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Pastoral letter
from Revd. Roger Hutchings,
Minister, Barnes Methodist Church
I wonder about sermons. On the face of it, they're not very 21st-century.
In a time of podcasts, 30-second TV adverts, colour magazines and downloads,
what's the future for these holy monologues? Digital technology
has been invading many churches in recent years, with some congregations
now used to video versions of Bible readings as well as throwing away
their hymnbooks in favour of on-screen words. Here in Barnes there's
'not a lot of it about' as yet - though in the Methodist
church we did experiment a bit with projection last Christmas. Local
clergy and lay preachers, though, stick to preaching sermons, even if
they're a little shorter nowadays than I remember from my youth.
'Preaching to the converted' is mostly what we do. If
you've picked up this magazine at the dentist's surgery
and are idly reading it, even though you rarely if ever go to church,
well, that's great! But most copies of BiC are in the homes of
regular worshippers, and it's regular worshippers who sit listening
to sermons. And as I say, I wonder about that.
John Wesley was a preacher. In his own day, he was at least as famous
as Billy Graham and Desmond Tutu have been in the last half-century.
Wesley was an Anglican priest in the high-church tradition: he certainly
wasn't a Methodist, at least until later in life. There are stories
of him attracting literally thousands of people as he preached on street
corners, in parks, or standing on a gravestone in a churchyard when
the vicar wouldn't let him use the pulpit. His sermons were known
to cause riots. Clearly our sermons in Barnes today aren't in
quite the same league!
As tools to convert the nation, sermons may have had their day -
though I wouldn't rule out a new Graham or Tutu. As for sermons
to convert a casual visitor to our various acts of worship, I'm
dubious. No, I think sermons now are about deepening and broadening
the understanding Christians have of the gospel, and hopefully about
inspiring Christians to live out that gospel in their relationships,
in their daily doings (whether at home, in leisure time or at work)
and in influencing public life.
So the question is, in that realistic aim, how are we doing? Do sermons
work? It's a serious question. Do the sermons you hear help you
to grow as a Christian? It wouldn't be appropriate to use these
pages to publish comments on particular preachers, but if you have a
view about what you hear week by week from the pulpit (or lectern -
pulpits are less prominent these days), drop me a note or email and
if they're printable I'll put together some quotes for the
next BiC. I promise I won't identify anyone. It would be good
to know if our efforts are hitting the mark.
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