I certainly don’t want to push this illustrative analogy, but just one more post from the world of 1980’s television drama.  The title is wrong.  These two posts are really preaching theory “illustrations” rather than “lessons.”  Obviously I can’t use the term “illustrations” because it would mislead on a preaching website, but I’m also not saying we learn our preaching from Aaron Spelling TV productions.  The fact is that as times change, so does the presentation style used by the media.  They are driven to be as effective as possible, so they tend to evolve their approach.  Some aspects are negative (more and more shocking content to stir results in numbed viewers), but others are simply neutral (such as the phenomena noted in the last post and this one).

So just one more “lesson.”   A quarter of a century ago, the episode I was watching followed a clear plot line.  A situation thrown into tension by a problem, with the tension then increasing until the moment of resolution, followed by several minutes of denouement – tying together loose ends and returning the viewers to a state of relaxed contentment.  Those last few minutes were intriguing to me.  The program almost landed twice, but still dragged on.  After the satisfying capture of the felons, there were two more scenes.  One in which the arresting officer made a tricky play on words in reference to the length of jail term one would receive.  Then another showing the officers joking together as they headed out of the door. Corny?  Yes.  Necessary?  No.

Compare that with equivalent police or military dramas today.  Often the show ends just before you expect it to end, not three minutes after it should have ended.  Often the show ends with some tension remaining, a thought-provoking scene, or a cliff-hanger.  These two approaches illustrate a preaching lesson that homiletics writers also affirm:

When you come to the end of your message, don’t add three minutes of nothing and a corny freeze frame moment that leaves listeners comfortably returned to a state of relaxed levity.  Instead carefully craft your conclusion to both resolve the message, yet also to leave an unresolved state of heart and mind, a slight disequilibrium that gives some momentum into the application or further consideration of the message.  Oh, and try to do all that and finish a couple of sentences earlier than they expect.