Preach Magazine Issue 5 - Preaching to the unconverted | Page 53

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I am a rookie preacher, just a few years on from
my first-ever sermon, which was given with knees
knocking, hands gripping notes and spit showering
the microphone with alarming regularity. I’m not
sure it’s improved much since to be honest. Of course
we are all rookies to some extent; learning is a
lifelong project. But here are some thoughts, dare I
suggest, even advice, from the journey I’ve been on,
learning to preach from the very beginning.

LEARNING TO SPEAK
Since perhaps the dawning of time
(let’s not get too theological on that)
the sermon has been the butt of many
a joke, viewed as an occasion where
people either sleep or ponder whether
they remembered to feed next door’s
cat. So the first challenge is how to get
past that attitude.
Technically, things like not rustling
your notes (annoying) and learning to
use the microphone (or face the wrath
of the sound desk person) are skills
that can be learned, but speaking with
confidence, passion and accessibility
takes a bit more time. One tip I was
given was to use personal stories to
illustrate points. It helps you feel more
confident, but more than that it’s often
the stories from everyday life that
illustrate the gospel in a way that is
real and honest. Of course you can go
too far with this and my friends now
suggest that whatever they say over a
glass of wine will end up in one of my
sermons, and well, yes, that is often
the case. (Hmm, I wonder if this means
I can get wine on expenses?)
And then of course there is humour.
There’s been much talk recently on
clergy cracking jokes, which reminds
me of a certain bishop I know who
once told me he actually filed his

sermon-suitable jokes according to
date and place so he could recycle
them at will! Of course being able to
deliver a joke is key and I have to say
this is not my forte, so I tend to steer
clear of anything that requires a
punchline.

GET A THICK SKIN
So you can talk, you’ve got some skills
and feel confident. Brilliant. Now you
need to get tough, because no matter
what you say, people will comment
on it. A gentle ‘nice sermon, Vicar’ on
the way out, or possibly, at the other
extreme, a lengthy and less subtle
email the following day. So far, my
favourite comment on one of my talks
was focussed on how often I flicked
my hair when I was preaching! Well,
at least it wasn’t pointing out some
hideous heresy I suppose…
The temptation, though, is to allow
any criticism to rip apart everything
you have carefully prepared (and
probably sweated blood and tears
over too). The best advice I’ve had on
this came from a vicar who suggested
that when you finish talking, just
put your notes on the altar and offer
it back to God. Such wisdom there,
and I find it incredibly freeing now to
put my notes down and know there’s
nothing more I can do.

BE YOU
Feedback is of course incredibly useful
when you are starting out, but better
to ask a few people you trust and
respect for ‘constructive criticism’,
than listening to the comments at
the church door. However, it’s also
important to be you! Shaping your
preaching style to that of your vicar
or someone you have seen at a
conference will only end in disaster.
Developing a style in which you feel
confident and comfortable will take
time. You can always try things out
and see what works for you (and for
your audience, of course).
One of the best preaches I ever heard
was read straight from a script,
something I would usually find
intensely annoying and rather dull.
But, this was funny, heart warming,
theologically sound (kind of important)
and gripping. It was so good I didn’t
care about the style! If you are an offthe-cuff chatterer however, just make
sure you really have learned the skill
of ad hoc speaking (which is definitely
a skill) and to think quickly before
you open your mouth. I inadvertently
managed to suggest recently that our
vicar was going to expose himself, and
only realised what I’d said when I saw
the entire front row in silent shaking
hysterics.