Was It a Sermon?

A few weeks ago I was invited by a pastor to join him in a dialogue sermon. I’d never done that before, but I’m always talking about the need to experiment in our preaching and so figured it was time to put my money where my mouth was. We met ahead of time and talked through the contours of the biblical text appointed for that day and how it might lend itself to this kind of dialogue. While we worked through the major moves and anticipated turning points of the conversation, we left the content of the conversation largely unscripted.

We also talked about the need to make sure we didn’t just talk about the text but proclaimed the Gospel through it. One of the hazards of dialogue sermons is that we never move beyond our immediate conversation to address the congregation with the promise of the Gospel, and we wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.

On the whole, the sermon and whole worship service went very well. Judging by the attention folks gave to our interaction and what they said afterward, people seemed to be very engaged, learned a lot, and in fact heard the gospel proclaimed.

One gentleman, however, wasn’t so sure. On the way out, he said, “I really enjoyed that. It was very interesting. But the bulletin said there was going to be a sermon.” The critique was implicit: we all know what a sermon is, and this probably wasn’t one. I understand where he’s coming from and think that both his question and concern were quite legitimate. A sermon in our experience is pretty much always one person talking to another. And, quite frankly, we’re not sure what to make of it when what happens in church varies from that norm. We’re not even sure if it really is a sermon.

At the same time, I have this gut sense that what has always worked in the past isn’t working anymore. At least not quite the way it worked before. And so I think we need to experiment, innovate, even invent new ways of communicating the gospel that, while they may look different from the established norms, nevertheless accomplish the same ends.

By that I’m not saying that we need to throw tradition out. I am saying, however, that we need to put our traditions and cherished practices on the table and examine them in light of the imperative to proclaim the gospel in a way that will reach people today. Who knows, perhaps preaching in the coming years will look a lot like it has for the last few decades. Or perhaps it will include some relatively minor adaptations and innovations like we tried with this dialogue sermon. Or maybe it will look a whole lot different and we haven’t even begun to imagine just what. I honestly don’t know. But I know we have to try.

So what have you heard on Sundays lately that made you wonder? Or what have you tried by way of invigorating the sermon so that it speaks today? Ultimately, I don’t know if what we tried that day was really a sermon. I hope so. But I do know that grateful to have colleagues who are willing to risk, to experiment, even to fail for the sake of the gospel.

 

Post image: Lucas Cranach the Elder, Altarpiece of St. Mary’s church (city church) in Wittenberg, Germany (middle pane, reversed). For additional information on this historic painting, see this article on the painting itself or this excellent piece about how art “pictured” the gospel in the Reformation more generally.