Comments on: What’s Wrong With The Sermon? II: It’s Boring

By: wfseube

wfseube — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 05:50:57 +0000

Excellent post, iM. “A Better Way” by Horton is probably in my all-time top 5 books. Great, great book, especially the last chapter.

You capture the critical point with: Therefore, I believe we must embrace two affirmations: First, that the Biblical story is going to be boring to those who are not spiritually enlivened to its truth. This is expected. It is a given. Second, as proclaimers of the Gospel, we should use legitimate measures and means to make message as interesting as possible without obscuring either the Biblical message or rejecting the Biblical method.

Good work.

By: Histrion (Jay H)

Histrion (Jay H) — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 21:44:12 +0000

Someone will probably label me a blasphemer for this, but I think people would enjoy Jesus’s parables a lot more if they didn’t subconsciously hear them spoken in that sort of ultra-noble, ultra-dry “Jesus of Nazareth” voice.

Ever notice the great contributions of Jewish people to modern comedy? Imagine some of Jesus’s parables with a delivery style like Jerry Seinfeld’s.

“I mean, what do you think? Guy’s got two sons. He goes to the first and said, ‘Hey, Benjamin, go make yourself useful, will ya? The vineyard needs work.’ And Bobby says, ‘Hey, love to, but you know, Phineas and I are goin’ out for quail. Can it wait until tomorrow?’ And then later on, Phineas is stoned out of his mind and Benjy’s eaten too much — as usual — and he thinks, ‘You know, working in the vineyard sounds awfully good right now. Take my mind off the acid reflux.’ And off he goes. Meanwhile the father’s gone to his other son and said, ‘Hey, Reuben, your no-goodnik brother refuses to tend the vines. Make your old man happy, will ya?’ And Reuben goes, ‘I’ll get right on that,’ and then he goes to his room and falls asleep. So, you know, who do you think Dad’s happier with right now?”

OK, so pardon my bad attempt at writing Seinfeld-style, but you get the idea.

By: radioalarm

radioalarm — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 22:59:30 +0000

Edwards gave his sermons intentionally dry so as not to provoke an emotional response; rather, he wanted the Gospel to do the work and have its full effect on people.

By: Gontroppo

Gontroppo — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 12:43:18 +0000

Cataract surgery last year seems to have improved my preaching, as it has become harder to read my notes and look at the congregation. I’ve been forced to speak without looking at the notes, and didn’t realise how tied to my notes I had previously been, till this happened.

[Yes, I can see much better now *from a distance* but close up thins are quite blurry without glasses.]

By: treadlightly

treadlightly — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 07:07:19 +0000

I found it interesting that you moved from “The sermon is boring” to “The Gospel is boring” simply by starting a new paragraph. It is very possible that a sermon can be boring and can make the Gospel appear boring, but that is not the same as the Gospel itself being boring. Maybe this is where a bit of the “postmodern” piece of me comes through, but I’d much rather sit down and talk through a passage of Scripture with a group of knowledgeable people than listen to one person stand behind a pulpit and tell me about a passage. The interaction of people is what brings the words on a page to life (whether Scripture or any other book). Many (most?) of Jesus’ sermons were not of the “Ya’ll sit down and listen to me talk” variety, but of a response to a question from the group of people around him. Very few of them take even 20 minutes to read, much less the 45 minutes that my pastor has on any given Sunday morning. The Message came alive because Jesus was interacting with people and developing relationship with them. Our typical Sunday morning sermon is not set up for relationship. Then throw in the “Video” churches, where a sermon is piped in from Willow Creek or some other outside source, and “relationship” comes to a complete halt. How can the audience have a relationship with a video screen? At least when I hear my pastor preach, I know him well enough to have some background on his sermons (as you imply with point #2.

Having said all that, I do think that we need to listen to any message with Spiritual ears. We should be listening to hear God speak, first and foremost, even if the speaker is as dry as the bones in Ezekiel.

By: dcljoy

dcljoy — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 04:38:46 +0000

I think one problem is the lack of enthusiasm ….

Take Jonathon Edwards … as dry as his sermons are to read, if you heard them preached with fire and passion it might be quite different.

That was also behind a lot of Billy Graham’s appeal …. people could tell that Billy was passionate about his message … God was real to him … and he was on fire with the gospel.

Even the best put-together and theologically correct sermon will not be interesting to the average person unless it is delivered with real passion.

I think our young people have a good ‘nose’ for words without the reality behind them…. here in OZ a common thing to hear about Christians is “Oh, they don’t walk the talk!”

That is why I enjoy your blog … I hear the passion in what you say … it matters.

joy!