October 19, 2010: How To Start A Sermon

No pastors that I know of read my blog, but I've decided not to let that stop me from offering a piece of homiletic counsel just in case one of them happens to see this page.

Start your sermons with the word "In" followed by a reference to the Scripture text that has just been read. For example,

"In verse 17 Jesus tells his disciples..."
"In verse 4 St. Paul brings up the topic of..."
"In verse 9 we are told that the wicked..."
"In verse 11 the writer of Hebrews says..."

When these are the very first words out of your mouth after the Scripture reading, they demonstrate a seriousness of purpose to your congregation. They force people to pay attention from the outset, because they send an immediate message that you are not going to waste their time with chatter, meandering introduction, or inane banter. (Some parishioners may be shocked - pleasantly so - that you are getting to your point so quickly.) And such words also help discipline your own thoughts, because they leave you no choice but to focus on the text.

And please, never EVER start a sermon with

"Didn't the worship team do a great job? I tell you, my heart was really blessed..."
"I'm so glad to be with you here in Chicago in February. In San Diego, where I'm from, we never have to scrape ice off the..."
"Shh! I'm a secret agent..." [The literal first line of a sermon I heard years ago.]
"For the last few weeks, we've been talking about..."
"I have a bit of a cold this morning..."
"On my way to church today..."
"A priest, a rabbi and a pastor were on the golf course one morning..."
"This is my first sermon and I'm really nervous..."
"My name is Paul and I'm..." [Who cares who you are?]

When I was in seminary, we were taught to start our sermons with an attention-grabbing introduction. That's all wrong.

Start with the text.