What are you bringing to the party? Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution? How aware are you of the influences that shape your thinking, and therefore your preaching?

INFLUENTIAL FACTORS

1. Background. What is your style of churchmanship . . . is your tradition High Church — or Low Church suspicion of all things mumbo jumbo? To what extent are you able to challenge, and question, the assumptions that come with that background — and to make sure they don’t skew your thinking, your writing and your preaching?
2. To what extent does your personal theology, learned or acquired, determine the content of your preaching? Do you comfortably buy into the whole cosmic drama of salvation — or not? Are you perfectly at ease with the meta-narrative? How does the theological language of that familiar expression of the faith filter into your preaching, such that concepts and terminology you are fine with, might come to clutter up your communication?
3. Where lie your prejudices — and do they mean that you turn away from whole aspects of the historic faith because you are not prepared to feel ‘the beat of the Sacred Heart’, or to use the tools found within the historic treasure-house of faith? And to what extent might that impoverish your preaching?
4. Are you allowing your narrow preferences to set the stylistic agenda of how you do preaching because you are committed to one style only? This dramatically limits your options: and shows lack of imagination. Too often and too easily it becomes formulaic. You can spend two years on John’s gospel, picking away at it, verse by verse; or you could tell the story, feel the drama — make the journey!
5. Are you sensitively aware of any assumptions you are bringing to preaching. There can be . . . in fact there often is . . . an astonishing arrogance that assumes ‘There are not many Christians out there, so my job to make them see what the real deal is!’ What is your target market? To build up or to evangelise? Who is it for in the first instance, this preaching? Not Joe Public — who cares even less than the church about abstruse theology, and, anyway, won’t actually be there. You really might be ‘preaching to the choir’.
6. Are you drawn towards the temptation of ‘Our minister is very learned!’ syndrome? Showy demonstrations of abstract jargon-filled thinking that engages with topics of little interest to most people but which we think ‘they should know about’ and certainly should know that we know about? Those times when we answer questions that no-one is asking?
7. Are we watching how comfortably we sit with our dogmatism/certainty — our narrow theological perspective which leaves the doubters and the searchers feeling disenfranchised and hurt? When we imply or seem to suggest that anyone who doesn’t buy the whole package is out of the game: when we leave no room to question, we allow our secure handle on the faith to numb and hobble the person who is asking, seeking, and knocking.
8. And crucially, when asked, what is your motivation? When Holy Week comes, do you have a passion for the Passion — or are you doing it reluctantly, because it’s there on the calendar? Does preaching the Word excite you, or is it a necessary part of your job definition, a chore?

   By the way, I’m a huge believer in the power of preaching. That astonishing miracle that is found in the tripartite dynamic of open-minded listening, inspired preaching, and the Holy Spirit unravelling all the inadequacies, distractions, clutter of noise — to reach the heart, stir the soul, rock the boat. Preaching matters, and it must be done well.

   PRACTICE PRINCIPLES

   Here are a few of the underlying principles that have shaped my experience of preaching. They have been informed by decades of preaching, broadcasting, and writing. Some of them might be helpful.

9. Don’t be boring! (More of this later.)
10. Use interesting language. The Bible is full of vivid imagery, searing poetry, so there is no excuse not to be brave, surprising, articulate, and imaginative. Don’t do dull and lazy.
11. Believe what you say. People sense insincerity, or if you are on automatic pilot, saying the right things but they are not your things. This does not require the use of a ‘holy voice’. Just enthusiasm, passion and honesty that come from inside your heart. Passion where it is genuine, emotion when it comes from the heart and is not manipulative — these connections are what move and inspire people — not a lecture but one heart engaging with the issues and the truths, and sharing that powerful experience of the spiritual with others.
12. When you consider a Bible passage, find the angle, the hook, the real thing that you can relate to and therefore relate to others. And if that means finding a new twist on a familiar tale, as long as it is authentic, people will appreciate it when you surprise them. Be brave and imaginative in your presentation and use language that is full of colour, energy and thought. It is pretty much unforgivable to take this fantastic story and make it boring. Dull preaching is an appalling dereliction, and if you do it, you should be ashamed enough to do something about it. Extend your vocabulary, use a Thesaurus, read, educate your mind so that people find the truth presented in a way that grabs them by the heart and lifts the spirit.
13. Don’t be afraid to take risks . . . with an illustration, a phrase, an expression. Vanilla ice-cream may be delicious, but vanilla sermons are bland, tame and dreary. Don’t be bland, tame or dreary! So, be prepared to take risks — to be surprising without going out of your way to shock. It’s thrilling to walk on the edges. Try new styles. Stir people out of the armchair and carpet-slippers experience.
14. Absolutely use humour, but not in a patronising ‘stream of wedding jokes’ sort of way but letting your sense of humour free to find the wit and humanity in the Bible.
15. Remember the listeners, standing at wide-ranging places on the faith spectrum, from certainty to doubt and all points between. They are not, however, simpletons. Your logical flaws, and refusal to address the questions with integrity will be identified on sight.
16. Don’t feel you have to say it all — God, the universe and everything cannot be covered in one sweep. And there is always next week. One big punchline is better than a strangulated metaphor/allegory/shaggy dog story, or simile that disappears up its own . . . good intentions.
17. Refuse to let your sermons fall below a certain standard — and if you can rise above that standard, that’s a bonus. ‘B+. Below this I will not fall!’
18. And do it on time — no last-minute panic. That kind of pressure is not clever, not edgy, not necessary. If you want to be on top of your material it has to be written, edited, and you become familiar with it long before Saturday night.
19. Questions are always in order. The people listening know the truth of the saying that ‘to every complex question, there is a simple answer — and it’s always wrong.’ Don’t feel you have failed if you haven’t managed to tie up the loose ends. Congregations feel patronised if everything is pat and rounded up and neatly wrapped. Loose ends exist — and they know it. And so should we. Indeed, Christ’s communication allowed for the listener to think their own way to the answer, not spell it out all the time.
20. Stories have always drawn people in — they intrigue and entertain still. Stick with them. Though not all the time, or that becomes boring and predictable. Ring the changes.

When you lay out your sermons,

lay them out for speaking . . .

not as if you had written an essay,

but in short phrases,

writ large and accessible —

down the middle of the page.

And whatever you do just don’t be boring, grey, dull, flat, uninspired, and uninspiring, showy or insincere.

For that you will burn in Hell.