Three More Templates
Sermon
Preaching Eyes for Listening Ears
Sermons and Commentary For Preachers and Students of Preaching
Both Long and Craddock include the template, Problem/Solution, in their list of standard sermon forms (Long 1989, p. 127; Craddock 1985, p. 177). Since I have already discussed the problem--solution shape of "This Above All," "Thank God And Take Courage," and "A Gift For One Who Has Everything," I will mention only briefly two additional sermons that offer noteworthy variations, "Remember The Loaves" and "Is Confession Too Easy?"
The opening section of "Remember The Loaves" consists of three stories which invite various members of the congregation to identify the sermonic problem in their own lives -- a profound sense of inadequacy that can undermine ministry and meaningful living. Ormond explores this problem from the perspective of a seminary student, a supervising pastor, and "an ordinary Christian." The problem emerges: When faced with a crippling sense of inadequacy, what is one to do? At the end of each story Ormond hints at the solution through allusions to bread. Having established the problem by means of the three vignettes, Ormond then turns to the scripture passage and the "answer" it proposes. The sermon's final section applies the solution -- bread as memory of divine presence -- to the situation of each central character in the opening vignettes. The template is problem/solution; yet how different is this variation from the sermons examined above.
"Is Confession Too Easy?" is a second sermon that exhibits the problem/solution pattern. This sermon begins with an extended personal story that raises the distinction between confession that is genuinely life--changing and confession that is "too easy." It is this extended personal story that sets this version of the problem/solution pattern apart from other examples. The opening story introduces the general theme. Ormond then probes the particular problem of easy confession based on his experiences of seminary chapel services. His hope is that the congregation will recognize the problem and claim it as their own. The problem presented, Ormond explores a resolution -- his hope that the assurance of pardon will end with a semicolon and not a period; that is, that genuine confession will result in changed lives. Again, how different is the particular shape of this problem/solution sermon from the others I have clustered in this category.
Another sermon template that Ormond uses repeatedly and well is Then/Now. Long describes this pattern as "This is the historical situation in the text ... these are the meanings for us now" (Long 1989, p. 127). Long writes:
In this form, the circumstances of the text are given (e.g. Amos' word to the socioeconomic situation of Israel in the eighth century B.C.E.) followed by the word of the text for today (e.g. Amos' word to our socioeconomic situation). This may be done in two large steps (then/today) or as a series of interweavings (then/today/then/today/then/today). (Ibid., pp. 127--128)
Long continues:
This form is best suited to those texts in which the preacher has identified what James Sanders has called a "dynamic analogy" between the text and the contemporary situation. No historical situation is repeated exactly, but a dynamic analogy results when we identify in some ways with characters or circumstances in the text and thus participate in the tensions and resolutions of the text. (Ibid., p. 128)
Consistently, Ormond's pattern in this cluster of sermons is Then/Now, or Then/Today, and each sermon turns on one or more points of "dynamic analogy" that link the biblical situation and life today. The sermons that I have put under this category are "A Voice Against The Wind ," "Isn't Once Enough? " "When The Wine Fails," and "Three Loaves At Midnight." Although the general pattern is the same, the variations are noteworthy.
"A Voice Against The Wind " and "Isn't Once Enough? " are very similar in shape. The first sentence of both sermons throws the congregation directly into the biblical story, and the first major section of the sermon consists of an imaginative retelling of the story. Ormond states his purpose in retelling the story in his introduction to "A Voice Against The Wind ": he hopes
... to draw the hearers into the emotions, sights, and sounds of the narrative so that they can identify with the sense of helplessness the disciples felt in the storm as well as the awe and assurance which swept over them when they realized that Jesus had come to them in the midst of the storm.
Similarly, "Isn't Once Enough? " seeks to draw the congregation into Peter's emotions, and, by identification, into their own. In each sermon the retelling of the biblical story dominates the first section of the sermon with only occasional, brief interpretive reflections. In both sermons these reflective asides consist of a parallel with another biblical story (Moses, in one; Jacob, in the other), questions addressed to the text, and implied parallels with emotions or circumstances in the congregation's lives.
When the biblical story has been told, there is a clear shift to the present day: "Perhaps some of you ..." or "Nor am I sure that I am comfortable with him now." Thus begins the Now section with which each sermon ends. The repetition of language and imagery preserves the feel of the initial story. There is no shift from preacher as storyteller to preacher as critical interpreter. Each story continues with the congregation now a character in the biblical story. Like disciples in the boat, the congregation is invited to "look" and "listen." Like Peter, the congregation is invited to feel the uncomfortable persistence of Jesus and then to rejoice in the grace of that same persistence.
"When The Wine Fails" and "Three Loaves At Midnight" present variations on this pattern. Both begin not in the biblical story but looking at the story. The preacher is not the story's teller but its interpreter. Within a few sentences, however, the interpreter becomes narrator and the story takes over. In the Now section, however, Ormond is less the storyteller and once again the interpreter, returning to the point of view with which the sermon begins. In these two sermons, Ormond in the final section suggests meanings for the sermon's central image -- wine, in one; three loaves of bread, in the other.
Six sermons are examples of the final template I will discuss, "Now/Then/Now." Long considers this form a variation of the category "This is the historical situation in the text ... these are the meanings for us now"; the variation makes use of flashback (Long 1989, p. 128). Craddock designates this pattern "the flashback (from present to past to present)" (Craddock 1985, p. 177). What is clear in all six sermons is the segmentation into three distinct sections -- Now/Then/Now or Present/Past/Present.
The similarities among "Barefoot in the Pulpit," "A New Day Begins With Breakfast ," and "Advent On A Shoestring" are unmistakable and will form the basic template. It is Ormond's personal version of the standard template. First there is an I--section that recounts a true personal story. This section establishes certain motifs around which the sermon will revolve -- shoes or no shoes; a new day and breakfast; shoestrings, tying, and untying. In the second section Ormond tells a biblical story, or, in the case of "Advent On A Shoestring," two biblical stories. This retelling highlights the key motifs from the first story. Finally, in a third section Ormond suggests meanings for today that highlight once again the sermon's key motifs and that grow out of the sermon's two previous sections.
Three sermons vary this pattern. "On Being Thankful On Cue" changes the middle section so that it is not a retelling of a single biblical story but rather a portrait of the apostle Paul. In passing, let me mention that this sermon could also be analyzed according to the form discussed above, Problem/Solution. "On Plowing New Ground" and "The Butterfly Dream" vary the first section of the sermon. In "On Plowing New Ground" the initial I--section is not a separate story but a questioning of the text that gradually shades into a retelling of the Elisha story. In "The Butterfly Dream" the opening story is not a personal one but the story of a dream narrated in the third person. The overall pattern in all three, however, is the same: a contemporary story or a viewing of the biblical story from a contemporary vantage point; a flashback to a biblical story or a portrait of a biblical personage; and meanings for "us."
Again, my aim in analyzing these sermons is not to reduce their complexity or limit their richness. My aim is to suggest patterns and possibilities that are options for other preachers and students of preaching. I am convinced that we preachers, like those in the past who aspired to be painters or cathedral builders, can learn the basics and expand the range of our skills by apprenticing ourselves to a preacher like Will Ormond, who knows so well the art of sermon--making.
The opening section of "Remember The Loaves" consists of three stories which invite various members of the congregation to identify the sermonic problem in their own lives -- a profound sense of inadequacy that can undermine ministry and meaningful living. Ormond explores this problem from the perspective of a seminary student, a supervising pastor, and "an ordinary Christian." The problem emerges: When faced with a crippling sense of inadequacy, what is one to do? At the end of each story Ormond hints at the solution through allusions to bread. Having established the problem by means of the three vignettes, Ormond then turns to the scripture passage and the "answer" it proposes. The sermon's final section applies the solution -- bread as memory of divine presence -- to the situation of each central character in the opening vignettes. The template is problem/solution; yet how different is this variation from the sermons examined above.
"Is Confession Too Easy?" is a second sermon that exhibits the problem/solution pattern. This sermon begins with an extended personal story that raises the distinction between confession that is genuinely life--changing and confession that is "too easy." It is this extended personal story that sets this version of the problem/solution pattern apart from other examples. The opening story introduces the general theme. Ormond then probes the particular problem of easy confession based on his experiences of seminary chapel services. His hope is that the congregation will recognize the problem and claim it as their own. The problem presented, Ormond explores a resolution -- his hope that the assurance of pardon will end with a semicolon and not a period; that is, that genuine confession will result in changed lives. Again, how different is the particular shape of this problem/solution sermon from the others I have clustered in this category.
Another sermon template that Ormond uses repeatedly and well is Then/Now. Long describes this pattern as "This is the historical situation in the text ... these are the meanings for us now" (Long 1989, p. 127). Long writes:
In this form, the circumstances of the text are given (e.g. Amos' word to the socioeconomic situation of Israel in the eighth century B.C.E.) followed by the word of the text for today (e.g. Amos' word to our socioeconomic situation). This may be done in two large steps (then/today) or as a series of interweavings (then/today/then/today/then/today). (Ibid., pp. 127--128)
Long continues:
This form is best suited to those texts in which the preacher has identified what James Sanders has called a "dynamic analogy" between the text and the contemporary situation. No historical situation is repeated exactly, but a dynamic analogy results when we identify in some ways with characters or circumstances in the text and thus participate in the tensions and resolutions of the text. (Ibid., p. 128)
Consistently, Ormond's pattern in this cluster of sermons is Then/Now, or Then/Today, and each sermon turns on one or more points of "dynamic analogy" that link the biblical situation and life today. The sermons that I have put under this category are "A Voice Against The Wind ," "Isn't Once Enough? " "When The Wine Fails," and "Three Loaves At Midnight." Although the general pattern is the same, the variations are noteworthy.
"A Voice Against The Wind " and "Isn't Once Enough? " are very similar in shape. The first sentence of both sermons throws the congregation directly into the biblical story, and the first major section of the sermon consists of an imaginative retelling of the story. Ormond states his purpose in retelling the story in his introduction to "A Voice Against The Wind ": he hopes
... to draw the hearers into the emotions, sights, and sounds of the narrative so that they can identify with the sense of helplessness the disciples felt in the storm as well as the awe and assurance which swept over them when they realized that Jesus had come to them in the midst of the storm.
Similarly, "Isn't Once Enough? " seeks to draw the congregation into Peter's emotions, and, by identification, into their own. In each sermon the retelling of the biblical story dominates the first section of the sermon with only occasional, brief interpretive reflections. In both sermons these reflective asides consist of a parallel with another biblical story (Moses, in one; Jacob, in the other), questions addressed to the text, and implied parallels with emotions or circumstances in the congregation's lives.
When the biblical story has been told, there is a clear shift to the present day: "Perhaps some of you ..." or "Nor am I sure that I am comfortable with him now." Thus begins the Now section with which each sermon ends. The repetition of language and imagery preserves the feel of the initial story. There is no shift from preacher as storyteller to preacher as critical interpreter. Each story continues with the congregation now a character in the biblical story. Like disciples in the boat, the congregation is invited to "look" and "listen." Like Peter, the congregation is invited to feel the uncomfortable persistence of Jesus and then to rejoice in the grace of that same persistence.
"When The Wine Fails" and "Three Loaves At Midnight" present variations on this pattern. Both begin not in the biblical story but looking at the story. The preacher is not the story's teller but its interpreter. Within a few sentences, however, the interpreter becomes narrator and the story takes over. In the Now section, however, Ormond is less the storyteller and once again the interpreter, returning to the point of view with which the sermon begins. In these two sermons, Ormond in the final section suggests meanings for the sermon's central image -- wine, in one; three loaves of bread, in the other.
Six sermons are examples of the final template I will discuss, "Now/Then/Now." Long considers this form a variation of the category "This is the historical situation in the text ... these are the meanings for us now"; the variation makes use of flashback (Long 1989, p. 128). Craddock designates this pattern "the flashback (from present to past to present)" (Craddock 1985, p. 177). What is clear in all six sermons is the segmentation into three distinct sections -- Now/Then/Now or Present/Past/Present.
The similarities among "Barefoot in the Pulpit," "A New Day Begins With Breakfast ," and "Advent On A Shoestring" are unmistakable and will form the basic template. It is Ormond's personal version of the standard template. First there is an I--section that recounts a true personal story. This section establishes certain motifs around which the sermon will revolve -- shoes or no shoes; a new day and breakfast; shoestrings, tying, and untying. In the second section Ormond tells a biblical story, or, in the case of "Advent On A Shoestring," two biblical stories. This retelling highlights the key motifs from the first story. Finally, in a third section Ormond suggests meanings for today that highlight once again the sermon's key motifs and that grow out of the sermon's two previous sections.
Three sermons vary this pattern. "On Being Thankful On Cue" changes the middle section so that it is not a retelling of a single biblical story but rather a portrait of the apostle Paul. In passing, let me mention that this sermon could also be analyzed according to the form discussed above, Problem/Solution. "On Plowing New Ground" and "The Butterfly Dream" vary the first section of the sermon. In "On Plowing New Ground" the initial I--section is not a separate story but a questioning of the text that gradually shades into a retelling of the Elisha story. In "The Butterfly Dream" the opening story is not a personal one but the story of a dream narrated in the third person. The overall pattern in all three, however, is the same: a contemporary story or a viewing of the biblical story from a contemporary vantage point; a flashback to a biblical story or a portrait of a biblical personage; and meanings for "us."
Again, my aim in analyzing these sermons is not to reduce their complexity or limit their richness. My aim is to suggest patterns and possibilities that are options for other preachers and students of preaching. I am convinced that we preachers, like those in the past who aspired to be painters or cathedral builders, can learn the basics and expand the range of our skills by apprenticing ourselves to a preacher like Will Ormond, who knows so well the art of sermon--making.
