Year of Discipleship: Investigating Great Sermons

This year at Trinity Church, Escondido, we organized an adult formation program around watching and analyzing sermons. I figured that this would be a good topic to talk about because everyone at church has experience with sermons. After all, sermons are at the root of formation and discipleship. It might be beneficial to look at what goes into a sermon and reflect on what parts of preaching really work for us and what parts do not.

I spent hours looking at sermons on YouTube. I wanted something that was out there and accessible to everyone. We settled on six sermons from Christian preachers who came from different denominations and traditions. The preachers we picked were Michael Curry, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Martin Luther King, Jr, Barbara Brown Taylor, Billy Graham, and Gregory Boyle.

The most famous sermon was Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which we watched shortly after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which was also the day of the inauguration, if you remember. That was a powerful experience for most people. 

Each week, prior to watching the selected sermon, we’d read an article or look at an excerpt of a book that related to the preaching. We’d dive into material from the Episcopal Preaching Foundation, as well as other resources I discovered on the web. We’d discuss oral traditions and the ways that people give and receive information through speeches and sermons. But, the discussion around the experience of the participants about the many sermons they had heard over their lifetimes as church members was the most energized. And we talked about my sermons and the sermons of my predecessors at Trinity.

As we sat to watch each sermon, I gave people a sheet of paper with notes of things for them to pay attention to. I had something like this for a homiletics class in seminary. We were encouraged to take notes on other students’ preaching and give them constructive feedback. 

A consistent suggestion was to pay attention to the theme of the sermon–to look at how that theme was developed, to notice the structure of the sermon, how and the points that were made, and how scripture was referenced. Another focus was rhetorical techniques like repetition, contrast, or alliteration that preachers employed. And we looked at personal practices–does the preacher use notes or not, do they engage with the audience or not, do they pause dramatically or not. Finally, what was the “takeaway?”  What was the preacher asking the congregation to do next, if anything?

Thank God, that my parishioners do not regularly analyze and dissect my sermons the way we did in this program! But, I think it was an enlightening experience to look at sermons this way. Not only did the group receive six great messages over the six weeks, but they really appreciated talking about preaching.

I was not really surprised to hear this, but it turns out that people really like how Michael Curry preaches. (Maybe Trinity’s next preaching series will be just Michael Curry sermons.) Our group did not connect as much with Billy Graham’s sermon we saw from the Revival, although several of the people in our group had seen Billy Graham preach in person. With respect to the other sermons, participants all got something out of the sermons by Nadia Bolz-Weber, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Gregory Boyle.

We came to appreciate that despite the preachers’ different styles, tones, and messages, their sermons still conveyed something valuable. As I mentioned, our discussion on Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was probably the most powerful for participants. It was amazing to go through his speech looking at the structure and the techniques of a person who clearly was at the top of his game, and to reflect on how powerful preaching can be.

I don’t know that the experience of this series on preaching will necessarily make me a better preacher, although I always preach better when I am exposed to great preaching. And I don’t think that any of the participants in the program are necessarily going to get up someday to deliver their own sermons. But I know that all of us, myself included, enjoyed talking about preaching and thought it was worthwhile looking at what makes preaching powerful. 

As a priest, it gave me a sense of something new, which is the way that preaching, over time, gives people a foundation that they cannot get anywhere else. There really is nothing else like preaching in our lives. We are hardwired in our DNA to be inspired by things people say, and there are very few experiences in life of being in a group sitting, listening to inspirational messages. And we need that. That’s something else we all agreed on.

 To find out more about Trinity, Escondido’s preaching series, email the Rev. Tom Callard at: office@trinityescondido.org