your kids to watch. Abraham is such a wonderful image of God's love for us in sacrificing Jesus." or something close to that. Well obviously the story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac is not exactly children's material but the sales rep was using it as a springboard - everything in the Bible leads to Jesus.

 

Interim pastors, even if "following a lectionary", will have to work hard to avoid the "Its a New Day" theme and its variants. One interim gave the same sermon for over 18 months: "God loves you and so do I". The Scripture passages came from the lectionary but somehow they all led to the same theme. In the case of interims the context of the transition from one pastor to another and its accompaning stress is hard to ignore.

 

A preacher who is not vulnerable and open to the text is often also unconscious of their own interior life. So perhaps, making this up on the spot, there are three forces(?) motivating a sermon: the congregation and its context; the pastor, his knowledge (or lack), his insights and personal concerns acknowledged and not; and the Scripture. I am not sure if all three need equal weight but their influences need to be appropriately balanced. One cannot do this without being self aware, having insight into the congregational situation, and allowing the Scripture, not the self, to speak.

 

I hope that helps.

 

Dutch

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Interim pastors, even if "following a lectionary", will have to work hard to avoid the "Its a New Day" theme and its variants. One interim gave the same sermon for over 18 months: "God loves you and so do I". The Scripture passages came from the lectionary but somehow they all led to the same theme. In the case of interims the context of the transition from one pastor to another and its accompaning stress is hard to ignore.Dutch

 

A number of times, I have had trouble linking the lectionary references and the sermon, not that this is necessarily a bad thing since sometimes the sermons have been quite good without a clear link to the lectionary.

 

On the other hand, whenever we are in Atlanta (a couple of times a year), we like to attend Ebenezer Baptist Church (MLK's home church). There is typically one reading and the sermon is linked directly to that reading. I have been amazed at how relevant and insightful some of these sermons can be using a given biblical passage. The pastor is an amazing miner.

 

George

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I do see what you are saying, Dutch, about no matter how many different sections of texts a pastor might use as take-off point for sermons, he/she can still sometimes keep preaching the very same sermon over and over. The motive, intent, message, always seems to come to the same point.

 

Your observation that a preacher is likely to be consistently coming out of "where he/she is" him/herself is also interesting, and I think probably quite accurate. I'd suspect this espcially when it does seem evident he/she is preaching the same sermon over and over again, it reflects where they are, at what point they are, and what they are themselves dealing with in their own spiritual, emotional, even material life challenges. And, just like anyone else, a preacher is human, can get "stuck" at a particular point in that process of development or growth.

 

It has occurred to me before that there seems a definite lack of real support for those in roles of pastor/teacher within any church system addressing their own growth and development, and by extension, how that affects their effectiveness as a preacher/teacher. Now, not having been in that as a profession or avocational role, i may be wrong, there many be more out there more commonly availablethan I know, but i've not seen it. Most of the "support" resources for pastors I've seen are focused around the practical, material challenges of their position relative to being a pastor, in practical material and social contexts, managing personal and family life within their role as pastors, etc. It seems just assumed they are already on good footing and well advanced in their own spiritual, emotional, psychological growth, development, and health. An assumption of being inherently "super-human."

 

Jenell

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Dutch, some further thought...in your last statements, I thin i'd set scripture aside, into its own space, and consider (1) where the preacher is within him/her self and (2) where the congregation is. I addressed the preacher in my previous post.

 

Now, the congregation. I have observed situations in which a pastor/preacher pretty obviously did or did nmot have a good grasp on just where his/her congregation is, insights into their state of growth, strnegths, weaknesses, needs. And I have more than once thought this another neglected area perhaps, in the educating and training of preachers. First, every congregation and every person within a congregation is a unique individual with unique cirsumstances, there simply is no one size fits all. Is there really anyhting a greater turn-off that a preacher whose sole attitude toward a congregation is that of a bunch of wicked immoral sinners that he thinks he must convince of the wrong in their desires to hang out in 'dives' every Saturdat night, drinking and dancing and a-whoring to all hours so they are tempted to not get up and coome to church Sunday morning because of their hang-overs? Yeah, I've encountered ones like that, even when the social class and lifestyle of all or most of the congregation wouldn't be typical for such behavior. But on the other hand, i've more than once thought that somebody needs to sit young would-be preachers down and explain to them the inherent risks and dangers of falling in love with their congregations, so that they can see no problems or wrong in them, are blinded to who they really are, hold fanciful, idealistic ideas about them.

 

Almost without exception I've observed in churches where I've attended for any period of time that had a comfortably established pastor, the pastor hoolding an utterly and entirely inaccurate and unrealiistic image of who the people are and how they are and what they do outside the church doors. Sometimes this attitude extends even further, to both preachers and enthusiastically involved others in churches assuming thhe same fanciful ideas about Christians, at least churched ones, in general. Quite simply, they seem to assume a far more 'dedicated commitment' to such matters as bible study, contemplation and prayer toward understanding scripture and God, and how to "act Christian" in their daily lives than is the case, or could even be reasoonable expected to be the case. They really seem to believe at least most in their congregation do much read and study their bibles, do much pray and meditate on God's word, and at least to integrate Christian principles of morals and ethics into their daily lives. They really don't seem to realize that how people act and talk in his/her presence isn't how they are after the leave there. I've observed time and again at a local cafe' aka community social hangout, how the normal talk, often raucious with gossip and sexaul innuendo and drinking bravado and macho man sexual conquests IMMEDIATELY transforms entirely when any of the local preachers walk in. Its really quite amazing. But the preachers I don't think even guess that happens. They just think how people are in their presence is how they are all the time.

 

Where such attitude exist, there is often an immediate and strongly negative emotional reaction even any suggestion any of their congregants might be and act otherwise outside they church. I know I ran into this when I was attending church, and might mention how rare it was to find others within the church congregation with any interest at all in sharing bible study or even discussions in matters of faith...most are obsessed with concerns of everyday life. "secular" interests like shopping or sports or tv programming.

 

Pastors are often out of touch with congregants in basic material ways, such as socio-economic class and working status. Most pastors, at least of officially affliliated denominational churches locally, command salaries and benefits far above the average income range of their moslty working class congregations, and can still be heard to complain, as if they are making a sacrifice, of not earning even more. In looking over the budget at such a local church, actually a ratger small one, I wondered if the pastor even realized that what the church paid annually for his family's health insurance alone was more than the entire annual income for many of the working families that attended that church and paid for that. They cannot relate at all to the real daily struggles of those people's lives. They also cannot relate to the difference in the challenges and 'temptation' ordinary people out on the 'real world' face daily, from within their own ivory tower existence, surrounded daily by matters of the church and role as preacher.

 

Or to dare suggest possibly unethical behaviors, even when to be honest, those unethical behaviors were well established knowledge in the "outside" community. I recall such occasions as some years ago, when a local medical doctor that regularly attended a church, his wife serving on many committees and as a SS teacher, came under accusations and legal charges for sexual misconduct with bothh female patients and female members of his office staff. I nor many other women that had ever sought sergices at his office/clinic were not surprised, I had myself seen him a few times when he was the only doctor in our town approved by my husband's insurance, and had stopped after being uncomfortable with some of the ways he would talk, look at, and touch me during examinations. It hadn't gone far enough to be blatant, anything I could have made charges of, but enough to make me uncomfortable, and send me elsewhere. That pastor, and the influential members of that church, made such a big deal of "those women trying to tear down this Godly man's reputation just to try to get money" that even other women in that church that HAD had, like me, uncomfortable encounters with him, dared not speak up. That attitude prevailed not only through the period of accusation and trial, but even after his conviction on several counts. In the aftermath, that, as usual in our messed up medical/legal system, he ended up with nothing more than a fine and a period of probation, that was itself used to justify belief there had never really been anything to it, or he would have gone to jail or been prevented from further practice or some such.

 

Such love affairs of pastors toward their congregations is often very much involved in churches being over run by childish adult "church brats," bullies and gossips. Because the pastor will not consider and see the reality. And consequently, he likewise badly misses just what the real issues are within his congreation, that he should be trying to address. I think whether its conscious or not, a lot of pastors are conditioned to focusing on handing out strokes and pats of the back, "edification" of his congregants, often while at the same time joining right in with the bullies at tearing down those "others" unfairly, so as to maintain the congregations comfort with him, lest his job security be put at risk. Much as the timid wife scared the abusive husband will either do her great harm or abandon her without support, such pastors fall into placating their congregants, and just as that timid wife, enabling the abusers, instead of challenging them toward growth.

 

Hust one more thing about the preacher part, where he/she may be in their own grwoth and development. The church culture makesit very hard, I thgink, for preachers to even acknowledge their own weaknesses or areas in which they struggle or need to grow. It is percieved as weakness, even incompetence. I've actually known of preachers acknowledging an area of weakess, personal struggle, being "gently advised" by even their peers,that pehraps they need to "step down" from preaching awhile until they get it worked out. It seems entirely missed thatsuch is one of the best opportunities a pastor may have in postively influencing his congregants...for them to see his own having to deal with weakness, with potential for example and model for their own efforts. Instead, preachers often feel they must remain above, be perfect, not have any weaknesses or struggles, as role models and examples.

 

Jenell

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