Here's a quick vid of Walter Brueggemann addressing some of the issues that prohibit a pastor from being the faith community's scholar and teacher.
HT: Adam Walker at pomomusings
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I disagree that imagination is the key to good preaching. I'm not quite sure that I don't find that thought to be incredibly off base and pretty detrimental to his entire case he's presenting.
I'm not disagreeing that many clergy have gratuitous expectations placed on them for areas that they should not be directly responsible for. But someone has to be responsible for it. And if the clergy is not going to be responsible for it, they are at the very least ultimately responsible for those who are responsible for it.
I think there are many other more prevalent causes for bad sermons, probably with #1 being that the person giving the sermon is bad at writing/giving sermons...
A more acceptable title would have been "The Truth Behind a Select Few Bad Sermons."
All in all, 1.5/5. I'm feeling a bit generous.
How do you define imagination, then? For me, imagination is a key point of sermon creation, and its impossible to imagine when I have no time or I can't settle my mind enough to let it wonder about the text.
Creativity takes time, and if that time is occupied with paperwork, changing the AC filters, etc, then don't expect your pastor to be able to do anything more than a surface level sermon.
Allow me to clarify. I don't think that imagination is THE key to good preaching. I definitely think it is helpful and one of many things that helps differentiate great sermons from acceptable sermons. But THE key? No sir, I don't buy that.
As for all the extras such as changing AC filters, I don't think that those things should be the responsibility of the pastor to take care of directly. But they do need to be done. By someone. I think that the pastor should try to get people into place to handle such things, or eventually it will just end up falling onto their shoulders to do all those types of things.
Obviously i'm speaking only from observation as opposed to you being able to speak from experience.
I'm also lowering your score to a 1/5 from a 1.5/5. Don't you sass me.
You're not the boss of me. I can sass you whenever and however I want.
Now that that's out of the way, you keep insisting that imagination is not the key to composing a successful sermon.
If not that, what is?
The reason I keep insisting that imagination is not the key to composing a good sermon is because the statement "imagination is the key to composing a successful sermon" says to me that if you use imagination, you will create a successful sermon. That's the image that is created in my mind when something is referred to as a "key." It is the tool that is used to unlock and get past the obstacle.
Imagination is the mind's ability to project an image or thought while not viewing that exact thing....that fair as an incredibly basic definition? This would be used in drafting a sermon to find a way to project your ideas that you have about the subject matter in an understandable way to the audience, right? So naturally this would be done through a form of storytelling, usually anecdotal.
My point in that drivel, is that I have heard a great many many sermons that are littered with stories, with anecdotes, references to life, all kinds of images to bring the audience into the story and get them to understand the subject matter from that perspective. And a large amount of them were awful. Some of the worst sermons I have in memory were littered with that type of speech. It seems fairly acceptable to me that the people who wrote those sermons used their imagination....and did not stumble upon the key to writing an effective sermon. Which is why I have a problem with labeling that as a key. Logical? Or am I making some false presumption in there?
What is the key to writing a good sermon? I don't know. I don't even know if there is one. I do however think that many people try to to turn sermon construction into a formula. "Add these parts here, put an anecdote there, spend so much time on 'x' before moving to 'y,' etc" rinse and repeat. I don't think that's effective.
I think that God is constantly trying to communicate to those responsible for giving messages to congregations the message they are supposed to give. That the message will be powerful for those who are able to hear it. That experiences the pastor has had, read, heard, etc can contribute in an effective way in communicating God's message. But it's God's message, not the pastor's message...if he's doing it right.
So I don't know. Discernment is very important, I think that sometimes God's intended messages get lost and muddled by the desires, agenda, or imagination of the person crafting it. And that ends up being a very poor sermon, as it has become the sermon of the person writing it, as opposed to God's.
Go ahead, get with the sass.
I would define imagination in the context of sermon composition as basic creative ability. Some are better than others at this, and I'm sorry that you've had more experience with those further down the scale (or those who do not devote the proper time) of creative ability than those higher up the scale (or the the time).
I think its safe to say that there are those who have ability who do not devote the time, and thus compose poor sermons. There are those who have little creative ability, but work hard and compose decent sermons.
Imagination (as creative ability) does not exclude or preempt, or outrank divine inspiration. The ability to imagine and be creative are part of the divine image of God in which we are created. Imagination is the key to good sermon composition, and God is the key to imagination. And just as we need we all need to spend more time with God, the preacher must spend a large portion of his or her time with God with the explicit and intentional purpose of imagining as the homiletic process.
Some people are doing the Ministry of the Word who should not be. They have neither the innate ability nor the desire to work hard where inherent gifts are lacking. Some should be but are not devoting the proper time to imagination (which includes prayer, reading, studying, reading some more, asking questions, more study, following hunches, and discerning the focus of the sermon). Without imagination, sermons would be lectures. Without proper preparation time, sermons are wandering.
Proper amount of time with God in prayer and study stimulate the imagination. Its a process that takes time; much more than many are willing or able to give, which I think the later is Breuggemann's point. I used to think the homiletic experts were crazy when they said 1 hour of prep time for every minute of sermon. After about 250 sermons, I feel more an more convinced they're right. By necessity, sermons become formulaic when there's not enough time to be creative.
As usual, Rabbi Walter speaks truth that cuts very deeply. Thanks for sharing!
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