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In 1954, the Methodist Conference took the unusual step of electing as its president
designate the minister of a Congregational church. The Revd Dr Leslie Dixon
Weatherhead was, however, one of the most famous Methodist preachers in the
world, known for his broadcasting, his pioneering work on the relationship between
psychology and religion, and his liberal views.
W
eatherhead was born in 1893,
began preaching in 1911, and
entered Richmond College to
train for the ministry when
only 19. The Great War disrupted his
formation; he was stationed to a circuit
in Surrey in 1915 but a year later was
ordained and sent to Madras, India.
Returning to Britain in 1922, he had
appointments in Manchester and
Leeds before being given permission to
serve the City Temple where he was to
minister for 24 years, a period which
saw the church’s destruction during the
Blitz and its rebuilding.
By the time he was called to the
City Temple, Weatherhead was
already a popular preacher and the
author of several books, some of
which, particularly After Death, had
caused him to be labelled by some as
unorthodox. He continued to publish,
and amongst his works are several
volumes of sermons, though his
admirers maintained that the power
of a Weatherhead sermon was to be
experienced in the live event; that which
can seem sentimental or commonplace
in print apparently had power in the
moment of delivery.1
In part, this was because Weatherhead
did not view preaching in isolation from
the rest of ministry. The introduction to
one collection of sermons focused on the
holistic work of the City Temple, ‘a work
of which preaching is only a part’2, and
Weatherhead always stressed that the
context of preaching was worship.
So it is typical that a published sermon
begins ‘Let me point out to you the
unifying thought of the whole service
this morning.’3 What is also typical is
that the unifying thought was found in a
poem of Walter de la Mare. Weatherhead
loved poetry; his MA (for which he
studied whilst in circuit in Manchester)
was on Victorian poetry and it is a rare
Weatherhead sermon that includes no
lines of verse. He apparently expected
that many of the quotations to be
familiar to his congregants, but even
where they were not there was nothing
esoteric about his preaching. The
poetry often intersperses a carefully
constructed argument phrased in
simple language and drawing on
commonplace, homely, and personal
illustration. To Weatherhead this was
also poetic as a poet was someone ‘with
imagination, with intuitive insight, who
lives in a world where spiritual values…
hold sway.’4
Weatherhead believed that the poet/
preacher was called to see the everyday
as sacramental: the sacred in the
ordinary. Preaching, therefore, had to
address the hearers’ everyday lives,
taking seriously the psychological
as well as the material reality.
Weatherhead undertook the study of
psychology when the discipline was
still young. It was a study that led
him to believe that the fundamental
human need is to be loved. So the
purpose of the sermon is to bring the
hearer closer to the one in whom he
believed that need could be met: Jesus.
Weatherhead’s preaching and theology
were profoundly Christocentric.
Despite the romanticism and occasional
sentimentality, Weatherhead’s sermons
are marked by a determination to
take seriously the intellectual struggle.
Even if ‘The Advantages of Atheism’5 is
ironically titled, Weatherhead was not
afraid to acknowledge that belief did
not come automatically to many people
and that a carefully argued apologetic
case could and should be made for the
Christian faith. Ultimately it is not
an intellectual argument that meets
human need, however, but location
in the soul-healing community of the
disciples of Jesus:
‘Those who come to church... come to
worship; they come to find pardon; they
come to enter a fellowship; they come to
get power. No! No! We need not divide it
thus. They come to find all their deepest
longings satisfied when they find God.’6
One of Weatherhead’s earliest books
was The Transforming Friendship.7
The purpose of his preaching was to
invite the listener to embrace the offer
of friendship: ‘The Eternal Voice cries –
Come! And He means you!’.8
Key Features of the Preaching of
Leslie Dixon Weatherhead
c
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Preaching takes seriously the
questions and concerns of those
who do not believe.
Preaching uses simple language
and simple illustrations.
P
reaching is Christocentric and
intended to invite the hearer to
embrace a relationship with Christ.
Preaching takes seriously the
insights of psychology.
The everyday provides sermon
material because there is a
sacrament of ordinary life.
Poetry can point to sublime truth
and is a source of theology.
P
reaching appropriately draws on
the preacher’s personal experience.
Preaching is understood within
the context of worship and as part
of the mission of the church.
The sermon has to be theology
that the preacher can own with
integrity.
1. C
amroux, Martin (1999), ‘Liberalism Preached – Leslie
Weatherhead’, Epworth Review, vol. 26:1, page 75.
2. W
eatherhead, Leslie (1945), The Significance of
Silence, London: Epworth Press, page 1.
3. W
eatherhead, Leslie (1953), That Immortal Sea,
London: Epworth Press, page 35.
4. Weatherhead, Leslie (1939), The Eternal Voice, London:
SCM Press, page 132.
5. Weatherhead, Leslie (1953), That Immortal Sea,
London: Epworth Press, pages 21–34.
6. Weatherhead, Leslie (1945), The Significance of
Silence, London: Epworth Press, page 128.
7. (1928), London: Epworth Press.
8. Weatherhead, Leslie (1939), The Eternal Voice, London:
SCM Press, page 140.
Rev Dr Jonathan Hustler
Jonathan Hustler is a Methodist presbyter
who has served in three circuits and
as vice principal of Wesley House,
Cambridge. He teaches and writes
on Church history, preaching, and
pastoral theology. He is now
Ministerial Coordinator
for the Oversight of
Ordained Ministries in the
Connexional Team.