Sermon Sources and Content: The Congregation's Life

Good sermons often grow right out of the soil of the congregation. Since Christ forms the church, it makes sense for preachers to listen carefully to the actual congregation for the sounds of revelation. Readiness to do exegesis of the congregation as well as scripture is one of the compelling features of preaching today.

This means that the preacher must learn to "read" the congregation. We read the people pastorally with care for who the people are and what God is doing among them. In Preaching as Theology and Folk Art, Leonora Tubbs Tisdale offers refreshing guidance for pastors who believe that the sermon should attend to the congregation as well as scripture. Drawing from the field of congregational studies, Tisdale shows how to listen for the embedded theology of the congregation, then more accurately attune the sermon to the life of the people. The preacher who takes the time to listen to the congregation before speaking will preach for the people rather than at them.

My own work in pastoral preaching overlaps that of Tisdale. In Care-full Preaching: From Sermon to Caring Community, I show how pastoral preaching shapes the congregation as a pastoral community. We help the congregation see itself in the sermon as a care-full people who share God’s care among themselves and the world. The sermon can help cultivate such care in very specific ways through the use of imagery, stories, and actual events from the life of the congregation.

Sermons should regularly turn the spotlight upon the congregation and its ministry of care, trusting that such congregational compassion is a reliable source for sermon material. Of course, we do not rely solely upon the congregation for the sermon since Christ cannot be reduced to our own experience. But if we can, however dimly, discern the outlines of the suffering and resurrected Christ among the caring ministry of the congregation, then we should point it out in our sermons on a regular basis.