How to Hear a Sermon
FROM THE RECTOR
I love listening to good sermons, and I get to hear a lot of them from my colleagues at St. Paul’s. Each of us has a different style, but we share a commitment to being faithful to the biblical text and to the community in which we preach. In seminary, I was taught how to write and deliver sermons, but I have learned as much from listening to colleagues as from any professor. One thing I was never taught, however, was how to hear a sermon and get the most out of it. Some of you with more experience than I have could teach me a thing or two about it, but here are my top ten tips for listening to a sermon for all its worth.
1. Do your homework.
If I sit down with my children to watch a movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and have not taken time to read up on where this particular film fits into the multiple overlapping storylines of superheroes whose names I barely recognize, I will either spend the first half of the movie confused about what is going on, or I will annoy them with constant questions. When we listen to a sermon, we are entering a stream of over four thousand years of salvation history, and we may not immediately recognize the biblical setting from which the sermon emerges. Even without doing any secondary reading, if we take ten or twenty minutes each week to read the lessons before we get to church on Sunday, we begin the process of becoming available to God before the preacher starts. If we took that time each day to read and pray over the lessons, imagine what we might hear each week.
2. Assemble all of the ingredients.
When I preach, I usually focus on only one of the appointed lessons, but all of them, as well as the collect of the day, influence my sermon. The authors of the lectionary have paired particular readings together with the collect to make thematic connections that transcend any one passage of scripture. Even if the preacher will not mention the other passages, listening to them carefully helps us hear more than what is being said from the pulpit. Likewise, the hymns have been selected to match the readings, and allowing the lyrics and music to sink into your soul may help you notice something in the sermon that you otherwise might miss.
3. Do not expect to be entertained.
We do not preach in order to entertain or impress you. We preach to glorify God and to proclaim God’s Word to God’s people. Doing that in a way that holds your attention and leaves you wanting more is helpful, but preachers do not craft a sermon because they expect a congregation to enjoy it. Instead, we are faithful first to God. When you are sitting in a pew, you may find it more helpful to expect to be challenged, provoked, or inspired than pleased, comforted, or amused. Otherwise, you are likely to miss what both the preacher and God are trying to say to you.
4. Be attentive…to yourself.
Instead of only trying to listen to the preacher, also pay attention to what happens within you during the sermon. If you hear something you do not like, ask yourself why. When I preach, I do not expect you to agree with everything I say, but I hope you will take some time to think about why something I say rubs you the wrong way. If the preacher focuses on something that you do not think is important, ask yourself why. Maybe there is something especially valuable for you to hear about a theme or topic you normally dismiss as uninteresting. We never preach a sermon that is only intended for part of the congregation, so take some time to figure out what you need to hear each week.
5. Accept the value of struggle.
Sometimes sermons are designed to comfort us. Sometimes they are written to inform us. But sometimes they are intended to challenge us. Anger is an acceptable response to a sermon. In the Bible, people get angry at God all the time, and sometimes preachers have something to say that will make us angry, too. As faithful recipients of a challenging sermon, our job is to dig into that struggle in holy ways and not simply write it off as evidence of a preacher’s failure. A colleague once told me that he thinks a faithful sermon should make at least one person stand up and walk out every Sunday. My goal isn’t to push you out the door but to push you deeper into a faithful relationship with God, and sometimes that means proclaiming God’s Word in challenging ways.
6. But don’t sweat the small stuff.
Wrestling with big things is important, but getting stuck over a particular illustration or turn of phrase will not help you hear what God might be saying in a sermon. Sometimes preachers use words or images that miss the mark. We offer an anecdote that you find distracting or tell a story that you don’t like. When we do, you can spend the rest of the sermon thinking about a better way to introduce the scripture lesson upon which the sermon is based, or you can let go of the part that didn’t work for you and listen for what comes next. Usually, the stuff worth holding onto comes from God’s Word instead of ours.
7. Offer meaningful feedback.
My favorite sermon comments are the ones that show a meaningful engagement with scripture. If everyone tells me that they liked the story or illustration I used but make no mention of the lessons into which they were supposed to draw us, I know I missed the mark. I love hearing why a sermon helped you encounter a familiar passage in a new way. I celebrate when someone admits that they did not like my sermon but benefitted from hearing an exposition of a challenging passage. Enjoying a sermon is fine, but telling the preacher what you enjoyed and why it strengthened your faith helps us get better in our craft.
8. Take it with you.
Sometimes we need more than a few minutes to digest what has been said from the pulpit. If you find yourself noticing later on that you are still thinking about something you heard, pause for a few minutes and dwell in that thought. Relisten to the sermon on YouTube or read it on our website. Remain open to the Holy Spirit’s gentle nudge throughout the week and trust that any pull back to a sermon is an opportunity for spiritual growth.
9. Ask for more.
If you are confused, upset, or provoked by a sermon, reach out to the preacher later in the week and ask for a follow-up conversation. Whether a simple email or text exchange or a conversation over coffee, when we take time to discuss a sermon and its effect on us, both the preacher and the listener grow in faith.
10. Be grateful for what is offered.
Whether you like a sermon or not, look for ways to be thankful. Some sermons are better than others, and some are easier to receive, but all of them are offered to God and the community in an act of faithfulness. We hear more from a sermon when we approach it with gratitude because we then receive it as a gift. Sometimes the most important thing we can do to get something meaningful out of a sermon is to be thankful for whatever is proclaimed and let that gratitude open a door for deeper reflection and growth.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan