Streams of Mercy

Finding meaning in a sermon sometimes requires great patience and an open and willing spirit. I’m always surprised when someone responds to a sermon, “Thank you for what you said today.” I always wonder what they heard? Sometimes we hear, not what the preacher says, but what God knows we need to hear that day!

My understanding of preaching is not a carefully crafted three-point sermon that gives definite answers to questions addressed. My understanding of preaching is a telling/re-telling of a passage of scripture, hoping to free any number of different messages to different listeners. My daughter says she can’t “take notes” on my sermons, or even outline them, but she always gets a message that is helpful!

Herbert Brokering has written this about hearing a sermon, and it’s helpful as well in the writing of the sermon:

“It was a sermon. Not the best but the only one for this day. I could have slept, with some of the others. But I did not. I dared not. I never do. I had to stay ready, waiting and ready for “the sentence.” Ready for the one sentence that was worth it all! I always come to hear all of it for the sake of the one sentence. All the preacher’s preparing and all my listening is for “the sentence.” When it’s spoken, I will hear it. There are thought gaps. Things the preacher leaves out. Space. I fill in the gaps as the sermon moves along. What is not said to us, I say to myself. The preacher doesn’t try to say it all. There are blanks and spaces for me to fill in. I do. The preacher won’t know when “the sentence” is spoken. I will know. It’s when all the words become one word. It’s when all the thoughts become one thought. It’s when the words become the flesh and blood to me. My flesh and blood Lord.”

As I prepare sermons, I find myself repeating phrases within the sermon text. I also use some of the phrases in the prayers for the day, written and spoken. In a sense, I’m choosing “the sentence” or “the word,” but the final choice is always made in the heart of the hearer! I once read that the work of the preacher is to “create a space” for God’s Spirit to enter and do the needed work of grace. How grateful I am to be a part of creating such a space!

Elizabeth