So does homiletical methodology impose a strait jacket on the preacher?  Yesterday we noted that methodology recognizes the progression from text to sermon, it does not rigidly enforce it.  Description of logical order, as opposed to prescription of illogical order.  But there is more to be added:

2. Good methodology only feels like a structure initially. It is like riding a bicycle.  At first there is a lot to remember and try to keep straight, but once it becomes natural, it is natural.  A person first learning to ride a bicycle needs to learn all the necessary elements, even if it feels overwhelming.  It doesn’t help to ignore the handlebars initially and simply let the arms hang limp.  The initial “structured” feel soon fades with practice.

3. Good methodology is a guide, not a machine that “guarantees” results. You cannot feed a text into a machine and produce a good message.  The methodology found in homiletics books and courses is a guide, not a machine.  Any promise to guarantee a great message is a false promise – whether that be a sermon methodology, a published collection of outlines, a website, or whatever.

4. Good methodology does not force the text into a sermon shape. There are methodologies that do this.  This is a strait jacket.  As I’ve written before – sermon form is a choice for the preacher to make in light of the text, the listeners, the occasion and the preacher’s own strengths and skill.  Good sermon preparation methodology is a guide, not a shoe-horn that will squeeze any text into a specific sermon mold.

So homiletics instruction in book or course form is not intended to be a strait jacket, but a guide.  Many testify to the freedom that comes from a sense of structure in the preparation process.  For many, it is the absence of any guidance at all that brings on feelings of insanity, not the “strait jacket” of a sensible thought-through methodology.