SermonStudio

I would urge every preacher to attempt an experimental sermon
occasionally, especially if he or she is normally a very routine,
conventional person.51
-- John Killinger

Change attracts attention. Every preacher knows this after
watching people's attention shift to a child walking up the aisle
and out the door to the bathroom. I was in a church once where a
bird was flying around the sanctuary. The pastor could just as
well have been reading out of the phone book for all the
attention the sermon retained.
A change in sermon style also attracts the attention of the
congregation. Preaching the same way every Sunday to today's
audience deadens your preaching. Varying your usual style and
doing something different in the pulpit on occasion will not only
broaden your own skills and outlook, but it will reawaken
interest among the listeners.
The last chapter proposed varying one's flow, organizing the
material to keep the listener's attention. This chapter suggests
using a different kind of sermon now and then.

New Forms
There is no one correct style of preaching. The gospel is
constant, but styles and forms can change. Over the years no
other group in history has used more variety in communication
than Christian preachers. The Christian church has been

in the forefront of new communication forms -- from the sermons
and letters of Paul, the four gospels, the dauntless missionary
monks of medieval Europe, the mystery dramas performing Bible
stories all over Europe, the stained glass artists and sculptors
who portrayed the gospel through their art, musicians who wrote
music for the church, the courageous preachers of the Reformation
era, the frontier tent preachers of this country, and the
missionaries who have fanned out around the world. The new age of
printing was inaugurated with, what else? the Bible.
Yet today we Christian preachers seem to be oblivious to the
new world of communication. Advertisers, politicians and
entertainers have taken the pulse of the new audience and adapted
their style. Can it be that for the first time in history the
church is not taking its message seriously enough to vary its
communication style?
There is a reason for this reluctance. We are suspicious of
passing fads or gimmickry in preaching. The gospel is too
precious for that. Many of us avoid new forms of preaching
because they draw attention to the style of the sermon, away from
the text, or they may be irresponsible to the text. People might
go home raving about a chancel drama the pastor did with four
other people acting out their parts, instead of a regular sermon.
Yet if they can't remember what the message was, the gospel was
not served.
There is a wide variety one can use in verbal communication
which will convey the gospel. Variety in preaching can reawaken a
congregation which has grown accustomed to the same sermon format
every Sunday. Preaching which has fallen into a groove may really
be in a rut.
The gospel can be conveyed in many ways, and a good preacher
should consider nontraditional ways of communicating. If the
message of the text can be conveyed more effectively with a
different kind of sermon, try it. A nontraditional sermon even
once or twice a year will make a huge difference in how your
congregation looks forward to preaching.52

Telling The Story
One source for a new style of preaching is the Bible itself.
Recruiting Sunday school teachers, every pastor has heard the
excuse, "I don't know enough about the Bible to teach Sunday
school." For some this might be false modesty, but the fact is
that more and more people don't know much about the Bible these
days! We live in an age of increasing and alarming ignorance
about the Bible.
The best Bible teaching time in a congregation is the sermon.
Offer a Bible study class and 10-20 people will come, probably
the same persons who attended the last Bible study class. Far
more people listen to the Sunday morning sermon.
Preaching should tell the story, and that means the stories in
the Bible. The biblical text should be the engine that drives the
sermon. Unfortunately in many sermons the text is the diving
board into the sermon. The pastor uses the text to jump into the
theme of the sermon, then swims around in the theme and never
comes back to the text. The text becomes a pretext for the
sermon.
A truly biblical sermon can take various forms:
*thematic, where the theme comes from and is tightly bound to
the text;
*expository, where the preacher goes through the text verse by
verse;
*illustrative, where illustrations and stories are used to
convey the story or narrative of the text;
*retelling, where a large part of the sermon is the text
itself, retold in the preacher's words.
Old Testament and gospel texts which are stories in themselves
lend themselves to retelling. Listeners often pay little
attention to texts as they are being read during the service, but
will listen carefully when preachers retell the story in their
own words as part of the sermon. If we truly believe in the power
of the Word, we can confidently let the Bible speak for itself!
Black preachers are masters at this. The black church in this
country grew among mostly illiterate people. The sermon

was for them what stained-glass and sculpture were for the
medieval church -- means of teaching the Bible stories to people
who couldn't read.
A black pastor told me, "The first requirement for preaching
in a black congregation is to be able to tell a Bible story." A
good black preacher will retell the story with such color and
drama that it comes alive in your mind. His advice to me was,
"Dress it up some ... but don't mess with it!"
"Dress it up some ..." A good storyteller adds details to the
story to help the listener see it better. One describes people
and recreates conversations that are not actually in the biblical
text.
In 1943 Peter Marshall preached to a Good Friday congregation
in Detroit.53 His title was "Were You There?" and most of the
sermon was a retelling of the via dolorosa, Jesus' agonizing
journey through the streets of Jerusalem carrying the cross to
his crucifixion on the Golgotha hill. The sermon described the
noises of the crowds, the glint of sunlight on the Roman
soldiers' armor, their hardbitten cruelty as they pushed the
crowds back to make way for Jesus, the anguish among Jesus'
friends as they watched the procession, the thud of the hammer as
the nails were driven into hands and feet, and finally the
excruciating agony Jesus suffered as he hung there.
The listener saw the Passion of Jesus in the mind's eye. With
the story vivid in our minds, Rev. Marshall moved to the
conclusion: "Were you there?" Yes, the listener was there,
because the story had come alive in our minds.
"... but don't mess with it!" my black friend continued. "My
people know all these stories. If I add something that doesn't
belong there, or get something wrong, they know, they know right
away, and they let me know!"
In retelling the story, the preacher dresses it up, but
doesn't add things that don't belong. One has to be creative
without altering or violating the message of the text. The
details have to be consistent and credible with the story. They
must not distract from it or shift its meaning. The preacher has
to know the historical setting well enough to keep the
descriptions accurate.

We preachers do this consistently even without thinking. For
instance, preaching on the story of the Prodigal Son, one might
say,

On the day that his boy left him, the joy went out of the
father's life. As he watched his spirited and splendid son walk
away, memories flooded his mind -- the joy of the boy's birth,
the games they had played, the excitement of the boy when they
had gone fishing, all the times they had worked side-by-side in
the fields. Finally his son disappeared down the road, and with
tear-stained cheeks he turned and went back home, to a house that
now seemed lonely and empty.

Most of those words and descriptions are not in the text, but
they are consistent with the situation, and the story comes alive
to those who listen. Every parent in the congregation whose child
has grown up and left home, even in happy circumstances, will
identify with the story and, more importantly, realize in a new
light the meaning of the story as it unfolds. Being struck afresh
by the father's deep love for his son, the listener realizes how
profoundly God loves his wayward children on earth.
When the story is retold well, people will catch glimpses of
things they never heard before, even in the most familiar of
stories. Old stories become new again. Unexpected insights flood
the mind.
This is not an easy kind of sermon to preach. It takes
creativity to retell the story well, and some people do it better
than others. One must also learn about the background and
historical context of the text, so that the details of the story
do not contradict the setting. Retelling the story well takes
effort, but it is well worth it to make the Bible come alive.

Visual Aids
Most traditional preachers shy away from visual aids because
they can so easily be trite or corny. For a visual

generation, however, they can also be very effective. They give
the listener a "hook" by which the message of the sermon sticks
to them.
For example, I preached a post-Easter sermon on 1 Peter 2:9-
10:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him
who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you
were no people, but now you are God's people ... (1 Peter 2:4-10)

The title of the sermon was "How Do You Identify Yourself?" The
theme was that we are more than human beings here on this earth.
When we introduce ourselves we give our name, address, then add
items such as our profession, our family situation, hobbies, and
so on. Yet from the larger perspective of all eternity, we should
introduce ourselves first as a baptized child of God.
To make the point I held up my passport. When we lived in
Europe, I said, we spoke the language of the land, paid taxes,
and our children attended the local schools. But my residence
there was only temporary. My true citizenship was elsewhere. I
was a citizen of the United States, and wherever I traveled, my
passport was the sign of my true identity. Baptism is our
passport to God's people. No matter where we are or what we do,
we Christians belong to a greater kingdom, and that is our true
identity. Many listeners still remember the passport sermon, and
remembering the passport, they recall the message of the text.
Another time I preached a sermon titled "Precious in the Sight
of God." The point of the sermon was that human beings are
precious not because of any inherent quality within us, but
because we are created by God, who has loved us enough to send
his Son to die for our reconciliation and salvation. We are
precious because we are precious to God.

I needed an object which had value not in itself but given to
it. First I held up a piece of high-quality carpet about a foot
square. It was high-priced carpet, superbly made from fine wool.
Then I held up a piece of brand new bond stationery paper. Both
items had value in themselves.
Next I held up a $20 bill. It was old and crumpled, so the
paper wasn't worth anything. Since it was all covered with
letters, numbers and designs, one couldn't even use it for note
paper. By itself it was worth nothing.
Yet it was by far the most valuable of the three items. Why?
Because a higher power said it was. It was valuable because the
United States government said it was, simple as that. In a
similar way we human beings are precious because the Almighty
Creator of this whole vast universe loves us and has named us his
children.
The possibilities of visual aids are limitless, and no doubt
every reader has used them. They can also distract from the
sermon. If the connection between the object and the sermon theme
is obscure or contrived, people might recall the object but not
the message. If the object illustrates something other than the
main point of the sermon, the message is obscured.
One pastor did a series of first person sermons, speaking as a
biblical character. For each one he used an object to help the
congregation recognize the character -- sunglasses for the blind
man (John 9), a plaster death mask for Lazarus (John 11), a jar
and towel for the woman who washed Jesus' feet (Luke 7), and so
on. The sermons were preached some time ago, but listeners still
remember them, because they recall the objects used.

More Than One Preacher
There are several kinds of sermons where the pastor is joined
by other persons -- dialogue sermons, sermons as conversations
between two or more persons, participation from members of the
audience, and so on. They take a great deal

of time in preparation, but they can be powerful means of
proclamation if done well.
A change in preaching style is particularly effective on those
occasions where we repeat the same texts year after year. The
preacher often wonders, "What shall I say this year?"
On a Reformation Sunday, Wisconsin pastor Gordon Thorpe did
something different. People came into the sanctuary and noticed a
door placed in the front of the church. The pastor began the
sermon speaking in the first-person as Martin Luther, recreating
the historical setting of that first Reformation Day, when the
reformer posted his 95 Theses to challenge the sale and traffic
in indulgences. He spoke about Luther's appearance at the
Congress at Worms in 1521, where before the assembled rulers of
the Empire he courageously defended his convictions. Then he
asked,

"Are there Lutherans today who know what they believe and whose
beliefs are really important? ... Is there anyone here today who
thinks that ..."

At that moment a scientist in the congregation came forward
and said,

"... this belief that God is our creator has affected my life and
my work in many ways. As a caretaker of God's creation I'm
careful that the actions and the decisions that I take as a
computer engineer do not destroy this universe that belongs to
God, but rather preserve it."

He said that God's creative power is at work not only in the
creation, but also in the lives of himself and the people in the
church.
No sooner had he finished than another person came forward and
said,

"I'd like to share my convictions with you this morning ... I
strongly believe that Jesus Christ has guided me through many
trying and sometimes dangerous situations."

She called upon the people in the congregation to respond to
Christ's love by reaching out in love to others.
A high school teacher stood up and told how

"... when I was an infant my parents brought me to church, not
for a symbolic ceremony but for a real miracle at the altar in
which I was touched in baptism by Jesus. It was also important as
I got to an adult stage when I could make decisions for myself
and choose my own way. I asked God to guide my life, to be part
of my life, to help me daily and to lead me ... I will always sin
and I will always need to confess it, and I will always be
forgiven for as long as I do so ..."

The last to come forward was a college instructor, who told of
his trust in God's constant presence at various times of his
life. He testified to his faith "that Jesus Christ will never
leave me nor forsake me. On Christ the solid rock I stand."
As the speakers finished, they took their statements and
nailed them to the door, just as Luther had posted his 95 Theses
on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg.
The pastor closed the sermon by inviting members of the
congregation to write their own statements of faith on blank
bulletin inserts and nail them to the door. The sermon was
followed by several hymns, and the singing was punctuated by the
sound of hammer blows as people came forward. The message of the
day was the message of Reformation Day, but because the style was
different, it will be long remembered by people who were there.

Drama
One Good Friday our youth group performed Construction, a play
designed for a church chancel by Ralph Stone. The play begins as
nine people walk down the aisle and assemble at the front of the
church, wondering where they are

and what they're supposed to do there. Representing various kinds
of persons, they notice a lot of construction materials laying
around and decide they should build something. But what? After
much bickering and arguing they decide they should build a wall
to protect themselves from anybody who might be out there,
although it has become clear to the audience that these people
haven't learned to live with themselves, say nothing of learning
to live with anybody in other areas.
As the second act begins there is a large piece of cardboard
across the chancel, painted to look like a stone wall. A stranger
comes down the aisle and claims to have the blueprint for what
the designer really had in mind for the construction materials.
Much to their surprise he tells them:

"A bridge ... Not a wall, not a wall at all. We have far too many
of them as it is. We need more bridges -- bridges over which the
traffic can flow both ways, bridges that take you from here to
other places and bring other places to you here."54

The people are shocked, since they have grown secure and
protective with their wall. The dispute builds until everyone
grabs tools and attacks the Builder. At the moment they put him
to death, the lights in the church go out, leaving only one
spotlight on the cross at the front of the church -- the
crucified Builder whose blueprints from the Designer were
rejected by his own people.
The message of the play conveyed the message of the cross in a
new and thought-provoking way. Even more importantly, in the
process of preparing and rehearsing the play the youth understood
in a deeper way what Jesus' crucifixion really meant.
I could have preached a sermon on that same theme, even
telling the story of the play itself. However, seeing it enacted
on the stage was a far more powerful way of communicating the
message.

The Word In Other Forms
I recently heard a highly effective sermon given as a letter.
Speaking in the first person, the preacher explained that he was
a Jew, still living in Babylon, descended from the Jews who had
been exiled to Babylon 500 years before Jesus was born. He had
received a letter from a scholarly friend of his, who had seen in
the stars a message that a king was born to the Jews in Palestine
and who had gone to find him. He then unfolded a scroll and read
the letter from one of the wise men, describing the Christmas
story and the search to find the baby from his perspective. It
was done with creativity and imagination, enabling us listeners
to experience the story from a new perspective, with the sense of
awe and wonder which those magi must have felt. The familiar
Christmas story came alive in a new way.
The sermon had taken much thorough preparation, because the
preacher had done research on the Jewish diaspora group in
Babylon, the study of ancient astronomy and the story of magi.
The sermon never violated the flow or the content of the biblical
story but was consistent with what we know about the historical
details of that era.
Throughout the church's history music has been a vehicle for
the gospel. Particularly among young people, some of the most
effective Christian communication is being done through music.
This can also be done in sermons. I have heard preachers quote or
sing hymns, have the choir or congregation sing a hymn verse,
have somebody else play or sing, or play music on tape.
The power of music as a means of transmitting the gospel was
made clear to me on a recent trip to Germany. A Christian who had
lived through the harsh years of communist rule in East Germany
told me,

"The Marxist government opposed modern music such as jazz and
rock-and-roll as evil influences from the West. Yet they let us
sing the wonderful music of the

church, such as Bach's cantatas, his St. Matthew's Passion and
the Christmas Oratorio. God's Word was heard through the music by
many people who would not have been in church, and that Word took
root in people's hearts!"

Imaginative preaching can use music, and of course the gospel is
being communicated by music throughout the whole worship service.
The gospel can also be communicated through stories from
literature. One congregation in North Dakota will never forget
Henry Van Dyke's The Other Wise Man, because it was told in a
creative fashion one Christmas. Just as the pastor began to
preach the phone rang. An usher handed a note to the pastor, who
said, "I have to leave for a few minutes." He motioned to a
member of the congregation and said, "You know some good
Christmas stories. Tell one until I get back."
The speaker came forward and began telling Van Dyke's story,
written a century ago. One of the wise men, Artaban, stopped to
aid a dying man in the desert and thus missed the rendezvous with
the others. To equip himself for the trip across the desert
alone, he spent a sapphire, one of the gifts he had brought for
the new-born king.
The speaker paused for a moment and said, "That's all of the
story I can remember," and stepped down. Another person in the
congregation got up and said, "I know what happens next," and
told how the wise man arrived too late in Bethlehem, just as
Herod's soldiers were sweeping in to kill the babies. She told
how Artaban gave the captain of the band a beautiful ruby to
protect a mother huddling in fear with her tiny child. It was
another of his gifts, and for this gift of her child's life the
mother blessed him with the benediction from the Old Testament.
The speaker sat down, and yet another got up. "There's more,"
she said, and continued the story. Just as she finished, the
pastor returned and told how the story illustrates the message of
Christmas. By then the congregation realized it had all been
prepared beforehand, but probably no one who was there will
forget that sermon.

Richard Jensen calls these kinds of creative ideas "stereo
preaching," creative preaching which communicates to both the
literal left side of the brain as well as the more intuitive
right side.55 Creative and nontraditional preaching done well on
occasion can be enormously helpful to convey the gospel in fresh
ways.