The controversy has begun already. Mel Gibson, of Mad Max and Braveheart fame, plans to release the feature film, The Passion of Christ, around Easter 2004. He plans to tell the story in the original languages: Latin, the language of Pilate and the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus, and Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his disciples. And he originally intended for the film to be shown without subtitles. (Current plans are for them to be used.) Gibson plans to tell the old, old story using modern media — film — while using a language virtually no one speaks (or understands) anymore.
It's a bold strategy, and one that's oddly reflective of one of the dilemmas preachers face today. Traditionally, churches tell the old, old story in languages (music, terminology, symbols, etc.) that only the initiated understand, leaving any newcomers or non-Christians in the dark. "Seeker-friendly" churches (typified by churches like Bill Hybels' Willow Creek) target a different crowd with their Sunday morning sermons: people who are willing to hear the story, but don't necessarily speak the language of the traditional church (what is a narthex, anyway?). Some churches try to build a bridge between the two, providing subtitles, so to speak, to interpret what's going on for the uninitiated.
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But — surprisingly, perhaps — one area where much common ground exists is the sermon, in many churches the central part of the service. Because whether you call it a "homily," "sermon," "message," or "talk," it so happens that both seekers and Christians want largely the same things from it. So — though there are more — here are the top ten things both seekers and Christians want in a sermon, all of which I've encountered in my experience as Pastor of Leadership and Teaching at Cobblestone Community Church (Oxford, Ohio):
The great preachers of the past knew how to connect with an audience very quickly, but many modern preachers — even the good ones — tend to start with riveting phrases like, "Turn in your Bibles to Obadiah." Such tactics won't do these days. Think of the first thirty seconds of your message as equivalent to a movie theater preview. You must grab your listeners' attention any way you can-with a dramatic statement, question, story, film clip, etc. — and give them no choice but to listen from "Word One."
Ask yourself, "If I were listening to this sermon, what parts or points would I feel compelled to write down so I won't forget it?" If the answer is, "nothing," start over. Every listener wants to be helped to — not spoon-fed — a discovery of new information, new insights, new perspectives.
Even seekers are far more interested in what God says on a subject than on what you say . . . or even what Oliver Wendell Holmes said. Good sermons — whether targeted primarily to seekers or Christians — rely heavily on the Bible as God's Word and let it do the talking.