A note found in many other remarks comes out in the following, “I would always enjoy something that relates to contemporary life or my life. That always engages me in the process.” This person cites several examples from “water cooler conversations” such as “a mom who drove into a tree the other night and killed herself and those two kids” and “how 168 families put their lives together after the Oklahoma City bombing.”
Another person not only suggests the importance of applying lessons from interaction with the Bible to today but proposes a way for doing so.
It seems to me the prime opportunity is for the person giving the sermon to try to read him or herself into the more serious aspects, the most important meanings of Scripture and then relate to them current realities. It’s not these stories that happened a long time ago and they’re important because Jesus said this or did that, but that they’re the words lighting our way. Lighting our path as we go forward in very troubled times either personally or collectively.
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One of the best ways to apply the sermon, according to several parishioners, is to tell a story that brings the message to life. “One of the best ways to [connect the sermon to everyday life] is, ‘This is the message. Here’s a story to illustrate about Joe or about me. People can then relate to that.” This emphasis is reinscribed by another interviewee: “Good examples and illustrations are helpful to me. They put topics in perspective.”
A recurrent stress is that preachers can apply the sermon most effectively when they know the congregation. “I think it is important for preachers to be aware of what’s going on in the world, of what’s happening among the members of the congregation.”
Several people specifically ask for guidance in mission. “Tell me what I can do today to do the right thing and to make a difference.” An echo of this desire comes from another congregant in another community. “For that minister to give a sermon that will show me how I can help or do things — that would be an energizer where I can say, ‘Oh, yes. That would be something I can do.’”
The minister’s own story — particularly the minister’s struggles with being faithful in personal and social issues and with theological ideas — helps many listeners in our sample tune into the sermon. One says simply, “Tell the truth and use your own personal testimony. You can talk a lot about what’s in a book, but nothing is quite as engaging as when you talk about your own struggles and your own personal experiences and how God has delivered you.” A member of another congregation in the study speaks in like manner.