We are republishing this article from our good friend, Fr. Barnabas, who is the priest of Ss. Raphael, Nicholas and Irene Church in Cumming, GA  and blogger at Sober Joy, co-teaches the course PAST 7201 – Preaching: Proclaiming The Kindgom, with Fr. Nick Triantifilou, the president of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Fr. Nick  was the main professor, and Fr.  Barnabas was the co-instructor. In this preaching lesson, which was given earlier this year, we are given an excellent example of a three-step process to preparing an effective sermon on the Gospel.

Tonight we are going to look at one way to organize a homily to insure that your homily has a clear purpose and a clear structure to encourage effective preaching.

The outline I use is as follows:

Introduction

D.S. – (Declarative Statement)

T.S. – (Transitional Statement)

I. (1st Main Point)

1. (Sub points)

2.

Ill. – (Illustration)

Appl. – (Application)

T.S. – (Transitional Statement)

II. (2nd Main Point)

1. (Sub points)

2.

Ill. – (Illustration)

Appl. – (Application)

T.S. – (Transitional Statement)

Conclusion

Step One

The First step after having studied the passage or subject for the homily is to develop the most important part of the above outline – the Declarative Statement. The D.S. is your homily’s main idea and purpose written in one sentence. For example:

“Today’s Gospel passage reveals two (2) powerful principles to assist us in becoming mature disciples of Jesus Christ.”

This declarative statement now becomes the controlling thought for the rest of the homily. It reveals your two main points and it governs your purpose i.e. to assist your parishioners in becoming mature disciples of Jesus Christ.

Step Two

The Second step in developing the homily using the above outline is the Main Points. Your Declarative Statement has already revealed how many main points you should have and now you state them clearly.

“The First Powerful Principle is…”

then the sub points open up the main point with specific insights into the point itself such as the power of a particular Greek verb in the text or a context for the particular teaching Jesus is making here. The Second Main Point is developed in a similar manner.

Within both Main Points are two other components that are indispensable for the effectiveness of the homily. They are:

Illustration – the illustration should paint a vivid picture of the Main Point it is trying to reinforce. It could be a story, or a quote from the Fathers, or an item from the contemporary news of the day. Regardless, it must allow the hearer to “see” the Main Point.

Application – Here is where you are to “preach.” Each Main Point should have an application section where you help the hearer understand and apply the Main Point to his/her daily life. It is inherently frustrating to be told that I should become a mature disciple of Jesus Christ and then not get the steps to make this a reality in my life. The hearer should leave the service with a clear way to apply what he/she has heard in that morning’s homily. Every homily is incomplete and ineffective without this vital element.

The Transitional Statement is as simple as it seems. It is a short and simple statement that moves you from your previous Main Point to your next Main Point.

Step Three

After having completed the Main Points, the Third step is to write your Conclusion and Introduction, in that order. While you are developing these two sections, you will usually find that they inform one another.

The Conclusion should be not only a recap of the Main Points and important elements from each Application section, but also a clear call for the hearer to apply what he/she has heard that morning to his/her life. The Conclusion is the place to ask the hearer to step up to the principles of the Gospel lesson preached.

The Introduction should be able to “set the table” for the homily as a whole. It should be timely and it should connect with the hearers to where they are in their lives. It can begin with a story, a personal story, or even a contextual background for the passage itself. Regardless, the Introduction is the place to help the hearer begin to become a doer of the Word.

An old preacher friend once told me that in a sermon, you should

“tell them what you are going to tell them; then tell them; then tell them what you told them. “

The important task is to leave as many memory possibilities within the homily as possible to assist the hearer in remembering the insight from the Gospel lesson that day.

With time and practice this system can become a way for you to move away from a manuscript toward noteless preaching. This takes time, practice, and serious attention to preparation.

As above, this is just one way to organize a homily.

As you develop your own style, keep in mind that the homily is just as much a part of the work of the Divine Liturgy as any other part of the service. It is the time when you have a powerful opportunity to set the tone for your community in their spiritual lives and in their daily lives. It is a time when exposing them to the Scriptures is also a way for them to see the Scriptures as intimately applicable to their daily lives.

The task of the Preacher is to take the Scriptures and give them to the people in such a way that they value the Word as much as you do.

© 2010, Preachers Institute. All rights reserved.

TAKE THE POLL!

When we were in the early stages of discussing the mission and goals of the Preachers Institute, one that stuck out was the opportunity for advanced, intensive study of homiletics among Orthodox clergy.

We decided early on that the professional degree (D. Min.), not an academic degree (such as a Ph.D. or a Th. D) would best fulfill our vision, as it was the  preacher on-the-ground, in the parish preaching that wanted more opportunities to advance his study and practice of homiletics where it counted most – in the local Church.

And indeed, a year since we launched Preachers Institute, we have over 10,000 unique visitors to our site monthly. Material is copied from PI daily!

In order to better facilitate the planning and implementation of such a degree, we’re asking each of you to take the poll in the sidebar. Choose as many as you like to answer, just be as honest as you can.

The poll will end on May 15th at midnight.

Please do not hesitate to

Share your opinions via the online poll;
Share your ideas and needs, if they don’t fit into the options listed;
Pass this to others, who can likewise, take this poll and help us.

Thanks for helping us out by registering your opinion on this poll.

We have much more coming this year from Preachers Institute. Stay tuned, as they say.

And, as always, pray for us.

© 2010, Preachers Institute. All rights reserved.

The questions a preacher must consider when preparing his sermon are many.  One such question must be: “Is my sermon a vaccination against sin and indifference, or an inoculation against conversion?” Though we certainly believe that vaccinations are good science, the idea that a small, dead amount of something which is good (in this case, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ) can be used to create resistance to the very living thing which heals and cures – and therefore is bad - make this an excellent metaphor for instruction.

I’m indebted to Alan Boyd, pastoral assistant at Assumption Church in Scottsdale, AZ for ideas contributing to this article.

Often a preacher must decide just how much ‘salt’ his congregation or listening audience can stomach (see my article, Sermons and Snickers Bars for more about ‘salting’ your sermons). Just as often, a preacher can default to a minimum announcement of the Gospel to his hearers, presenting a minimum of Gospel platitudes or moralizing, but staying a minimum safe distance from possibly incendiary, but basic, Christian topics (hell and how to get there, tithing and the other 90%, the moral teaching of the Church, etc) which are necessary for life, faith and spiritual growth in the Spirit. Such mini-sermons are often called ‘sermonettes,’ and parishes get to expect sermonettes, as opposed to real sermons.

There is an old saying among preachers (variously attributed to A.W. Tozer, Michael Green, John Stott, etc.) that

‘Sermonettes make Christianettes’

and Christianettes can not endure embarrassment, let alone ridicule, oppression or persecution. Christianettes have no personal conversion experience, and are lulled into the worst kind of spiritual complacency by the self-knowledge of their own apparent righteousness. Christianettes bear the kind of heart that the Lord warned against in the Parable of the Sower.

So, longer sermons is the cure? No, sermonettes can be more lengthy than sermons! A long sermonette just takes more time to say less. Do longer sermons produce stronger Christians? No, but better ones do.

Take, for example:

• The Ten Commandments has roughly 180-320 words (depending of which version you read.), and created a body of law that continues to nurture the faithful 5000 years after it was written.

• The St. Crispin’s Day speech from Shakespeare’s play Henry V, one of the most riveting exhortations ever written, is only 407 words.

• Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was only 272 words and it helped shape a country on the brink of tearing itself apart.

It is not the length of the sermon that matters one way or another, but its power.

Truth is, short sermons take a short time to prepare, longer sermons generally take longer to prepare, but excellent sermons, short or long, take a very long time to prepare. In this scale, sermonettes –regardless of their length – require almost no serious time to prepare, let alone prayer, reflection, or study.

In other words, the sermonette is powerless.

The deeper problem is that small ‘sermonettes’ can actually perform a different, darker function.

They can actually inoculate your listeners against the Gospel.

The Anti-Gospel Inoculation

Just as a vaccination contains a small portion of dead virus, and prepares the body in advance to resist the actual living virus, so the sermonette can actually inoculate the listener to the living experience of the Gospel. The sermonette is powerless – just like a dead virus.

Having received a small part of a comfortably dead, moralizing devotional that warms the stomach, and tickles the vanity, but requires no action from the heart, the Christian soul can come to believe in very short order that the Gospel is about moralizing, feeling good about yourself, and doing well. Worse, it can present the goal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as being a nice person (whatever that means), rather than repentance, conversion and holiness.

Additional sermonettes, once this has taken hold, can act as ‘booster shots,’ strengthening the spiritual immune response of genuine Christian conversion, repentance, and piety.

How To Avoid Inoculating Your Audience

Rule Number One is always the same: PREACH THE GOSPEL.

Rule Number Two: See Rule One.

After all, if you’re not preaching the Gospel, what are you doing?

The Gospel can be summed up in the words of St. Paul in 1 Cor. 15:3-8.

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

The proclamation of the Gospel is not limited to this, of course, but this is the Gospel at its most basic, and most important. It is the Gospel St. Paul called preaching ”Christ crucified.”

Pious devotionals, moral messages, calls to action are all important parts of a preachers arsenal, but can also replace the real preaching of the Gospel. That is, you can preach imposters for the Gospel.

That counts as inoculation, too. Mostly because your listeners, convinced that they have heard and understood the Gospel (after all, they hear you preach, and they expect you to tell them), may not have heard or understood it at all. As the Lord said in the Gospel according to St. Matthew 6:23;

“If the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

The danger is that when they hear the real thing, they will either reject it as a slant on the truth – and therefore offensive, (God forbid) or they will assume that you are incompetent, and incapable of preaching the real Gospel. This second group will leave and go where the Gospel is really being preached and explained.

The question every preacher must ask himself is:

Is your sermon a vaccination against sin and indifference, or an inoculation against conversion?

You know all that theological education you studied so hard to acquire in Seminary? Now is the time to distribute it, in small, lightly-salted bite-sized chunks. Pepper your sermons with these for a year, returning time and again to similar themes and teachings.

In this way, rather than inoculate your hearers against the Gospel, you will be inoculating them against sin, vice, ignorance and self-righteousness.

Fr. John A. Peck is pastor of St. George Church of Prescott, AZ, and is the co-founder, and Director, of the Preachers Institute.

© 2010, Preachers Institute. All rights reserved.

to all our faithful readers, members, lurkers and writers!

On this day, the day of our Lord’s birth, we here at the Preachers Institute want to wish you all a very merry, safe, and spiritually fruitful Nativity celebration, and to assure you all of our prayers, particularly on this festive Holy day. This is a great feast, the feast of the Incarnation – the central theological doctrine of the Christian faith.

If the Eternal, unseen, invisible God can become today a little child, then, indeed, anything is possible! Spread the Word! Let no man or creature suffer ignorance of this joy!

Speak to all with joy and love and keep the feast with gladness.

God is with us!

On this Christmas day, we wish you and your loved ones every good thing, every perfect gift from above. May God grant you your heart’s desire.

Preachers Institute will be celebrating the “12 Days of Christmas” by offering daily patristic sermons on Theophany/Epiphany until Jan. 6th. In the meantime, be safe, and have a blessed Nativity!

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

– Fr. John

and your friends at Preachers Institute

© 2009, Preachers Institute. All rights reserved.

If your listeners learn something from your sermon, they will remember it. And that’s good preaching!

Scripture verses for Christmas Sermons

Virgin Birth:  Matthew 1:23

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and you shall call His name, Emmanuel. Isaiah 7:14

A young woman conceiving and bearing a son happens thousands of times a week. It’s no sign from the Lord.

The Adoration of the Magi: Matthew 2:1-2;

May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!  May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him! Psalm 72:10-11

The Star:  Matthew 2:2

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh:  a star shall come forth out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth. Numbers 24:17

The star of Bethlehem was, according to the Fathers, not an astronomical event, but a revelation of Divine Energy.

Born in Bethlehem:  Matthew 2:5

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Micah 5:2

Bethlehem means “House of Bread.” Remind your listeners that immediately after His birth, Jesus was placed in a manger – a feeding troth.

Slaughter of the Holy Innocents: Matthew 2:6

Thus says the LORD: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping.  Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not.”  Jeremiah 31:15

Flight into Egypt:  Matthew 2:15

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. Hosea 11:1

Donkeys and Oxen at Nativity scenes!

The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand.” Isaiah 1:3

Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your crib? Job 39:9

There is a similarity in sound and meaning between the Hebrew word for branch (nazer) and the word Nazareth (nazeroth)

“He shall be called a Nazarene” Matthew 2:23

There is no verse like this in the Old Testament. Rather, Matthew is interpreting the Old Testament in several places theologically. What did he mean? The word ‘branch’ (nazer) is a specific Messianic reference in the Old Testament in many places, and therefore Jesus is called the Branch (nazer) in many places

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men of good omen: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, upon the stone which I have set before Joshua, upon a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day. Zechariah 3:8-9

In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors  of Israel. Isaiah 4:2

You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it?  From this time forth I make you hear new things, hidden things which you have not known. Isaiah 48:6

(‘hidden things’ is literally ‘nazeroth’  – the city of Nazareth is literally in this verse!

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: `The LORD is our  righteousness.’ Jer.  23:5-6

In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring forth for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: `The LORD is our righteousness.’ Jer.  33:15-16

Brothers, I hope this is at least interesting, if not helpful for you. Offer your best at this great season of the Nativity of the Lord. God will bless you as you proclaim His Truth to a hopeful and hungry congregation.

May God grant you your heart’s desire this Nativity season!

© 2009, Preachers Institute. All rights reserved.

We all know sermon preparation is important, but this article answers the specific questions: “What kind?” “How much?”

“Proper prior planning prevents poor performance.” Every time I say this, my wife throws something at me. Nonetheless, and dodging household missiles aside, every Orthodox clergyman or preacher who preaches a homily knows well that preparation is essential for successful preaching. What kind of preparation, how much, and in what order is somewhat more amorphous topic, and often draws ambiguous answers, even from highly experienced clergy.

In this article, I propose an easy to use guideline for sermon prep which establishes what to do, when to do it, why it is important, and what it leads to.

I call it “The Preaching Pyramid.”

As you can see in the diagram, the Preaching Pyramid considers the preparation and delivery of a sermon as a whole work. The Pyramid in the diagram is nicely color coded, and divided into sections with “Preaching the Sermon” as the capstone of the work. As one must begin at the beginning, preaching, I believe, begins at the base of this Pyramid.

Prayer

No one seriously believes that a preacher should not approach the task of preaching without prayer, but that being said (or in this case, written), who will answer the questions which naturally should follow?

How much prayer? What kind? When? Where?

In the Preaching Pyramid, the answer is simple. If the task of preparing and delivering a sermon is considered a whole work (100%), and, according to my reckoning, only 5% of that is actually delivering the sermon, then 50% of the preparatory time is devoted to prayer. That is, if you regularly deliver a 30 minute sermon, then your prayer time in preparation for the sermon should be about 300 minutes, or 5 hours of prayer. Five hours.

This five hours should be devoted to interior prayer, contemplation of the Divine Scriptures, and some significant intercession on behalf of one’s soul and the state of the lives and souls of your listeners.

In standing before the altar on the Lord’s Day (or any other day), we stand in a coursing, silent fire. We stand in a furnace, yet by God’s mercy we are not burned. Our feet are glowing like burnished bronze, as the Scriptures say:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace.”

(Rom. 10:15; Isaiah 52:7)

One should never lose sight of this. If the preacher is not praying here, it doesn’t matter where else he prays. It is as if he has prepared for a foot race, but has not shown up at the starting line.

Prayer in anticipation of crafting the sermon should begin the day following the Sunday Liturgy, and continue right up until the moment one invokes the name of the All-Holy Trinity to begin preaching. Life and its cares will take us away from this prayer, but we must make a habit of returning to it. Only in petition and interior silence can we fulfill our calling as preachers of the Gospel, not announcers of it.

Preparation

In the Preachers Pyramid, preparation makes up 30% of the work. Therefore, if one preaches for 30 minutes, one should make solid, formal preparation for the sermon taking at least 3 hours. Now, I know very well that this is not much time for sermon preparation, but I’d like to point out that it is at least 3 hours of solid, formal preparation, not 3 hours of thinking about it.

Preparation is one of those indispensable activities in any serious endeavor. Dwight Eisenhauer, Supreme Allied Commander during WWII  said “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.”

This is the time to sit, to write, to read useful material. Intense study of the Scriptures, the fathers, commentaries, dictionaries; this is all standard fare. You may also select what secular material is useful for you. I’m not talking about sermonizing on the morality of Star Trek, or the symbolism of The Truman Show. I’m talking about books like the works of Milton, Dickens, contemporary books on marriage, etc. These have real value, and you do not need to reinvent the wheel. Prayer will help guide your preparation.

Preparation is also not the activity of committing a sermon or outline to memory. On our Pyramid, delivery preparation is praxis.

Praxis

Praxis, in the Pyramid, is the action of preparing to deliver the sermon. To this we give 15% of the task. For a 30 minute sermon, at least 90 minutes.

Listening to recordings of ‘dry runs,’ committing the sermon or outline to memory, or preparing the notes to preach from (after all, we don’t have access to teleprompters or giant screens to read from in the Orthodox Church.)

Ancient classically trained orators and rhetoriticians taught themselves to speak from memory, by memorizing an outline of their speech, assigning one section of their topic to each part of their own home. As they mentally walked through their house in their mind’s eye during the speech, they recalled the topic associated, and all its ancillary points. As a result, with proper preparation, they were able to speak for great lengths of time, with precision and passion, without ever losing their place, or getting too sidetracked. They knew the path of their speech, and did not deviate very far from it.

Whatever the method used to prepare for the delivery of the message, it should not be haphazard. This is an important work. People may come out of curiosity, habit, default, obligation or even guilt, but they come back for good preaching. Visitors especially are affected by good preaching – it is what brings them back. Visitors don’t worship, if they pray, they don’t pray much, and mostly they are wondering if they are safe in your church. The right message will answer that question for them.

A final issue about praxis is diction: One must speak with the three ‘Cs’ – confidence, clarity and conviction. It does no good to have a life changing message that no one can understand because you are mumbling, punctuated with the occasional unmistakable word;

Mumblemumblemumble “sex” mumblemumblemumble

does not make good presentation of your message, however good and necessary your message is. You will have your listeners attention if they can easily and comfortably hear what you say, and believe that you believe it without apologies.

Preach

When the moment to deliver the good news arrives, the preacher steps forward to open his throat to a fatigued but hopeful crowd. Life has beaten them down. They’re tired, and they are looking forward to refreshment, to someone who can walk the walk they talk. They are looking for a father, during a time when fathers are portrayed as incompetent and lazy, and fatherhood is understood too often as neglect, abandonment, or patriarchal tyranny. Smile. They’ll think you are happy, or you are an idiot. Either way, you’ll surprise them with your competence.

When preaching, here are a few other helpful suggestions.

1. Mention Jesus Christ by name. You’d be surprised how often this gets left out of a sermon.
2. Preach the Gospel using the simple words of scripture. I’m an English major. I learned early as an undergraduate that if you can’t express a proposition in a simple declarative sentence, you probably don’t understand it. Here are the words St. Paul used to preach the Gospel: “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He died and was buried, and that He rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; and that He appeared to (many)” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). That’s the Gospel. Preach it.
3. Repetition reinforces learning.  Tell you audience what you are going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you just told them.
4. Stop at the end of your sermon. Knowing when to end is even more important than knowing how to begin, so you should definitely know where you are going to end before you begin. Too often, too many preachers give two sermons when they should only give one and they lose their audience. The end of a sermon is not a new beginning. End it!

Evaluation, progression and excellence

Once the sermon is done, during the short walk back to the altar, a prayer of thanksgiving is in order.

Sometimes you know when you hit it out of the park. Sometimes, you know you struck out, and sometimes, you just don’t know anything. Recording your sermon, reviewing notes used, adding things you said which you did not plan; these should all be part of a quick Monday wrap up evaluation. Keep the outline or text of your sermon, listen to what you said. If it can be video recorded watch yourself preach. This is the first step of next week’s sermon: Review and evaluation. This is worthy of a separate article. Stay tuned.

Although it is very gratifying to be told your sermon was wonderful and had meaning to someone, every honest preacher knows that it is truly constructive criticism that helps one improve. Improvement in any endeavor requires specifics to measure, and areas to rate and score. These may be subjective, but even subjective standards are standards, and that means they can be raised. The Preachers Institute will hold workshops to do precisely this; take preachers, get them to preach, and get them to evaluate preaching – their own and others. We have no preaching awards or competitions for clergy in Orthodoxy. We should. We will.

You know the old saying, “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like.” This is easily applicable to homiletics. For the homilist, of course, this is an unacceptable state of affairs. Measurable categories of performance are available and must be broadly disseminated to benefit every professional preacher in Orthodoxy.  Every priest need not engage such personal homiletics evaluation, but every preacher should know how a sermon is evaluated. In other words, what makes a good sermon good, and more importantly what makes a bad sermon bad.

Ideally, the Preaching Pyramid itself provides a measurable standard by which the homilist may measure the prayerful preparation, formal construction, anticipated delivery, and the Spirit-filled act of preaching the Gospel, and that, indeed, is the purpose of the Preaching Pyramid.

Fr. John A. Peck is the pastor of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Prescott, AZ.

© 2009 – 2010, Preachers Institute. All rights reserved.

Orthodox preaching needs to be good preaching. To be good, Orthodox preaching must not only deliver good content, but it must strive to make the hearers good. Therefore, good Orthodox preaching is the Gospel (lit., good news) proclaimed and lived.

Four characteristics mark good Orthodox preaching:

1. Christ crucified and risen;
2. the language, or rationale, of Scripture;
3. plain discourse; and
4. attention to the experience of salvation through the Gospel.

All Orthodox preachers exhibit these traits beginning with Christ Jesus, the apostles, and the prophets. They only preach what they themselves have come to know.

First, Orthodox preaching is the Word, the Logos incarnate Who was crucified and raised to redeem the world from sin, death, and the power of the devil. “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-2). Our Lord instructed after the Resurrection: “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47).

The Gospel encompasses the entire plan of salvation from creation to Second Coming as it hinges on the Cross, Burial, and Resurrection. The preaching of Christ comprises the narrow gate to God’s Kingdom, composed from the Creed, the prayers of the Divine Liturgy, and the Church’s great festal hymns. So Orthodox preaching is doctrinal preaching, the revelation of the saving Mystery of Christ (cf. 1 Tim. 3:16).

Second, good Orthodox preaching always weaves a tapestry from the language of Scripture. Read the Old Testament prophets, the apostles, and the words of Christ Himself – always alluding to the holy words spoken before. More than that, though, good preaching thinks Scripturally, not just verbally quoting the Scripture, but with the rationale of the Holy Spirit.

Preaching has to make sense. Words have to match reality, hence, the constant use of Scripture which is an unfailing guide to the Truth of God and man. The preacher must know the Scriptures and be prepared to apply their truths in a proper, logical way.

Third, the proclamation of the Gospel should take place with plain discourse. Good preachers get to the point. Fancy expressions and circuitous reasoning transform preaching into a performance, either for entertainment or a demonstration of the orator’s skill; however, neither serve the Gospel well. Of course, Christ taught in parables and used expressions not always, or easily, understood by those who heard Him (cf. Matt. 13:11-13). But Jesus’ language was plain. People knew what He was talking about even if they didn’t always understand. Plain discourse conveys the message that the hearer should understand, and if they don’t, then they should pursue the meaning further.

Thus good preaching connects the Gospel in the language of Scripture to the everyday life of the hearer and addresses the hearer to see his, or her, life in a different way, God’s way. It is a message “for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). In order to warn, encourage, educate, and edify, Orthodox preaching will state the unequivocal truth with courage, with love, and with certainty in the power of the Gospel by the working of the Holy Spirit.

Fourth, and this is the core of the Orthodox Tradition, good preaching focuses attention on the experience of salvation through the Gospel. “And with many other words [Peter] testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation’” (Acts 2:40). Does the sermon draw the hearer to purification from passions, to illumination in the knowledge of Christ, and to glorification in the grace of the Holy Spirit? Then, it is good preaching: “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18).

There are no human guarantees with preaching. People refused to listen to Christ. The most carefully constructed sermon can still fall on deaf ears. Sometimes the most poorly delivered sermon surprisingly produces the best results.

Precisely here ring the words of the Word, The Preacher: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). Orthodox preaching, ultimately, is all about the results. It expects a change, a transformation, in the hearer as with the speaker. Every good sermon provides not only the who, what, and when of salvation, but also the how(!), leading the recipient to self-examination and realization to utilize the vast array of resources for personal salvation (e.g., the mysteries, services, disciplines, and saints of the Church).

Preaching is a exhortation to follow Christ in His Body, the Church, toward the only life worth living.

Fr. Jonathan Cholcher is the pastor of St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church in Warren, OH.

© 2009, Preachers Institute. All rights reserved.

The sermon that is preached in the context of the Divine Liturgy should lead the hearer on the path of sanctification and theosis. According to Holy Scripture, the way of sanctification and theosis is a journey that begins with the fall of our first parents in the garden, and culminates with the passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For each one of us, our personal journey follows an identical trajectory: it begins with our personal recognition of our fallen sinful way of life, and by the Grace of God, we turn away from sin, and follow Christ to the Cross, trusting in His Power, and in the hope of His Resurrection. Baptism is the sacramental expression of this journey. It begins with exorcisms and renunciations of Satan; then we are washed clean of our sins in the water of Baptism in which we put on Christ; we are then sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit in Chrismation; and finally we partake of the broken body and spilled blood of Christ as a foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven. Every time we gather as the Church to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we retrace the fundamental life-giving journey of sanctification and theosis, which is a journey from repentance to salvation. By God’s grace we are called to turn away from sin and self-centered living, and embrace the saving way of the Cross of Jesus Christ, a journey that is made anew every time we partake of Christ’s broken body and spilled blood. This essential message of the Gospel is most perfectly summarized in the preaching of Christ, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matt 4:17)

This trajectory, or journey, from sin to salvation in Christ, is quite obvious in the traditional Orthodox prayers before communion. As we prepare to receive the Body and Blood of Christ we acknowledge our sins; we confess our commitment to turn away from sins inasmuch as we are able by God’s grace; and we affirm the infinite goodness and mercy of Christ who gives us Himself as spiritual food to nourish and strengthen us in our apostolic work of doing God’s will and being witnesses of the Gospel. This same basic pattern of repentance and salvation is even evident in the prayers after communion; as though the Church is saying, “Having received the Body and Blood of Christ, please do not forget what this is all about!” The liturgical tradition of the Church is simply echoing the basic pattern of the way of theosis evident in Holy Scripture. This pattern of repentance and salvation is apparent in the overall narrative structure of the Bible as a whole, which begins with the fall of our first parents, and culminates with the second coming of Christ in the book of Revelation. The same pattern is repeated again and again throughout Scripture: people turn away from God, He is merciful, calls them back, and they are given hope for new life in Him. The saving drama of this “holy narrative” is perhaps most evident in our celebration of Holy Week and Pascha. The Bridegroom comes for his bride—the people of God—who reject Him, betray Him, and hand him over to be tortured and killed. Yet, even in the midst of such horrific blasphemy, the Word of God triumphs in love, and offers forgiveness to the sinners who betrayed him. Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!

Thus, when we preach in the Divine Liturgy, the basic message of our preaching should be “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” However, just because the basic narrative shape of our preaching is defined by Scripture and the Liturgy, does not mean that our preaching is boring, abstract, or irrelevant. Far from it! Even though it has been played out countless times in the lives of countless men and women—known and unknown—the “holy narrative” of the Gospel is always dramatic, concrete and relevant. Consider the stories of the Exodus, the prophet Jonah, and the conversion of St. Paul. The basic plot is essentially the same each time, even though each story takes place in a different generation, with different specific details, involving the lives of different people. The saving narrative of repentance and salvation is always dynamic and engaging.

Thus, by using the basic pattern of a journey from repentance to salvation in our preaching we gain two significant advantages:

1. Our preaching will conform to the essential narrative structure of Scripture, and it will be in accord with the liturgical tradition of the Church.
2. We have a basic template for our crafting our homilies and sermons.

A sermon always needs to “go somewhere.” Even though a preacher may include a bunch of wonderful material in a sermon, it may not hold together and if the hearers lose interest, are confused, or bored by what is being said, the preacher has fundamentally failed in his task of pastoral leadership. Preaching that has a single narrative trajectory is much more likely to maintain the attention of the hearers because it moves from a crisis to a resolution. This does not mean that every sermon is merely a story about a saint, or about the life of Jesus. Rather, preaching leads the hearer on this saving journey. It begins by identifying a real challenge facing the members of the community, and it leads them on a saving journey of repentance, to the Cross, culminating in the Kingdom of Heaven.

To craft a sermon that leads hearers on a journey from repentance to salvation requires that the preacher know where the journey will begin and where it will end. Broadly speaking, this starting point is sin and the intended destination is ever more perfect communion with Christ: the Kingdom of Heaven. However, from week to week, and from community to community, the aspects of sin and hope that are most important will vary considerably. In faith, we confess that God is speaking to us by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is the task of each preacher to discern the Word which God is speaking at any particular time in each particular place. However, this discernment of the Word of God is not made in a vacuum. The Orthodox liturgical tradition places us in obedience to the Lectionary, so it is the lectionary readings that fundamentally shape and guide our preaching.

The first thing that a preacher should do is to select one reading to serve as the foundation of the sermon. There is a school of thought among preachers which says that the preacher’s task is to discern the unifying theme or themes that link together the lectionary readings, and then preaching is simply an unpacking of these connections. While this is an interesting, and possibly edifying, way to reflect on the lectionary texts, it is not helpful in terms of charting a path from repentance to salvation. In fact, an exposition of the logic that underlies the shape of the lectionary rarely provides any kind of pastoral guidance. While this kind of reflection might make for an interesting lecture, it does not constitute a liturgical sermon. Thus, to make matters as simple as possible, the preacher should always begin by focusing on one reading. This does not mean that the other reading/s are necessarily ignored, because as the sermon is developed, it may be possible to include material from multiple lectionary readings, and indeed, one should always feel free to include as much relevant material from Holy Scripture as possible. However, focusing on one lectionary reading will allow you to better focus on how the Word of God is speaking to you and your community today.

Once you have selected one lectionary reading, you ask two fundamental questions:

• What is the call to repentance in this reading?
• What is the word of hope and salvation in this reading?

Sometimes you will not be able to find a clear answer to one of these questions in the reading. For example, in the so-called parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), there is no clear word of hope and salvation. Will the older brother ultimately enter into the feast, or will his anger and arrogance keep him out in the cold? This is how parables work, they do not give us clean tidy endings. Rather, they are designed to put the hearer on the hot-seat: asking the hearer to decide, “Will you stay outside of the Kingdom with your own righteous indignation, or will you enter the Kingdom in humility and rejoice in the repentance of your brother?” So, if you are preaching on this parable there are a number of answers to the first question, but the second question is not really answered by the reading. This is where you will need to employ your own biblical and theological knowledge. If, for example, the reading is calling us to repent from arrogance, then the implied word of hope and salvation could be that Christ accepts all who embrace humility and forgiveness. Likewise, there might be a reading where the word of hope and salvation is very clear, but the call to repentance is not. Similarly, one would discern what the implied call to repentance is, based on the word of hope and salvation. Ultimately, the goal is to come up with a call to repentance and a word of salvation that are well matched; a pair that have an obvious and logical connection so that the sermon—just like the prayers before communion—might call us to conversion, lead us out of sin and death, and into a more perfect communion with Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Once you have identified a clear call to repentance, and a word of hope and salvation based on the reading, the next step in the process is to identify how these same dynamics are at work in your life and in the life of the community. For example, if the lectionary text speaks of the pride of a son who refuses to accept the fact that his father has forgiven his prodigal younger brother, the preacher needs to explore ways that he and members of his community participate in the same kind of destructive behavior. In other words, we may not have prodigal younger brothers who are dramatically welcomed back by our fathers, but all of us are guilty of standing in judgment of others, and believing that our notion of justice is the only valid one. So, if the journey is from pride to humility, then you would need to think of concrete examples of how we—preacher and the community—are tempted to be prideful, and likewise think of concrete examples of how a life of Christian humility allows us to experience the kingdom.

By clearly establishing the call to repentance and the word of hope and salvation, you will establish a definite starting point and an ending point for the sermon. Not only will this allow you to focus and simplify the overall message that you are presenting, but it will also add considerable focus to your homiletic process.

The Rev. Dr. Sergius Halvorsen is the professor of rhetoric and homiletics at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, CT, and a founding member of the Preachers Institute.

© 2009, Preachers Institute. All rights reserved.