How to . . . ?

Planning a Gospel Series – Four Suggestions

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It is a good idea to preach a series from one of the gospels, but it is not easy to plan.  There are so many events, parables and teaching sections that a series which simply goes from one NIV heading to the next would last for years.  Here are some suggestions:

Get to grips with the gospel before you plan the series. Some good study in a gospel will give you a sense of the flow and structure, of the big themes, the major chunks and so on.  This will all help to plan the series creatively.

Recognize that individual units are strung together to make a broader point. As I presented here recently, Luke 18:9 reaches on through 19:10 at least.  Seeing how these units work together will help to understand the larger sweep of the book.

Wrestle with the flow of the whole. John’s themes of the deity of Christ, belief and life, recur throughout the book of signs, culminating in the climactic miracle of the raising of Lazarus.  Mark’s two overarching questions of who is Jesus and what does it mean to follow him control content throughout the gospel.  Once the disciples finally recognize and declare who Jesus is, they discover that they cannot have the Messiah without the cross – so in the end it is the climactic statement of the Centurion that pulls it all together.  Try to relate the parts to the whole so that the series has evidence of unity in the way it is presented.

Consider giving an overview sermon at the start and/or end of the series. This can really help listeners to see the flow of the whole and orient them to the message of the book.

Tomorrow I’ll add more, but I’d love to hear more input on this subject.

When Less is More in Delivery

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More power does not always mean more power.  Sometimes for emphasis we need to do the opposite of the obvious:

When less is more in delivery – When we are convinced or excited, our volume tends to rise.  But it can be dynamic and powerful to drop to a whisper at the point of emphasis.  When worked up we easily rise in pitch, delivering our most significant material in the annoying shrill of an over-enthusiastic choirboy (but dropping the pitch to a lower tone will add emphasis without the discomfort for listening ears).  And of course, when we get worked up we easily drop our foot to the floor and speed through key material.  In the cold light of midweek it is easy to spot the weakness in that approach!

Variation is critical in content and delivery.  One way to add variety is to be sure to look for opportunities to apply the old principle that works so well in preaching – sometimes less is more!

When Less is More in Content

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We tend to think that we will add power to a message by adding more.  Perhaps more material or evidences or quotes in support of a point.  Perhaps more volume or pitch or speed in delivery.  It is very important to know when less is more!  Sometimes the powerful clarity of a single statement is cloaked by extra material.  Sometimes the secret to a deep impact in delivery is to do the opposite of the obvious.

When less is more in content – Long speeches are regularly forgotten, but succinct ones stand tall in history.  Multiple exhibits given in evidence may confuse listeners who are trying to remember the detail without clarity as to the main goal.  Numerous quotes may begin to feel like mere words when one pithy powerful quote might ring true, loud and clear.  A complex main idea may be accurate, but will it change lives like a carefully honed succinct statement?

Tomorrow we’ll consider when less is more in delivery.

Churchill’s Power Line

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James C. Humes, in his book, Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Powerful Secrets of History’s Greatest Speakers, gives Churchill’s formula for planning a true power line.  In the speech of a politician this is the sound-bite designed to galvanize the nation, or reach millions in the media.  It’s the cream that rises to the top of a speech.  Perhaps we can consider these elements as we craft the message idea – our power line.

C for Contrast. Pairing antonyms in one line can work wonders.  Churchill declared,

“There is only one answer to defeat and that is victory!”

R for Rhyme. Subtle internal rhyming adds power to a line and makes it more memorable.  For instance, the rhyming of two seas in the famous Iron Curtain speech:

“From Stettin in the Baltic
To Trieste in the Adriatic,
An iron curtain has descended upon the continent of Europe.”

E for Echo.  Echoing a term within a line can add power to it.  For example, here’s Churchill again:

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender.”

A for Alliteration. This is not saying we should alliterate our points, that can be discussed elsewhere, but it adds power to that key line.  Consider a line apparently coming from Churchill on public speech:

“Vary the pose and vary the pitch and don’t forget the pause.”

Martin Luther King’s most quoted sentence is a classic example,

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character!”

M for Metaphor. Well-chosen and framed imagery has much greater power than mere abstraction.  One more from Churchill:

“An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

One last tip to go with this list – use power lines sparingly.  One per message.  Any more is wasteful both in terms of your effort and your effectiveness.

Always the First Step

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I remember well my first class in hermeneutics at seminary.  Years later I still have the voice of my prof ringing in my ears – “Observation!  The first step in inductive Bible study method!” Influenced as he was by Howard Hendricks, he left his mark in my life as I open the Bible and start by looking.  What is there?  What does it say?  You can’t interpret it until you know what it is.  Observation is the critical first step to success in Bible study, and in preaching too.

You have to observe well to handle the Bible well.  You have to observe well to communicate effectively.  In a discipline like preaching, so built on effective Bible study, we would do well to continually develop our observational faculties.  Let me share this quote from William Wirt (1828), quoted in McDill’s 12 Essential Skills:

Perhaps there is no property in which men are more distinguished from each other, than in the various degrees in which they possess the faculty of observation.  The great herd of mankind pass their lives in listless inattention and indifference to what is going on around them . . . while those who are destined to distinction have a lynx-eyed vigilance that nothing can escape.

Practice observation every day.  Describe the person you just spoke with.  Define the distinctive characteristics of their body language.  Observe the headlines on the newspaper you pass.  Live with a lynx-eyed vigilance so that you never waste your life in listless inattention and indifference!

Not a Rule, But a Commitment to Expository Order

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I split the preparation process into two.  Stages 1-4 focus on the text.  Stages 5-8 are concerned with forming the message.  Before beginning to think about the message, it is a good idea to consider the listeners (audience analysis).  Until this point the focus is on the text.  From this point on the focus is on both the text and listeners.

Obviously it cannot be a rule that no thought should be given to the listeners in the first half of the preparation process.  Our minds will naturally and often wander onto those for whom we care pastorally.  We will see points of application.  We will have illustrative thoughts coming to mind.  We will remember that their questions of the text must be answered if they are to receive a full message.  At times in the process we will mentally jump ahead and make a note for later in the process (an illustration, a helpful nugget of the wordsmith’s craft, etc.)

However, we should have a strong commitment to keeping our focus on the text in the first part of our preparation.  Brief and even frequent thoughts related to our listeners may be acceptable.  Periodic leaps forward in our notes to record a thought for later in the process is fine.  But first and foremost our objective is to understand the passage.  What did the author mean?  What was his purpose?  What is the idea conveyed in the text itself?

We must make a firm commitment to first truly study the Bible, rather than hunting for a sermon in the sacred text.  The study process should lead to application in our own lives, which should naturally then lead on to an applied message for our listeners.  But our first task is not to find a message, but to let the Scripture be master of our lives, then of our message.  A commitment to expository preaching is a commitment to study the text first.  It’s not a hard and fast rule, but it is a commitment.

Real Life Is Raw

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As I write this post I am sitting in a café working away at my laptop.  I can tune out most of what is going on around me.  But not at the moment.  Two parents and a teenage daughter are having a dispute at the next table.  It’s simple really.  The father wants to protect his daughter and she is resisting.  He loves her.  She knows best.  Her friend sleeps with her boyfriend, so why can’t she?  Friends matter more than some old-fashioned morals.  The mother is sitting silently on the sidelines, but the Dad is obviously hurting.  So is the daughter.  He wouldn’t move her from one school to another, would he?  Emotions run high.  I’m starting to feel emotion just sitting here trying not to listen.

Real life is raw.  Real life stirs emotions.  People don’t worry for a moment.  They lie awake fretting.  People don’t solve problems in a vacuum.  The emotions rise and relationships fray.  People don’t live life in three-second statements.  They live it in the raw.  Life is complex.  Life is painful.  Life is real.

As I sit here I am reminded that simply referring to the fact that people have struggles with health, or in marriage, or raising teens, is not enough to guarantee connection.  Empathy requires an emotional engagement with the pain of peoples’ lives.  God sovereignly allows us to experience certain pain to increase our empathy.  But let’s not rely on that, let’s be sure to engage our emotions and try to feel the reality of the life people live.  Maybe then our empathy will be more complete, and our connection to real life in the pulpit more effective.

Word Process the Reading

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If you have a Bible reading that stands distinct, either within the sermon or before it, then consider using a word processor.  Why?  Because it is so hard to read well in public.  Simply pasting the text into a document and then breaking it into appropriate phrases can make a huge difference.  A few minutes of work, a little thought and some practice.  You can make sure there are no hanging prepositions, no unnatural intonation, no sentences that surprisingly demand an extra breath.

A reading well read can be powerful.  Poorly read and it is a liability.  (I know it is tempting to use the reading to give others “easy” opportunity to participate, but be careful, for their sake as well as the listeners!)

Don’t take the reading of a Bible text for granted.  Don’t let your Sunday service sound like a poor Christmas carol service, only with unfamiliar readings.  Give a few minutes of preparation so the text can be read well.  The text is powerful.  As Spurgeon once said in reference to defending the Bible, it’s like a lion, so just open the gate and let it out.  A good reading lets the text out, and it surely is a thing of power!

The Strength is in the Roots

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Back in the 1950’s H. Grady Davis shifted the metaphor for a sermon.  Instead of something constructed by the preacher, a building, it is something grown, akin to a tree.  Here is another quote used in McDill’s book, 12 Essential Skills (I appreciate these quotes at the start of each chapter).

A sermon should be like a tree. . . .
It should have deep roots:
As much unseen as above the surface
Roots spreading as widely as its branches spread
Roots deep underground
In the soil of life’s struggle
In the subsoil of the eternal Word.

The real strength of a sermon is not found in delivery, although that aspect matters much.  It is not found in the structure and content – try stealing a sermon and notice that it feels weaker than when you heard it from its source!  The strength of a sermon has to reside in the roots.  So check the roots of your sermons, of your ministry as a preacher.  Are they deep into the soil of life’s struggle?  Are they deeper still in the subsoil of the eternal Word?  Let’s be sure we are not preaching impressive, but rootless sermons . . . a breeze might just blow them over!

The Generational Dance

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Parker Palmer (in The Courage to Teach) writes about when we as teachers lose heart, and how we might recapture the heart to teach.  He begins by raising the issue of those mentors that first stirred the passion to teach in our lives.  Many make the mistake of trying to clone their mentors, thereby finding their own teaching career a disheartening experience of apparent failure.  Yet when the impact of past mentors is allowed to invigorate us to teach in our own style, then our identity and integrity can be intact, and our vocation can flourish.

Again, what is true for college profs is also true for us as preachers.  We too can lose heart.  We too can find motivation by revisiting the memory of those mentors that shaped our passion to preach in the first place.  We too can make the frustrating mistake of trying to copy the style of that mentor.  And we too can be invigorated to preach in our own style, with identity and integrity intact, our ministry flourishing.

Palmer finishes the section with a paragraph I will share with you here.  This puts the onus back on us, for it speaks of how we now mentor others.  At one level you might say we mentor all that hear our preaching, and perhaps it is best to take it at that level for now (but maybe we should be overtly seeking “apprentices” as we teach):

Mentors and apprentices are partners in an ancient human dance, and one of teaching’s great rewards is the daily chance it gives us to get back on the dance floor.  It is the dance of the spiraling generations, in which the old empower the young with their experience and the young empower the old with new life, reweaving the fabric of the human community as they touch and turn.