06-Materials Worship Sermon Benecdition
CHAPTER VI MATERIALS OF WORSHIP SERMON AND BENEDICTION THE SERMON i. THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. The sermon enjoyed no such unique distinction in the New Testament church as is accorded it in our time. In the beginning it was merely a footnote to the lesson or to a letter from some apostle which was read in the presence of the congregation a short comment to clear up an obscure passage or an exhortation suggested by something in the reading. It does not appear to have been confined to an official class, but was a privilege open to any who cared to volunteer. After the apostolic age, however, the sermon took on new importance. It became a formal discourse, or oration, pronounced by presbyters and bishops, and in the fourth century preaching even became popular as a kind of indoor sport. “Fashionable people in Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, and hundreds of smaller towns, began to speak (so Chrysostom intimates) almost as enthusiastically about the favorite preacher of the hour as they spoke of the favorite horse in the races or the reigning actor in the theater.” 1 After this century the sermon declined in importance until the period of the crusades, which marks another high point in the history of preaching. Again there was a decline, until the Reformation lifted the sermon once more to a place of overshadowing importance in public worship. This place it has succeeded in holding until now among those peoples most profoundly affected by the Reformation. In a general way the curve of popularity in the history of preaching follows the line of keen theological interest.
“John A. Broadus, quoted by E. C. Dargan, History of Preaching, vol. ii, p. 64.
MATERIALS OF WORSHIP 77 The sermon became popular in periods of doctrinal discussion because it was practically the only instrument available for exposition and propaganda. At times other influences affected it, such as imperial patronage, social favor, and the importance of rhetorical studies in education. But these are distinctly secondary to the doctrinal influence.
Moreover, this curve follows the line of prophetic rather than priestly influence. In periods of calm, when doctrines and beliefs are fixed, the priest makes permanent ritualistic and ceremonial forms to contain them. Such instruction as he gives in worship is imparted chiefly through the symbolism of the service with which the congregation is familiar. But when the prophet appears with his demand for a restatement of faith and a revitalizing of religious interest, the old symbols and ceremonials are inadequate. They do not say what he wants said. He has no choice but to use a new symbolism of words and speech to express his new thought, and resorts to the sermon. Where the priestly restraints are too strong to be broken the prophet is silenced and the sermon all but disappears from worship, as in the Greek Church, in which preaching has had almost no history since the days of Chrysostom. To a somewhat lesser extent this is true of the Roman Church and the “High Church” wing of the Anglican and Protestant Episcopal Churches. Not that these have produced no great preachers, but that the importance of the sermon is minimized in public worship. Where the prophet has his way, as in the evangelical communions, the sermon is exalted to a place of primacy in public worship, even to the point of “sermonolatry.”
2. POWER IN PREACHING. As an instrument for expressing faith and imparting truth, the sermon, ideally, will never be superseded. Evangelicals are right in feeling that a service is not quite finished in which there is no* place for instruction or inspirational address. For a truth or a belief has little power to command others until it takes possession of a human life in such fashion that all instruments word, 78 THE PASTORAL OFFICE gesture, intonation, eye, posture cooperate to express originally and creatively what is felt in the deep places of the spirit to be true. The printed Word is potent. But only the spoken word “truth through personality” ever becomes omnipotent.
Believing all this (i) that the sermon is indispensable to the intellectual life of religion; (2) that it has achieved and safeguarded religious freedom and liberty; (3) and that, potentially, it is our finest agent for expressing and propagating faith it must be recognized, nevertheless, that much which passes for preaching in our modern life fails to accomplish any of this, and the sermon is in disrepute to-day. As an act of worship the sermon must be religious.
One of our great teachers of homiletics insists that much American preaching is not religious, “Power is absent from a large part of American preaching because that preaching is not religious. It is not essentially and vitally and experimentally religious. While we recognize much strong, noble preaching, for which we thank God and take courage, is there not also a large amount of preaching that could be put into the following categories, which are not mutually exclusive? (i) an unconvincing evangelicalism mere platitudes about redemptive doctrines without clear relation to human life; (2) a solemn pietism conventional appeals for consecration and separation from the world; (3) a weak sentimentalism pathetic stories, farfetched religious experiences, general unreality to the healthy-minded; (4) a dry intellectualism mere discussion of subjects, the sort of thing that can be done better in a magazine; (5) a belated controversialism fighting over old battles, tilting at windmills; (6) a shallow sensationalism catching the crowd by the methods of the vaudeville and the yellow press, anything for notoriety; (7) a bumptious egotism the minister carried away by the self-importance of his leadership, thrusting his views, his hobbies, his methods, himself, and even his family, upon public attention; (8) a shallow socialism the use of the pulpit for the presentation MATERIALS OF WORSHIP 79 of particular economic theories and partisan views with no great human appeal. Some of these preachings gain large audiences, even fill up the membership of churches, even secure conversions and reformations of life, but their influence taken as a whole is petty, cheapening to religion, and is not bringing God to men and lifting men to God. If all preaching were of such character, the days of the pulpit would be numbered.” 2
Power in preaching has been defined as “such a presentation of an intense religious conviction as shall tend to produce in the congregation an emotional experience of that conviction.” The final test of a sermon as an act of worship is just this power to evoke a sympathetic response from those who hear it. Can the preacher make the congregation feel and think about the theme as he himself does? The problem here is much the same as in public prayer. This kind of power is conditioned chiefly by two things (i) the degree to which the preacher has identified himself, in imagination at least, with the joys and sorrows, the victories and defeats of his hearers, and (2) the sincerity with which he speaks the convictions of his own soul. A Sundayschool lad remarked after hearing a simple, straightforward account of the attempt of a Kentucky mountain college to teach mountain boys that the heroism of Jesus is nobler than revenge, “It does make a difference when you hear a man who really believes what he says,” Professor Soares asks, “Can it be that congregations are sometimes dismissed asking themselves, Does he mean it, or was he only preaching?” 3
3. THE TECHNIQUE OF PREACHING. Yet it is not wholly a matter of deep feeling and spirit Many ministers who do not lack convictions, and who are intelligent and sincere, nevertheless are unable to preach effectively. They have not mastered the technique of preaching. This has to do “Reprinted by permission of The University of Chicago Press.
University of Chicago Sermons, edited by T. G. Soares, p. 3** ’Id, p. 6.
80 THE PASTORAL OFFICE with the materials, the form, and the manner of the sermon.
Admittedly they are secondary to conviction and sincerity.
Probably more preachers fail, however, in the former than the latter. A whole volume would be required to treat these matters adequately. We venture to emphasize here very briefly only those things which are related to the liturgical values of the sermon. a. The Material of the Sermon. As an act of Christian worship, the sermon must express and interpret the Christian experience of the race. The principal record of this experience is found in the Bible. To explain this book helpfully is the minister’s chief business. He is expected to understand it as perfectly as the lawyer should understand the law and the physician his medical science. Yet how rarely do ministers create the impression that their judgment on a biblical matter will be confirmed in the court of scholarly criticism! Many reveal the fact that they know the English and American poets, that no popular books of fiction ever escape them, and that the Saturday Evening Post and, possibly, the Atlantic Monthly come regularly to their reading tables, but neither Hosea, nor Jeremiah, nor Amos, nor Isaiah, nor any other prophet becomes a living personality from anything they say. No one has ever preached commandingly who did not regard the 1 Bible its prayers, its biographies, its parables, its miracles, its poetry, its philosophy, its history, its letters as his primary source of sermon material. In the profound religious experience in which Ezekiel received his call to the prophetic office he was commanded to eat a book (roll) in which was written the message he was to deliver eat until he had filled himself with it! Could there be a more impressive dramatization of this idea that a preacher’s Bible is to be thoroughly masticated, digested, and assimilated?
After the Bible, the next great record of Christian experience is found in the doctrinal statements of the church.
Unlike the biblical text, these are constantly changing in their outward form. To interpret them helpfully the min MATERIALS OP WORSHIP 81 ister must know them in their history, and in their relations to the changing ideals of thought and life which modify them from age to age. To make sure that he covers the whole field of Christian teaching in the course of a year’s preaching, one should plan for himself some such calendar of themes as certain communions arbitrarily impose upon their clergymen for example, the Protestant Episcopal Church. Otherwise he will overemphasize some truths and underemphasize, or neglect entirely, others equally important. But it is a part of our Christian faith that God is still active in his world and in the hearts of men. We may know him at first hand for ourselves, and personally verify the findings of others, and add to them. Only as the minister thus lives again in his own experience the truths which others have affirmed can his preaching be self-revelation; and unless it is that, the sermon cannot be called worship.
He will be interested, too, in the attempt of his contemporaries to know God, and in their fresh descriptions of religious experience. What latter-day poets, philosophers, essayists, and teachers of social ethics have to say about life and duty is legitimate sermonic material. One will gather the materials of preaching to little purpose, however, unless he is able to interpret them imaginatively. Masters of the art of ritualistic worship know well how to stir the imagination by the use of symbols which appeal to the eye or the ear. As an act of worship the sermon must likewise stimulate the imagination of the hearers, else it will have little power to affect their feelings and induce a worshipful mood. Who does not hold in memory a Scripture or a doctrine which once had no meaning but was made forever beautiful by a preacher who interpreted it with the simplicity and understanding that comes only from imagination? In emphasizing imagination as a primary source of power in preaching, we should distinguish imagination from fancy. The latter breaks with reality and is a source of danger. By it, the puerilities of the allegorical interpreter are per 82 THE PASTORAL OFFICE petrated, who always is able to make the Scriptures say what he wishes them to say. On the contrary, the constructive imagination, while it transcends facts, never loses its contact with them. The imaginative interpreter proceeds by the historical method. He is anxious to discover, not his own mind, but that of the writer. As illustrating the difference between the two methods, contrast the fanciful with the imaginative way of interpreting the parable of the good Samaritan. The former assumes that every feature of the parable is a symbol filled with religious meaning. For example, the man who fell among thieves stands for Adam; the thieves were the devil and his angels; the priest and the Levite were the Mosaic dispensation; the good Samaritan was Christ; the beast on which the Samaritan rode was Christ’s human nature; the inn was the church; the two pennies paid to the innkeeper represented the life that now is and that which is to come. A truly imaginative interpreter proceeds, however, by inquiring what were the circumstances under which the parable was spoken. He finds that a young man had asked for a definition of the word “neighbor.” “Who is my neighbor?” he inquired, and Jesus replied with this story of a neighbor in action in which it appears that neighborliness is not a matter of geography, nor race, nor patriotism, nor religion, but of mere human interest on the basis of human need. This is what Jesus put into the parable and this is what the imaginative preacher takes out. The allegorist misses it entirely.
6. The Form of the Sermon. Imagination is important, too, in expressing one’s insights, as well as in discovering them. It frequently happens that of two sermons equally above criticism as to materials, one will have power to command the interest of the congregation that the other lacks.
Quite generally the explanation will be found in the literary form of the respective sermons. One preacher is a master in the art of organizing his material; the other is not. The first expresses his thought clearly from the opening sen MATERIALS OF WORSHIP 83 tence, and before six sentences have been spoken the congregation knows exactly what theme is to be discussed. In thirty minutes he has said (i) this, and (2) that, and (3) a third specific thing about the theme. Everything is easily grasped. It requires no effort to listen. Indeed, one cannot help listening. There are no digressions of thought.
Nothing is put into the sermon which does not contribute directly to the main stream of interest. No stories are told for their own sake. No poetry is quoted to display the preacher’s acquaintance with the poets. If poetry is used, it is because some singer has said what the preacher needed to say at a certain point better than he can possibly do. All is compactly arranged and expressed simply and clearly. The sermon is a single organism, a perfect unity, and easily remembered. The other sermon is a multiplicity, a heterogeneous collection of statements, sentiments, poetry, and historical references gathered from everywhere with no inner coherence holding them together. If there is a main line of thought, it is difficult to find it; or finding it, to hold it, for irrelevant matter is constantly introduced which diverts attention from the principal subject Only by a conscious effort of will is the attention fastened upon the sermon at all* To carry away more than a fragment of such a sermon would require superhuman power. Yet these very same materials, organized more perfectly, would make a worthwhile utterance. And the only difference would be in the literary form. Some one has- remarked that while an arrow and an ordinary stick of wood may be made of exactly the same material, one may be hurled from a bow very much farther than the other. This difference in carrying power is due entirely to the difference in their respective shapes. One was formed to go far, cleaving the air with a minimum of resistance, and the other was not. And that explains the difference in the carrying power of sermons.
Everything which has to do with literary style should receive the most conscientious consideration of the preacher 84 THE PASTORAL OFFICE throughout his ministerial life. Synonyms should be studied with a view of enlarging the vocabulary and using words more accurately. A sermon should be written completely each week, not with a view of reading from the manuscript, but for the drill of composing sentences which will express clearly and forcibly the exact thought that is in mind. The dictionary should always be at hand as one reads, and no unfamiliar word should ever be permitted to escape until its meaning is known. In planning the sermon as a whole one must keep in mind the great principles of literary composition which control all forms of effective discourse, whether spoken or written; namely, (i) unity, (2) coherence, and (3) orderly development toward a climax of thought and feeling.
One would do well to read each year a good treatise on English composition to keep his ideas of style constantly fresh. Such a volume would be much more helpful than most of the textbooks on homiletics. c. The Manner of the Sermon. Though subordinate to material and form, the manner of the sermon is nevertheless highly important. Everyone can recall a public address which was ruined by awkwardness and self-consciousness on the part of the speaker; by action that was unrestrained or too much restrained; by a voice too big or too small; by pitch too high or too low, or that did not vary.
These technical matters cannot be treated here at length.
We may emphasize only their importance. This is illustrated in George Whitefield, who is said to have been able to make a congregation weep by the way in which he pronounced the single word, “Mesopotamia.” If that story be legendary, it is beyond all doubt true that a popular living American preacher produces the most astounding effects on the nervous systems of his hearers by the modulations and flexibility of his voice:. Another distinguished clergyman puts himself under the tutelage of a teacher of public speaking for a short period every year to correct bad habits of speech and action which he may have fallen into uncon MATERIALS OF WORSHIP 85 sciously. Every minister could wisely take himself in hand at this point. Ideally he should take a course of training under a competent instructor. If that is impossible, he may do much for himself by following the suggestions of such a text as C. Edmund Neil’s Sources of Effectiveness in Public Speaking. d. The Length of the Sermon. Since the sermon is only one of many elements in public worship, all of which must cooperate to produce a designed effect, the question of its proportionate length is important. Certainly it should never take more than half the time available for the whole service.
Generally it should take less. More time must be spent in careful preparation if one is to preach only twenty minutes than if forty are at his disposal. But the appreciation of the congregation will be correspondingly greater.
4. THE BENEDICTION. The manner in which the service of worship is concluded will determine largely whether or not the impression made during worship is to be permanent to any degree. It is possible to dismiss the people in such a fashion that the results of the service shall be dissipated before they leave the church. The Methodist Order of Worship provides that the sermon shall be followed by prayer, the people kneeling, and this by a congregational hymn, the people standing. In a footnote it is suggested that this order of prayer and song may be reversed. If an invitation is to be given at the close of the service to unite with the church or confess discipleship, it is better to have the prayer precede the hymn, giving the invitation when the hymn is announced. In that event the Doxology may be sung and the benediction given, the people standing after the candidates have been received. If the invitation is omitted, or given during the hymn before the sermon, then the sermon may well be followed immediately by a hymn, the people standing, and this by a prayer, the people kneeling or sitting in a prayerful attitude. The value of this prayer will be increased if the congregation shall pray silently for a moment before the leader shall voice their collective prayer. If this 86 THE PASTORAL OFFICE order be observed, the benediction should be given while minister and people are in the position of prayer.
It should be remembered always that the benediction is a part of worship, and not merely a signal that worship is finished. The apostolic benediction 5 prescribed in our order is a wonderful prayer that minister and people together may continually experience the redeeming power of Jesus Christ, and be constantly aware of God’s love for men, and walk in never-ending fellowship with the Holy Spirit. To recite this prayer mechanically is to make only a motion for the congregation to depart. Rendered in this way, it has no religious value whatever. But pronounced thoughtfully and reverently, it becomes the great prayer of the service, gathering up all lesser petitions into one final request for the highest blessing, fixing in the last moment the thought of the people upon the Great God in whom they live and move and have their being, and to know whom is eternal life.
5. THE USHERS. A most important post in the service of worship is that filled by the ushers, who are in charge of all matters which pertain to the physical comfort of the congregation. They should greet the people cordially, though quietly, as they enter the church, not with the professional air of a butler or theater attendant, but in the spirit of a man welcoming a guest to his own home. If a stranger enters, and time permits, the usher will ask a few courteous questions. If there is a choice of seats, he will ask the worshiper what his preference may be. At the communion service, the ushers may helpfully direct the movement of communicants to and from the chancel so that there may be no crowding or confusion. They will see to it that no belated worshipers take their seats during any act of worship, whether prayer, or anthem, or lesson, but only between these. They are the “aides” of the pastor for special errands. If the ventilation needs attention, the pastor should signal an usher to attend to it not leave *2 Corinthians 13:14.
MATERIALS OF WORSHIP 87 the pulpit himself. If a visiting minister is seen unexpectedly in the congregation and the pastor desires his presence in the pulpit, whenever possible let him send his message by an usher. Once he enters the pulpit, the pastor should stay there until the service is over. The ushers should be elected by the official board, and where there are several, one should be “chief usher/’ directing the work of all the rest. That none may be overburdened, one set of ushers may serve at the morning service and another at the evening. In some churches the ushers are regularly organized and have delightful social occasions together.
BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR FURTHER STUDY A. E. Garvie, The Christian Preacher.
Charles S. Gardner, Psychology and Preaching.
D. J. Burrell, The Sermon.
L. O. Brastow, The Modern Pulpit.
H. W. Beecher, Yale Lectures on Preaching.
Phillips Brooks, Yale Lectures on Preaching.
W. F. McDowell, Yale Lectures on Preaching.
S. Parkes Cadman, Ambassadors of God.
F. J. McConnell, The Preacher and the People.
C. Edmund Neil, Sources of Effectiveness in Public Speaking.
P. T. Forsyth, Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind, Lecture III.
Charles R. Brown, The Art of Preaching.