In grateful remembrance The rules of recycling by Richard Littledale
We give thanks for the lives of the following people: Richard Littledale is the Minister of
Newbury Baptist Church, in Berkshire.
Richard is also an author and regular
contributor on BBC Radio 4. Read Richard’s
top tips for how to recycle and reuse old
sermons.
Miss Evelyn Allen
Mr Peter J Baumber
Mrs Marian Challoner
Mrs Dorothy Chatterton
Mrs Joyce Coles
Mrs Tamar Dixon
Mrs Betty Edwards
Mrs Doreen Gammon
Mr Mike Gunnell
Mrs Marilyn Harris
Mrs Barbara Hawes
Mr Ray E Head
Mr Anthony Izzard
Rev Chris Kirkman
Miss Margaret Lavender
Mr David Lunn
Mrs Janet Marchbank
Rev Eileen Mason
Mr Gordon Middleton
Mrs Catherine Jean Patton
Mrs Joan M Seakins
Mr Keith L Stannard
LEEDS
LINCOLN
NEWPORT
LEEDS
CALDICOT
CARLISLE
HARLOW
SOUTH MOLTON
KINGS LYNN
REDDITCH
WELLINGBOROUGH
WINSCOMBE
HONITON
FILEY
DARLINGTON
CHIPPING NORTON
LEEDS
SOUTH SHIELDS
SEDBERGH
LONDON
LONDON
ESSEX
‘Where, O death,
is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
...Thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ.’
1 Corinthians 15:55,57
(Correct to our knowledge as of 6th May
6 LWPT
My own research suggests that few like to
admit to recycling their sermons. It feels a
little bit lazy – as if they can’t be bothered to
start afresh. To others it feels lacking in faith
– like the Israelites of old eating yesterday’s
manna instead of waiting for today’s to fall. I
believe it need not be either of those things if
some simple rules are obeyed:
Preaching should always be fresh, no matter what ingredients are used. Only reuse
a sermon, either in part or in whole, if you do so as an act of love towards those who
will hear it. You wouldn’t serve cold leftovers to a guest, now would you? By all means
use those old words, insights and illustrations – but only because you believe they
have an enduring quality which makes them applicable here and now.
Preaching should always be local – an expression of eternal theological truth in a
specific temporal context. If you are going to preach the same local sermon in more
than one locale, it should always be subtly different. In my previous church, I used
to preach the same sermon at two morning services – 9.30 and 11.15am. Since the
congregations were different, the sermon ended up being different too.
Smooth the joins. If you are going to recycle a sermon in part, make sure that you
smooth the joins. If you don’t, then the whole thing may end up looking like one of
those cars where it has been repaired by bolting on an old wing whose paint is a
different colour to the rest! Your ideas, your insights, and the very cadence of your
writing and speech may have been different when you wrote that first version. This
is not a reason not to do it. Just be careful that you create a unified whole in the
finished product.
The work must be new, even if the materials are old. Few people would talk about a
beautiful wooden table as a recycled tree, or a diamond as recycled carbon. They are
new creations made from the old. Whatever your sources, each sermon must be a
finely crafted new creation.
You may have an old sermon right now, just itching to be transformed into
something new and lovely. Why not take a look?
LWPT 7