We continue our look at preaching by exploring types of sermons and the elements that the preacher might consider.

For our first exercise (looking at the Lord’s Prayer), here are the areas to consider:

Tradition: Tradition in preaching includes the seasons of the church year, the leading principles that we live under (the Reformation, etc.), and the leading saints of the church (John, Charles, Susanna Wesley).  It includes our own denominational tradition and how it shapes us.

Scripture:  This is the substance of week three of our study, but it stands that the Word found in scripture is the beginning of all preaching.  If you’re not preaching the Bible, stop preaching.  “The grass withers and the flower fades, but your Word, O God, will stand forever.”

The experience of the preacher:  This one is tricky, so I’ll give you the first rule of preaching: only include yourself in the sermon if you have done something foolish or learned something important.  The temptation to preach “be more like me” is one that all preachers wrestle with, but it has to be avoided. 

Experience of the preacher is more about the larger themes that we bring to the text: joy and sorrow, a sense of God’s grace, the kinds of experiences afforded to those who love and serve others (each of us).  Preaching is subjective insofar as the preacher is preaching to themselves as well as the congregation.  And the preacher needs to be nurtured by the Word as much as everyone assembled.

The needs of a particular set of listeners:  Context is everything!  Every congregation has a story and a set of needs and the preacher should seek to address these needs from time to time.  Obviously, you can’t speak to this in every sermon, lest it become a sort of group therapy.  But there are often needs to be addressed, particularly when the scripture prompts it.

The condition of the world: This one is obvious, in a weary world in need of Jesus’ love and mercy.  But we also need to note that this is one of five areas of concern, and not a standalone topic.  Karl Barth said “we preach with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in another” and far too many preachers take this literally.  The condition of the world is both the latest news (which we should always keep in context) and the overall trends of our time.  If you find yourself living in a troubling age, you need to lean more toward ‘the marks of this new age’ than the news of the day.

The second exercise (for the truly keen), I suggest writing a sentence or paragraph based on Matthew 17:24-27:

24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

25 “Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”

26 “From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”