Why You Must Celebrate Hard Work

There were smiles all around.

Excitement and anticipation had turned to gratitude and love.

We smiled as the new born simply looked up and barely moved.

The whole family was overjoyed as we looked at the child.

We knew that there was work to do? I had to finish the room and get it set up for the child.

My wife had to prepare things as well.

My parents were there to do work.

Celebration: Can We Overdo It?

To begin with, I want to assert that celebration is a good thing, but can too much of a good thing become a bad thing? I answer emphatically, yes!!! Celebration is the portion of the sermon in which the preacher engages the congregation in an internalization and experience with the gospel as presented in the sermon. Celebration is necessary because it conveys that there must be singing when we experience the timeless truth of God’s way. In addition, it appeals to what homiliticians call the intuitive domain of consciousness, which is where our core beliefs are stored. Celebration can transpire in a multitude of ways but it often occurs as a whoop.

Increase in Sermon Intensity not Yelling

In my post discussing Jasper William’s Whooping System, I wrote about the Whooping Curve. This is an increase in intensity that subsides slightly as you enter the sermon close and then grows again to the final climax.

Don’t Close Your Sermon Like That

The congregation leaves with your sermon close on their mind. In fact, when people ask members about the sermon, they often can only bring to mind that very last part. A while back, Peter Mead at the Biblical Preaching blog did a series on preaching that he called “finishing weak.” That was a good idea that I wanted to “riff” on. Two main problems came to mind.

Something to Say or Say Anything

Lowell Erdahl, in the book Best Advice for Preaching, quotes someone who said: “There are two kinds of preachers–those who have to say something and those who have something to say!” A preacher gains something to say by connection to the divine through the spiritual disciplines including prayer and study. Having something to say comes from an in-depth look at the scripture. Having something to say also comes from looking deeply at life as well as the congregation’s life. Having something to say comes from time and in-depth work.

However, some preachers simply “must say something.” These preachers take extreme shortcuts. They copy a sermon off of the internet because it is not important what they say, but that they have something to say. They simply look for something to “shout the church.” They grab the latest edition of a sermon magazine and preach a sermon verbatim. They have not done the work that is necessary to have something to say. Too often preachers who must say something will whoop or yell or use some other aspect of African American preaching style to hide the fact that they don’t have anything to say. Sometimes the people are shouting so loud they don’t realize that the preacher has nothing to say.

The great blessing is that any preacher who God has called can have “something to say” rather than just one who “must say something.” It is time to get back on that devotional program of Bible study and prayer. It is time to start looking at the scripture exegetically. And perhaps the hardest thing, if you don’t have something to say, make use of those others who do have something to say. Do not give the people just anything because you don’t have something to say. This weekend, find out what God wants you to say and then Preach it Preacher!