Beautiful Sermons

“Speak into the heart of Jerusalem,” said the Lord to the prophet (Isaiah 40:2). Like a song that makes us unafraid to dance or unashamed to cry, a good sermon speaks into our hearts. It moves us in our souls. It can make us breathe easier, or it can make us blush. It may literally scare the hell out of us, but it always shows us the way home and gives us the hope that maybe we’ll be welcomed back in spite of everything we’ve done. Like a familiar smell in an unexpected place, it reminds us of something that used to be that we hope will be again. Unfortunately, few sermons ever get to this point. But some of Jesus’ sermons, like the Sermon on the Mount or the Parable of Sower, have had such an impact on the human heart that it might be worth it for us to try better with our own.

Unfortunately, the word ‘sermon’ itself invokes negative images for most people. Consider the verbs that we pair with it. Teaching is still respectable in some circles, but we don’t teach sermons, we preach them. And who likes to be preached at? Occasionally we ‘deliver’ sermons like a cosmic pizza boy who brings God’s product to our doorstep. These verbs convey the idea that the sermon is going to ‘fix’ us. We know we’re sick, but most of us don’t trust the pizza boy to perform the surgery. We sense intuitively – and far too often we are right – that he has an ulterior motive. Has he knocked on our door because Someone Out There thinks we need the pizza of eternal life or because he wants our cash?

Many fear preaching like assault with a blunt instrument. Some preachers will try to put us at ease by speaking but never saying anything. For 20 minutes (plus or minus) we endure talk about Advent and what this means for the Palestinians or we ponder the link between Pentecost and Martin Luther King, Jr. It may sound prophetic – and might actually be prophetic if the people sitting in the pews were Israeli soldiers or members of the KKK – but when the audience consists of insurance salesmen, dentists, and high school basketball coaches, the Middle East crisis or AIDS in Africa are very safe subjects. What I think these preachers hope we’re hearing is, ‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. I won’t say anything that might potentially disrupt the world you live in.’ Instead, they focus on the brokenness and sinfulness of others’ worlds.

Then there are others who don’t want to be preachers. They want to teach. Teaching is important, but it’s no substitute for a beautiful sermon. A hospital directory is full of information, but it’s as beautiful as lint. Changing metaphors, we don’t want to know how the radio works, we just want to hear the music. Too many sermons are an analysis of the machine when we should be enjoying the song.

A beautiful sermon is more than information and instruction. It is a preacher getting spiritually naked (we call it ‘bearing the soul’) in front of a crowd of people. But don’t get me wrong. This isn’t homiletic pornography. Even Jesus didn’t reveal his intimate knowledge of God to those who were just interested in a good time (John 2:23-25). He could flirt with the crowd, but he wasn’t an exhibitionist, and we don’t need to be either. Yet the sermon needs to be us to be beautiful. A beautiful sermon comes from the preacher who knows when to be ‘suggestive’ and when it is appropriate to be ‘naked and not ashamed.’

So how do we create beautiful sermons? If you’re still reading, that’s the question you want answered. Here’s a model that was initially inspired by Robert Capon’s book ‘The Foolishness of Preaching.’ It’s the paradigm that I have found most useful. So get out your canvass, brush, and pallet, and let’s see what we can do to make next Sunday’s sermon not only true but beautiful. In the beginning …

DAY 1: Choose your primary text from the lectionary.

The lectionary may not be where you expected me to start, but it’s important. It means that the sermon is originating outside of you, which is where God’s word always begins. Whether it’s Jehovah telling Abraham about an old woman who is going to have a baby or the Savior of the world being born to a virgin in a Judean village, the word of God comes from outside the realm of earthly possibility. Not that the lectionary is some type of miracle, but it does follow the pattern of allowing God’s word to begin with Him rather than us (to say nothing of the benefits of living the Christian year). Besides, you’re not as limited as you may think. You’ll still get four choices as a launching point: Psalm, Old Testament lesson, New Testament lesson, and Gospel. It will keep you preaching on the whole Bible, and it will create some links between Scriptures that you probably hadn’t previously considered. Preaching on texts that you wouldn’t naturally preach on will get the creative juices going. It will get you listening, and sermons, after all, should be a joint project of the Spirit and the preacher.

At the start of the week, print each passage off from your computer. As you read, underline the phrases that jump out at you. Highlight the words that seem to give color and depth. Make comments in the margins about what you like and dislike. Ask questions and listen. Let it speak to you. Then simply go with the text that seems to be the right one. Trust your instinct. A beautiful sermon is an art, not a science. Don’t be afraid to let the texts just sit in your head while you go out and mow the lawn or listen to the Foo Fighters. By dinner just accept the fact that you’ll be preaching on the one you couldn’t get away from. Of course if the angel Gabriel visits you and gives you utterance from another part of the Bible, go with it. I’m sure his advice is better than mine. But apart from an angelic visitation, I’d stick with the lectionary.

DAY 2: Write a few pages on why you chose the passage you did.

Don’t skip this step because it is important. This is where your inspiration is going to come. After you’ve decided which text is going to be your focus (and make sure to let the other texts have their voice as well – there is a reason these texts are put together), just start typing. Put down in words why you chose the text you did. What’s the gravitational pull to these particular verses? What is it in your life that makes this passage the passage for the week? Maybe it convicted you. Maybe it bugs you. Maybe there is comfort, or maybe there is rebuke. Maybe it’s just a challenge of preaching on some obscure Mosaic law. But whatever drew you to that passage – that’s what you want to capture in your sermon. That’s what will make the sermon authentic and from the heart, and that’s what will give it power. You have to preach what you believe. If you don’t believe it, don’t preach it. If you must preach it, at least have the decency to tell them that you don’t believe it. This is the point where ministry will happen.

So start writing. Don’t focus on commentaries or information yet. Don’t even write about what you think the passage means. Just put down on paper why you want to preach (or maybe don’t want to preach) on this lesson. What is it that causes this group of verses to attach latch onto your mind and soul? What are the questions that this passage answers? What are the unanswered questions that this passage raises? Who does this passage make you think of? Why? The more you write the better. Don’t worry. No one will see this, so you can just ramble on for three, four, five, or more pages. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to be real.
In the preaching books for professionals, they tell you to reduce the main point of the sermon down to a pithy sentence or two. This will be your focus or theme. If you are able to do that and it helps, then go for it. Now is the time to do it. Personally, I find it to hard to focus on a theme this early in the sermon preparation. If I come up with a sentence theme at all, it usually isn’t until I’ve finished writing the sermon. Suddenly the light will come on and I’ll think, “So that’s what I’m trying to say!” But the pros say to do it at the beginning, and who am I to argue with them?

DAY 3: Answer the questions you raised in day two by consulting your histories, favorite commentaries, and theologies, and then write your first draft.

Don’t worry about illustrations, beginnings, and endings. Don’t worry about putting it into a three point or story format. Just get the meat out there. People come to church to eat, and it is your job to feed them. If you feed them, they will come back. If you entertain them, eventually they will get bored.

The process I follow is to list the verse numbers in my notebook with about half a page of blank paper between verses. As I go through my resources, I jot down relevant points and ideas that they stimulate in my mind. I include the thoughts I wrote down in day two. Then I start to walk around the room (that is why sermon preparation is easier for me at home than the office!) preaching to myself and thinking out loud. Sometimes I have to stop to pray because I don’t like what I’m ‘hearing’ or I’m afraid I’m getting heretical. Sometimes I have to check another verse that comes to mind. Sometimes I have to get the computer concordance and do some cross-referencing, and sometimes I have to check other books or commentaries. All the while I’m just making notes in my notebook under the appropriate verse headings. When I’m done, I take a break and then go back and cross out everything that doesn’t seem to be really important or those things that are important background information for me but don’t have to be shared with the whole congregation. What is left is my first rough draft.

DAY 4: Write your second draft adding what this passage has to say to those who don’t believe, those who fail, those who don’t fit, and those who are afraid of what they will lose if they give up their sin. Write it for outsiders.

If you write your sermons as if you are preaching to a crowd of adulterers, tax collectors, cripples, and doubting Thomases you will be preaching to the hearts of your people. They may not want you to think that is who they are (and you need to respect their masks), but trust me. That’s who’s sitting out there. Once you’ve added this material you will probably have to cut out everything you had initially addressed to the religious folks. That’s OK. They wouldn’t have listened anyway.

DAY 5: Put the sermon in final form by going through your manuscript and listing the major points (probably associated with key verses from the passage).

Jot down some trigger words or phrases, and note the other verses you want to reference. If there is time, you can think of stories, films, music or other items that may link your thoughts with contemporary culture, but I wouldn’t spend too much time on that. If you watch films, read books, listen to music, eat at interesting restaurants, and just watch the people around you, then you will have plenty of ‘real stuff’ to plug in here and there. It won’t seem programmed this way because it isn’t. You will simply be sharing things that you have observed because you like being a part of this planet, and you genuinely like the people who sit home and read the paper instead of going to church or who flirt with you at the laundromat.

Take time to preach your sermon once or twice to yourself. As new things come up and old things seem forced, make the necessary adjustments. Don’t worry about putting the changes on the computer. Just let them rest as paper and ink – all marked up.

DAY 6: Rest.

There’s not much to say here, but try not to pick up your notes on Saturday. The sermon may be on your mind, but let it stay there. If you want to scribble a few more notes on Sunday morning, that’s fine. But take a day of rest. Tell God that you’ve done your part, and that you aren’t going to do anymore. If He’s not happy, then He can fix it Himself.

DAY 7: Take a deep breath, place your hands on the pillars, and pull the hall down.

Sunday morning and it’s time to rock and roll. Say a prayer and look at your notes. Hopefully by this point the message has been embedded in your soul and it is ready to overflow into the lives of your congregants. You have something to say that will come from your heart, and you can’t wait to say it. This message has already changed you, and you pray that God will use it to change others. But even if it doesn’t, that’s OK. If you are different then the sermon has already done its work. Nothing else is needed. It is beautiful.