I’ve written recently about listening to sermons and taking notes. My main reason for being against note taking is that it shapes and is shaped by our view of the purpose of preaching. Note taking is more associated with treating the sermon as primarily intellectual, educating, sharing information, applied to the mind. We are also more likely to think about preaching as being to do with explaining what the text says and means.
I believe we do better to think about preaching in terms of a conversation and a meal. It’s a conversation in that the preacher speaks from the heart to the congregation and their hearts but even more so in that we expect God to speak to us. It’s a meal as we feed on God’s Word and are nourished with life giving power for the week ahead.
Why does this matter? Well one important reason is that it will affect the attitude of more mature Christians to the sermon. If we see it as information and education, we are more likely to think that we already have covered the syllabus. What are we going to get out of it, especially if we are preachers ourselves. The temptation then is to do one or more of the following:
- To switch off during the sermon
- To listen primarily to critique the preacher
- To very rarely be sitting listening to sermons ourselves – either because we are preaching or helping with other activities such as children’s work most weeks
- To believe that we are deserving of and needing a higher level of input (I get my teaching at conferences).
The result is that we end up with a negative view of normal preaching, from others in the church. This will no doubt rub off on others who will pick up that we are dismissive of it and don’t really want to be there.
If we go to church expecting a conversation where God speaks to us if we believe that God’s Word is nourishing food and if we are ready for the preacher to speak to our affections so that our hearts respond then this will lead to us having a more positive and expectant posture towards preaching.
Faithroots 