Nathan Bickel wrote about plagiarized sermons and the causes.
The cure is to take the Epistle or Gospel for the day and explain each verse. That is edifying for the preacher and the congregation.
The Vatican lectionary was supposed to be a cure, but I know of WELS pastors who bought the ELCA sermon books to help them prepare. Such brilliance - like stopping at Terminex to buy ingredients for the Sunday dinner.
Expanding the possible texts tended to alarm the ministers into relying on more crutches. The more sermonic crutches used, the poorer the sermon. The worst is the plagiarized sermon or the synodical canned sermon (normally an ad for Holy Mother Synod).
There is nothing wrong with preaching through a book of the Bible. Nor is preaching a theme wrong, as long as it is Biblical and not an ad for Frau Pfarrer's (Mrs. Pastors's) life-coach business.
Three sources are ideal:
- Luther's Sermons - already provided free of charge on this blog.
- Lenski - best served digitally. People enjoy having plenty of extra study material.
- The Book of Concord - the best one-volume Biblical commentary.
The laity may find Lenski a bit heavy on grammar and language, but he has many excellent insights. The printed set is available and relatively inexpensive.
Laymen should be experts on the Book of Concord. It is clear and well written. I will write more about studying it later.
If the pastors and laity focus on these three sources, they will benefit and see the fruits of the Spirit.
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| The Word does everything - a liberal bishop said that long ago. Now the "conservative" Lutherans say - Church Growth fads to everything we want. |
