Amongst other gifts and duties, deacons preach in congregations as they connect us with the wider community
In fact, no sermon at all today. As I now only preach on the first and third Sundays of each month today is truly a day of rest.
Instead I share a reflection on sermons as an art and practice. Since my first days preaching as a northern missionary, through my days as a lay minister, through seminary where we were coached in the art of Anglican homiletics, and through parishes large and small, my approach, preparation, and presentation style have evolved and varied greatly over the years — read; improvise; joke around; use various arts; tell stories; sing; share personally. If variety is the spice of life it can also infuse the life of a preacher.
During my evangelical years I studied and admired the great preacher, the Rev. Dr. John R W Stott who would hold forth for forty minutes or more at the end of a service of Morning Prayer, with ease. At All Souls Langham Place the sermon was always the final component of the service, a sort of “famous last words” proclamation.
Here in Canada, I remember the great story teller, the Rev. Harry Robinson of Little Trinity Church in Toronto, and later St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver. At Metropolitan United Church in London Ontario the Rev. Maurice Boyd would captivate a packed church of around six hundred students on most Sunday evenings. I once heard Billy Graham at an Urbanna Missions conference in Illinois in 1981 one of seventeen thousand passionate evangelicals.
In a less evangelical tone I enjoyed listening to the Rev. Herbert O’Driscoll who would take listeners on an imaginative journey in a coracle rowing towards Iona. While at seminary and at Hymn Society conventions I marveled at the linguistic and musical artistry of Thomas H. Troeger; every sermon was lifted from the paper, word for word, though listeners were convinced he was speaking extemporaneously.
I am a bit shocked that my references above concern only male preachers. Where are the women you rightly ask? Only minimally have I sought out messages from Nadia Bolz-Weber, or the late Rachel held Evans. I have enjoyed many video sermons by Barbara Brown-Taylor whose focus on both the light and dark of the gospel have helped me greatly. I have recently enjoyed sermons by Maggie Helwig of the Diocese of Toronto who includes in her recent book texts dealing with complex social justice concerns. In my present setting, and in recent years, I have heard few if any woman preachers. My fault I am sure.
One comment I often hear — and I don’t think I am alone in this — is “too long Ken.” Truth? Lazy listeners? My poor preparation? One or all could be true. Confronted with the same criticism a valued colleague once responded, “but there’s so much to say.” At times, there is a lot to say. Decades ago, when a basic ecclesial vocabulary and biblical literacy could be assumed, homilies could be shorter. The preacher reinforced what was already present rather than arguing and challenging for change. These days, especially with ecojustice focused sermons, a lot of context is required for a sensible argument to be made, or a sensitive proclamation to be shared.
Still thinking about sermon length, I was intrigued by a recent Guardian article ‘No long sermons’: how influencer Catholic priests are spreading the word of God online. Did you know that the late Pope Francis made social media influencing a priority for the Roman Catholic Church? News to me. Now the preacher is seen as an influencer, no longer an indoctrinator. In many ways this is what I have attempted through many years in parish and cathedral pulpits.
An example of the new influencers is Father Cosimo Schena, the suave priest of San Francesco church in the southern Italian city of Brindisi [now] known as “the poet of God’s love” after publishing spiritual poems across his social media accounts and amassing more than 450,000 followers on Instagram. And (pay attention Juno) Fr. Schema is also known for welcoming animals to his parish and in a reel featuring his two dogs he wrote how God’s love and healing could be transmitted “through a wagging hug” or “a paw resting on your sadness.”
If I want to be an influencer myself, other options include body-building and body-piercing. A great big NO to both, for me, thank you.
Returning to sermon length, it seems that length is identified as problematic.
Father Ambrogio Mazzai, a priest who imparts church teachings alongside photos of himself playing the guitar or holding a glass of wine [. . .] the 34-year-old [claims] the key to his success was keeping his content brief. “I share messages of faith or reflection – sometimes provocative, sometimes ironic,” he added. “You have to communicate concisely and in a way that attracts attention – so no great long sermons.”
Well good for him. Won’t work for me. As I continue to share how God has called me to engage with the world, drawing on the mixed bag of wisdom and experience of the church through the ages, coupled with an intake of progressive social analysis and ecological science, all tempered by listening to people who speak the truth through the lens of their own experience, well, all this takes time. Hopefully my sermons are time well spent. Some work better on paper than in person. Some weeks are better than others. Pray for me as I promise the same for you.
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Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 
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