Other listeners voice this concern more fully. “The main thing that’s important to me is that the Scripture be the basis, because really when I come to church I want to learn and grow. If all I have is someone’s opinion or a bunch of nice statements strung together, I don’t fee like I have learned very much.”
Many of the listeners in this project are aware that the Bible was written for a different time, place, and culture, and that the sermon needs to take this into account. “Use direct biblical reference — text, and context in which it was written, what it meant in that day and what it means for us in this day.” Several listeners want not only empirical information about the Bible but they appreciate it when you “go back and try to get a feel or think about what was going on at the time the scripture was written.”
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One listener expresses particular appreciation for a technique that would be easy for other ministers to take up. “When the preachers are discussing a text from the Bible, they put it in context. More often than not, the preachers set the context of the Scripture before they read it. ‘This is Paul’s message. This is the reason the apostle was writing the message.’ To me that adds so much more than just standing up there and reciting.”
At the same time, several listeners caution that the sermon needs to maintain balance between focusing on the “pastness” of the Bible and interpreting the significance of the Bible for the sake of the congregation today. “Give us the appropriate background that we need, but don’t spend all of our time on that. Tell us how we can use it and how it applies to us.” Another says more simply, “I want the sermon Bible based, but I want it related to what’s going on in the world.”
Many congregants agree with the spirit of one who speaks of the Bible as offering a theological frame out of which to understand the whole of life.
I think you do have to bring the sermon out of the Bible. You can’t just talk about what happens in the world today. First of all, we’d all be so depressed we wouldn’t be able to handle it. But to be able to have the perspective that you’re not alone. That we all struggle with those things. That we can get these together, and we have to look at the big picture. These are just daily struggles. It’s not whole life. Whole life is a different issue. Those are the things that engage me most.
Many of the listeners with whom we spoke stress that they want the preacher to apply the sermon specifically to the congregation and its context. For example, one says, “Relating the sermon to daily life, I think, would be tops on my list. What two or three things can I carry away from here that are just naturals for me to go out and say, ‘This is something I can do.’” Another listener suggests that, “If the pastors have preached particularly to an event going on, I usually will tell them that they really reached me, but no long sermons for me.” We hear similar resonance in other remarks. “I don’t think sermons [even from the Bible] are effective if they’re not connected to everyday life.”