Preach the Word

A pulpit and crucifix are bathed in evening light on July 15, 2015, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Danville, Ill. (LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

I remember being in Homiletics 1 at seminary and beginning to learn the art of sermon writing. We sharpened our skills in studying the biblical texts and using the structure of that text to appropriately apply both Law and Gospel. I would write and re-write, but I never felt comfortable with what I had written. My sermons always lacked a relevant example. You know, a story of some kind or a connection to a popular TV show or movie. It wasn’t required, but it seemed like everyone else had one. They tied their example into the text so well. And as looked back, the preaching I had heard for the last decade always had some sort of story. I remember some of those stories well.

Then I went on to Homiletics 2. The first thing I did when approaching a text wasn’t a text study anymore. It was trying to find that perfect story or example that would stick with the hearers, but they never would come for me. I didn’t understand how other people could make connections so easily when all I was stuck with was the bare text. My professor (David Schmitt) noticed my struggle, and he gave me a little advice. (At this point, it’s paraphrased.) He said: Just preach the Word. Every example you could ever imagine is right there on the pages of the Scriptures.

From that very simple statement, I learned a tremendous amount about what we’re actually tasked with in the art of preaching. Rather than exhausting energy finding the perfect movie scene or TV episode, and rather than finding the perfect story that’s better fit for one of those chain e-mails (98% won’t share this blog!), I needed to be searching the Scriptures. It’s not that telling a story outside the Bible is wrong, but often times they miss the mark. Sometimes the preacher spends more time in the sermon trying to force a connection that isn’t there or having to explain the background of an example because no one has seen or heard what he’s talking about. (I’ve heard one ramble on about Transformers for right at ten minutes. In order to make the example fit, he had to dive into the lore of the movies and comics before somehow Bumblebee stood for the two natures in Christ…?) Most of all, every single one of these “memorable” sermons I’ve heard because of a story or relevant connection, I only remember the story or example. I don’t remember the text that was preached or how things actually fit together.

Dr. Schmitt’s simple advice stands for pastors today. When crafting sermons for your people, seek first examples from the Scriptures. Your sermons might not be the most “memorable,” but they will create an increased biblical literacy and allow you to dive into some of the texts that the lectionary might omit. We owe it to our people: Preach the Word. Build them up according to it. It’s the Word of God that creates faith, and that Word doesn’t need our relevance in order to accomplish that.