Homiletics, Pulpit

Word definitions and meanings

ver.: 10 April 2008

Define : homiletics (also sermons and preaching.)
pulpit.
On sermon quality.

What Is Homiletics ?

homiletics : the art of preaching. This is usually taught in a seminary, to the future ordained ministers of the church. The usual result is that the student who comes in with little ability to preach is able to become passable in speaking about gospel truths to a large group of people, in the form of a sermon or homily.

The core of preaching is to draw those truths from Scripture and share them with the people at hand. While this purpose is a good one, it is not achieved just by presentation, but by living out a life of faith in Christ in among, and in full view of, those same people, once the sermon is over. And it all adds up to nothing if the Holy Spirit does not empower it in those who hear it. The Spirit's work in a preacher, in turn, does not usually take effect outside of much prayer and learning the Bible, and outside of a real love for those to whom the preacher speaks.

For presenting the gospel truths and their meaning in today's world, there are other ways than preaching. Many people do not respond well at all to listening to someone speaking to them for 15 to 30 minutes on some matter. It's a problem for schools, training seminars, and public meetings, not just church.

• Part of the problem is in the method itself. Most truths are better conveyed when people can see or create images, touch, read, and hear in music those truths, and when those present can in some way take part and maybe even discover some of this for themselves rather than just being told.
• Part of the problem is today's people. Unless they come in already interested, most of them shut their minds off after a few minutes, deciding that what they're hearing does not matter or is the same old blah blah blah. It's a way of passing quick judgement on someone, a reflex action in people who think they have no time or mental energy to 'waste'. But noone can listen, learn or experience when in a shut-down mode. (Really, many of us don't even know how to listen anymore, much less bother to actually do it.) There's no personal growth or saved time when just sitting there numb.
• Part of the problem is with the presenter. Very few have real skills and gifts for effective preaching or speaking, and, to be honest, many preachers don't really believe most of what they're saying, it's just a part of their job. This is made worse by reliance on past sermons and sermons that are mostly swiped from other preachers. Many ordained clergy see themselves as part of the class of tell-ers, who know the faith better than the ones they're speaking to. Worst of all, how can they be selfless enough to rely on the Spirit to make it all work, when they don't really live in an active relationship with that Spirit?

Most seminaries and Bible schools are only beginning to get at the problems of method, don't really understand today's people, and do a poor job of guiding these future preachers into a life that is not just vaguely spiritual, but Christly. (They're taught the importance of belief, but their own faith is not well-nurtured.) As long as that remains true, the sermon, in whatever form, will keep dying, and no class in homiletics or the 'art' of preaching will save it.

You can also check the dictionary for homiletics and preach.

Not to be mistaken for homieletics, preaching to your neighborhood supporters and friends. Cousin word to the phrase 'preaching to the choir', and done just as loudly but a bit more carefully.

Three On Sermons

"There will be a meeting of the Board up here in front immediately after the service," the pastor announced.

So when the service ended, the Church Board gathered for their meeting. But among them was a stranger, a visitor who'd never been in their church before. The pastor asked him, "Don't you know that this is a meeting of the Board?"

"Yeah," said the visitor. "After today's sermon, I reckon I'm as bored as anyone else here."

A preacher's little son asked, "Daddy, every Sunday before you start preaching, you get up there and bow your head. What are you doing?"

The father explained, "I'm asking God to give me a good sermon."

The son asked, "Then why don't he?"

After the church service a little boy told the pastor, "When I grow up, I'm going to give you some money."

"Well, thank you," the pastor replied, "but why?"

The boy said, "Because my daddy says you're the poorest preacher we've ever had."

What Is a Pulpit ?

Pulpit : a podium or lectern. Pulpits serve a practical purpose as a stand for holding notes and wired microphones. It is a place that all eyes can be drawn to and all attention be focused on. That's good, to a point. Yet it also serve a purpose that's not so good : it sets the speaker apart from the audience. That's why podiums abound in auditoriums, classrooms, and legislative halls. It is highly problematic in Christian churches today, because one of the things that most drives people from the church is the feeling that ministers are treated as a 'superior' class that merit such focused attention, when they preach. (It is, of course, their message which very much warrants such attention. But that message needs no help from a pulpit, podium, or lectern. All it needs is any person who thoughtfully and honestly shares it.) Christianity is about Jesus Christ, a God who went out to be among us. A pulpit says the opposite, just by being there.

You can also check the dictionary.