"Sermons should not be preached in churches.
"It harms Christianity in a high degree and alters its very nature, that it is brought into an artistic remoteness from reality, instead of being heard in the midst of real life. . .
"For all this talk about quiet, about quiet places and quiet hours, as the right element for Christianity is absurd. So then, sermons should not be preached in churches but in the midst of life, of the reality of daily life, weekday life."
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
"It harms Christianity in a high degree and alters its very nature, that it is brought into an artistic remoteness from reality, instead of being heard in the midst of real life. . .
"For all this talk about quiet, about quiet places and quiet hours, as the right element for Christianity is absurd. So then, sermons should not be preached in churches but in the midst of life, of the reality of daily life, weekday life."
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
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5 comments:
I think it's significant that almost all of the "sermons" in the Book of Acts get interrupted. How often does that happen at church?
I think that sermons make little difference. (Maybe no difference).
Leonardo DiCaprio was the “voice” on This Week with George Stephanopoulos this morning. For some reason, the segment reminded me of Francis Schaeffer. I read all of his books back in the 1970's. He wrote "Pollution and the Death of Man" in 1974 (later reissued, and probably updated) and warned Christians that caring for the planet was a Christian imperative. The churches were silent.
I suspect I was among the silent on that issue.
But I know this -- I preached many hundreds of sermons in my preaching years, and I'm not at all sure that they made a bit of difference.
It' s been too many years, and my memory is hazy, but... I recall an article in the Wittenburg Door, I think by Ben Patterson, from the 1970's. The Door had printed a cuss word, and they received much criticism. If I remember correctly, the article was about “Mountains and Molehills,” and it included a quote that went something like this:
“The world would be exactly the same as it is if I had played ping pong instead of giving speeches and serving on committees and writing policy." The quote came from a multi-decade member of the British Parliament.
I think the sentiment apples to the impotence of preaching.
For a guy who spent a lot of years preaching a lot of sermons, this is a very sad conclusion.
Randy Mayeux
Dallas, TX
I don't beleive it is a sad conclusion, it is just a conclusion. The fact that you know differently now is significant in fulfilling your life's mission.
I'm not sure I agree with you, Randy. Listening to sermons, like reading a book, or watching a documentary (or a variety of other activites) provides food for thought. It's not that one sermon - or book or _____ - is necessarily going to change your life, but it provides processed and useful information to guide your thoughts. I think that's valuable. The opposite side of the coin to "garbage in, garbage out" might be "good ingredients in, good food out," after mixing and baking in the reipient's mind.
But I do certainly see K's point: too often people act like the mere act of sitting through a sermon is enough, without actually doing much of anything the sermon recommends.
In fact, Randy, I have heard a good number of your sermons. I probably couldn't tell you the exact content of any one of them, but I can tell you they slowly shaped some of my thinking for the better, even if it may have taken years to become evident. Mixing and baking can be a slow process.
I agree with anonomous. Many sermons have a combined impact, not unlike drops of rain. Perhaps I would sense the mood and pirsuation, even the faith and witness of the speaker if I later forgot his main speaking points.
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