{"id":46341,"date":"2019-03-16T09:13:28","date_gmt":"2019-03-16T14:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=46341"},"modified":"2019-03-19T12:42:15","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T17:42:15","slug":"how-to-preach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/16\/how-to-preach\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Preach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>We began the &#8220;Sixty Second Sermon&#8221; series at <\/em>Pray Tell <em>last Advent, and readers tell us they love it. Some preachers report that these one-minute sermons give them good starting points for their lengthier Sunday homily or sermon . <\/em>Pray Tell <em>readers will be interested in the following suggestions we have sent out to our roster of preachers. How many of these points apply to all preaching?  &#8211; awr<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be yourself, in the way that is most sincere and authentic for you. Don\u2019t be afraid to let your unique personality come through \u2013 whether that is extroverted, reflective, analytical, humorous, poetic, or something else. Play to your personal strengths: it is your \u201cschtick\u201d that will draw the listener in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a point, and only one.\nEverything in your sermon leads to this, flows from this, and drives your decisions\nabout what to include. Your point should be <em>the\nmain thing you want to stick with the listener.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t be dull. Online\nlisteners have short attention spans. If you have a dull patch that goes on for\nmore than 10 seconds, you may have lost them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Emotion is interesting.<\/li><li>Humor is interesting.<\/li><li>A unique insight is interesting.<\/li><li>Stories and anecdotes are interesting.<\/li><li>Drama is interesting.<\/li><li>Creative turns of phrase are interesting.<\/li><li>Depth of conviction is interesting.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t be content with\nteaching religious and theological stuff. Tell us how the Reign of God \u2013 grace \u2013\nis at work in today\u2019s world and real people\u2019s lives, and how the Gospel speaks\nto that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t summarize or re-tell\nthe Gospel reading. Apply its message to the real world and real life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think of using <em>evocative<\/em> rather <em>declarative<\/em> language.<br>\u201cHumans have a tendency to mark important moments with family gatherings and meals\u201d is rather abstract. This is more evocative:<br> \u2192 \u201cI can still smell the pumpkin pie as I walk into my Grandma\u2019s kitchen, all these decades after her passing \u2013 the smell of celebration, the smell of love.\u201d<br>\u201cThe Gospel mandate is to serve others, even when it makes us uncomfortable,\u201d by itself, is rather abstract. It might be illustrated with language like this: <br>\u2192 &nbsp;\u201cThe man at the food shelf stunk. He burped when he spoke to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Make sure your interesting\nelements \u2013 joke, the anecdote, the saying \u2013 are tied to your main point.\nSometimes it takes a bit of thinking to find just the right thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Use what is helpful in these suggestions and forget the rest. Be creative and go in the direction <em>you<\/em> want with this. It is <em>your<\/em> creativity which is most likely to go viral!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Featured image: from <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/clipart-library.com\/\"><em>Clip Art Library<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have a point. Don&#8217;t be dull. Use evocative language. Be yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":46347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3118,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-celebrandi-new-ws","category-homiletics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How To Preach - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/16\/how-to-preach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Preach - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have a point. 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