Sunday, May 20, 2018

Two sermons


Two sermons

I recently heard two sermons in close sequence.

One was by an experienced church leader. The setting was impressive, the music was traditional church fare performed with grandeur and the refreshments were a feast fit for royalty. The preacher used his voice well, had energetic body language and spoke with compelling pathos.

The other sermon was by a young lay preacher. He spoke in a rented hall with uncomfortable chairs, with so-so music followed by average coffee and snacks. The A-V system was on and off, so parts of his talk were muted.

The Bible was read before both talks.

One talk soared away like a moon shot. The other stayed close to the text and was marked by plain words carefully arranged and spoken with directness.

One talk was like fast food - feeling good at the time but with little nutrition for the next day. The other gave food for life. One, a feast that left hearers hungry.  The other, a modest spread that satisfied.


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yeah,
I bet there was a lot of that going on yesterday.

I'm somewhat bemused about the widespread amazement about someone preaching with what appeared to be only a mildly elevated level of animation, conviction, and engagement.
Clearly the vast majority of those reporting and commenting don't hear a lot of sermons.