A Few Thoughts on Preaching
(from panelists at CCOP meeting)

 1. When we preach, how we approach people is important. Anyone has the potential for change and all of us need change of mind and heart at one time or another. “Come follow me. Your true home is in God” is for all of us. What grieves us? What makes us anxious? What do we need to repent from?

2. We need to know the people in the pew before us. What are their pains and anxieties? How can we address them? How relate to the Scripture of the day?

3. We live in a  global, multicultural society. What does that call us to in our preaching? We are also a pot-luck church? How can we get beyond the labels we put on people? Can we get beyond liberal and conservative? Beyond Black, White, Brown or any other color?
 
4. Preacher can point to brokenness in the world around them and also point to some ways people can get involved in the healing and repair work.

5. Don’t replace truth with convenience when you preach? What does that mean to you as a preacher?

The Fundamental Mistakes of Preaching

(We highly recommend for your use as preachers of the Word, a recent book entitled Bishop Ken Untener; The Practical Prophet. It is published by Paulist Press. Cost of the book is $19.95 plus S and H. www.paulistpress.com).

Excerpt below from The Practical Prophet, by Ken Untener, copyright 2007 by Thomas J. Gumbleton. Used with permission of Paulist Press, Inc. New York/Mahwah, N.J. www.paulistpress.com

Bishop Untener starts out by offering two recommendations:
"Don't act as if you were superior to your material."
"Don't give the impression that your own conversion is complete."
Here are his eight points to consider:

1. NEGLECTING THE GREAT MYSTERIES - Do not neglect the great mysteries in your preaching. They include death, Resurrection, sin and grace, the Spirit, redemption and the mystery of God. Homilies are meant to go to the root of what it means to be a Christian and live a Christian life. We need to point out what underlies it all and refer to the power of the Resurrection always available to us.

2. PREACHING AS THOUGH WE GET TO CHOOSE WHAT TO SAY
Remember we are not just preaching our own message. We are preaching what Jesus taught and what he has handed on to the church. Discern what the Lord is doing/speaking through this event. Remember we are all instruments through which the Word of the Lord is spoken and discerned.

3. USING SCRIPTURE AS A PLATFORM TO TEACH AND MORALIZE
We need to connect with the real lives of people in the pew. That means more than connecting with the happenings in their daily lives. It means reaching down into the hungers and questions in their hearts. We try to let God's grace open us to deeper questions and meaning. We don't change people's conduct by telling them what to do. We help them see things differently. Then they will act differently.

4. NEGLECTING THE OLD TESTAMENT - It is important to bring the message of the Old Testament into the homily. It gives us insight into how the people endured suffering and hardships and kept their faith. They trusted God as the faithful One and knew they would never walk alone.

5. GIVING A TALK RATHER THAN TALKING TO THE PEOPLE - Some homilies could just as well be from a taped message. Many homilies have too many thoughts . One thought with depth is much better than a string of thoughts put together. People thirst for a live message from the heart of the preacher. When you preach, speak from the heart.

6. BURYING OUR LEAD  - The opening words of the homily should have a direct connection with the theme of the homily. Many do a beginning that  is quite interesting but has little connection to the rest of the homily. The opening words should relate to and lead into the homily. It should be part of the flow of the Word of God and not have inappropriate interruptions inserted.

7. FAILURE TO EDIT –Editing is more than touch-up work on your homily. Most good writing involved major changes along the way. Some may have to be deleted and words or sentences may need to be reordered. If possible, have a journalist review your transcript. Editing may make the difference between a mediocre and an excellent homily.

8. PICTURE THE HOMILY AS ONE EVENT. – Remember the homily is just one part of the liturgy, but only one part. Rather than trying to seize the whole event, craft a jewel of a homily that is part of the whole. 

Feedback given to homilists may help them survive but not improve. Homilists need hands-on help to keep them moving in a positive direction.

Every Sermon Should Send the Hearers Out with a Mission

(Printed with permission- Douglas Stivison, Publisher of The Living Pulpit)

Michael Monshau, OP, professor of homiletics at Kenrick Seminary, St. Louis, MO urges all homilists to include a call to mission in their homilies. Fr. Monshau referred to a homily he had heard at a special anniversary. It seemed to leave people spellbound with memories of the past and their role in the honoree's life. In talking about the homily, it surprised the people present when Michael Monshau said he would give a C- if it were delivered in a homiletics class.

The reason he gave a low grade to the homilist is because there was no mission in the homily. "There was no call to conversion, no marching orders, no challenge to create a better world." A call to mission is a basic requirement for preaching. The hearers should be able to name the mission to which they were called in the homily in one simple sentence. If the hearers say "So what?" at the end of the sermon, then it has failed.

A call to mission is an essential element in any homily. That does not mean every sermon calls the congregation to activism. It might be a call to a deeper prayer life, a sense of commitment, a call to justice, or to listen more carefully to the Word. Effective preaching must challenge the hearers to respond to the call which they have heard. When that is done faithfully and fruitfully, it will never result in a "So What?" at the end of the homily.

This article appeared in the Living Pulpit, July through September 2007 issue. We highly recommend it for preachers. The Living Pulpit is published quarterly . Write to the Living Pulpit, 40 South Fullerton Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042. Phone: 973-233-1900.Subscriptions are $39 per year. Subscribe by calling 973-627-5162.

Living and Preaching the Just Word

(Some notes from a workshop given at the Center for Dominican Studies at Barry University in Florida. The presenter was Joyce Ann Zimmerman, C.PP.S.from Inst. of Liturgical Ministry in Dayton, Ohio)
(Permission was given by Dave Caron, OP.,
Center Director, to share some thoughts from the presentation.)

How do we keep preaching fresh and energizing, especially for the person who has to do it on a daily basis, when at times it may become tedious?

First, the preaching must be authentic, that is it must ring true.
Second, preaching cannot be done as just one more task to finish and get out of the way. It must be at the very center of the homilist's life.
Third, no matter how gifted is the preacher, no one ever has the perfect style. Preaching grows as the homilist grows. It will become empty if the homilist's living and praying are stagnant and empty.

The first requisite for a good preacher is deepening of one's prayer life on an ongoing basis and fidelity to Gospel living.

1. The message of any homily is far deeper than the specific words spoken. It is really the presence of Jesus Christ. Christ is truly present in the Word and whatever the text used, ultimately, the preaching must convey that divine presence which is the ultimate truth of the homily.

2. The preaching event makes a truth claim on the preacher. What the homilist says must ring true with how the preacher lives. The preacher must read, pray and live the Scripture text before the preaching event. The preacher is preaching his or her Christian living. It includes the struggles of daily life. The voice and demeanor of the preacher will convey both challenge and hope to the listeners. Telling personal stories from one's own life does not necessarily help the assembly connect with Christian living but may only draw attention to the preacher. It can even detract from the fruitfulness of the homily. The meaning is conveyed beneath the text.

3. The preaching must make a truth claim on the hearers. Without telling the assembly to do this or that act of morality, a good homily is imperative, that is, it moves the assembly to faithful gospel living. Here the truth of the homily lies in whether or not the Word has made an actual difference in the way the assembly members live their lives. Remember, a homily is not so much a matter of repeating ideas which were heard, as it is doing the faithful gospel living caught in the preaching.

Homilies are prepared and delivered very regularly. They are drudgery if the speech-act never gets outside the church walls, either in the preparation or in the hearing. Homilies are engaging, energizing, and life-giving events when the homilist is preaching his or her living experience, and the assembly is living the preaching experience, all dependent upon an encounter with the God who loves us.

To be a preacher requires two apparantly contradictory qualities: confidence and humilty. Timithy Radcliffe, OP