If someone does not look forward to writing and giving a sermon, there is something wrong. Most likely, the pastor has been pointed toward pleasing people or delivering good statistics to Holy Mother Synod. A sermon is neither a recruiting nor a pacification device.
Stuck in this mindset, many ministers turn to plagiarism, encouraged by failed pastors (professors, Church Growth experts), who have done the same.
Constant brain-washing keeps men in this mode of thinking, so they rake up the latest fads, which seem to be working at Baptized by Fire World Pentecostal Cathedral.
Another Approach
Walther had a good idea about sermons - write them out completely, leave the manuscript somewhere else (hidden in the pulpit if a fail-safe is needed), and preach freely. Notes and outlines are not a sermon. It should be written out. Based on my experience and others, notes and outlines should not be used in the pulpit, because they are crutches that reduce or eliminate eye contact.
If Lutheran pastors did this and published each one, they would accomplish three good things at once.
- Everyone would have access to the sermon, which would be beneficial to everyone.
- Corrections could be made early in one's service, before going off the deep end and turning atheist, as so many ministers are. An article on the Net discussed this development. Anyone dealing with synodical officials need not doubt it.
- The discipline of writing is good for thinking and for verbal communication. Our thoughts are jumbled. Talking is more organized, but still wordy and disjointed. The most disciplined form of communication is the written form.
Good Sermons Start with Luther, Lenski, the Book of Concord
For my benefit, and others, I posted the entire Lenker set of Luther's Sermons on this blog. If ministers would wean themselves from the pope's three-year lectionary series, they would have a sermon or three for each Epistle and Gospel lesson for the year.
Two ways to get a lot from a Luther sermon are:
- Looking for good quotations on a particular topic.
- Preparing to preach on a difficult text (like Luke 16:1-9).
Lenski is ideal for his summaries and explanations of technical details. The digital version makes it easy to quote him the text of the sermon. When I copy from Lenski, the citation appears as a footnote. I move that to below the quotation and mark it as coming from Lenski with the heading - Lenski:
The Book of Concord is good for clarification and Biblical exposition. If I want to study justification, I turn to Luther and the Book of Concord, not to Wayne Mueller and Larry Olson. The Book of Concord is published on this blog, so there is no reason to quote Groeschel instead of Luther, Melanchthon, Chytraeus, and Chemnitz.
Luther dealt with each verse, so that is a good plan. Copy a verse from the KJV, put it in bold, and explain it. Repeat. There is a lot of room for exposition, discussion, and digression. Thanks to the Net, someone can link books, resources, entire libraries, Wikipedia (handy for many topics), and this blog.
After reading a Luther sermon, writing a sermon should be reasonably easy. Following his insights will mean the sermon is Gospel-centered, orthodox, and edifying. Following this approach will mean a constant education for the pastor, congregation, and reading public.
Apt to teach is a requirement for pastors - not an option.
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| Would Luther be impressed with the pope setting the agenda for Lutherans today? For inviting Roman Catholics to speak at Lutheran schools like Bethany and WLC? |
