It can probably be said with no hesitation that all preachers think their sermons are biblical. If this means that their sermons are centered in the Word, then the assertion has some merit. Still, we need to ask ourselves how much of the Word is in this center? Do we regularly preach from both the Old and New Testaments, thus giving our congregations a balanced meal every Sunday, or do we mainly preach from one Testament? Some preliminary research into the matter indicates that our church people may be quite malnourished.

For example, the contributors' guidelines for a yearly manual for preaching and worship planning explain that 60% of sermons preached every Sunday are from the gospel lessons in the lectionary.1 If you take into account that many other sermons come from Paul's writings, then that does not leave much room for the Old Testament. If the contents of two popular preaching journals are examined, the results are just as surprising. Of the sermons listing only one biblical text,2 Preaching, a conservative-evangelical publication, contained nearly 75% New Testament-centered sermons. The figure for Pulpit Digest, which is more moderate-liberal in scope, was slightly higher at 77%.

This, of course, is not an exhaustive scientific study, but it does show that, in the way sermons are presented to us, the major emphasis is on the New Testament. The implication is that the Old Testament, while a revered part of our tradition, is not a necessary ingredient in the weekly servings to our congregations. These statistics are quite shocking, however, when you take into account that 75% of the Bible consists of the Old Testament. If we tout ourselves as "biblical" preachers, clearly our sermons do not contain as much Bible as we thought!

There are several possible explanations for this tremendous disparity between Old and New Testament sermons. First, Christians are a New Covenant people; thus the majority of our doctrine and beliefs come from the teachings of Jesus and the letters of His followers. Second, sermons in churches will naturally focus on New Testament texts during the seasons of Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter, and Pentecost. The percentage will be even higher if they emphasize the lectionary calendar.

Third, many seminaries stress Greek and New Testament studies, usually requiring Greek but not necessarily Hebrew for graduation. Thus, pastors may feel more adequately prepared for preaching from the New Testament. Fourth, the Old Testament is an intimidating collection of texts covering many centuries and cultures. Fifth, the Old Testament is often seen by pastors (incorrectly) as irrelevant for Christians.

Still, the disproportion between Old and New Testament sermons is striking and disheartening. Are we really biblical preachers? With the current emphasis on lectionary preaching and the concomitant belief that such an emphasis will lead preachers to preach from the whole Bible and not just their pet passages, we would think that more sermons would be preached from the Old Testament. The evidence is clearly against us.