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Don’t Fear Repetition, Repetition

Clarity in preaching demands more than clear writing.

I was listening to a student preach. In a few minutes I would be leading some class interaction on the message. But I had a problem. I had no idea what he was talking about!

I had a copy of his outline, so I glanced at it. To my amazement, the student’s outline was beautiful—a logical progression, with proper subordinations and overall unity. So why couldn’t I follow his oral delivery?

That’s when it hit me with force that a message that would be clear to a reader requires special skills and adjustments to make it clear for a hearer.

Consider the many built-in aids to clarity that occur in a manuscript that we lose when speaking.

1. The paragraph. When our eye sees a paragraph indention at the beginning of a line, our brain unconsciously tells us, “You are beginning a new thought.” Our eyes catch some white space further down the page, and our brain says, “This new thought will last until you reach that spot.”

There is nothing in oral communication that corresponds to paragraph indentation. (A lengthy pause is not the same—the listener will simply think you forgot!)

2. Readers can go at their own speed. They can re-read a section if they didn’t get it the first time.

3. They can benefit from visual cues such as italics, bold print, subheadings, and punctuation.

4. They can look up unfamiliar words.

Since oral communication has none of these things, a speaker must adjust if the message is to remain clear.

The best adjustment? Whenever you come to a key sentence in your message, restate it. Immediately say the same thing in different words. Before you go any further, find another way to communicate the same idea. (Note the restatements in this paragraph, which strike us as redundant when reading, will not strike hearers that way.)

Restatement gives the listener’s ear more than one chance to grasp a concept. In oral communication, restatement should be used whenever you come to a key sentence in your message.

Key sentences include:

the central truth of the whole message
a Roman numeral main point
a significant subpoint
a sentence that summarizes the point of several examples
a preview in the introduction that lays out the flow of the message to come
a summary of previous concepts in the message
a transition between points that connects concepts to each other.

Whenever a sentence is key to either content or structure, give the listener more than one chance to grasp it. It will add clarity to your preaching.

Don Sunukjian teaches homiletics at Talbot School of Theology, La Mirada, California. Reprinted fromSundoulos (Fall 1998)

The Day I Lost My Nerve

And how I got it back.

One Sunday, in the middle of the third point of my sermon, I lost my nerve.

For two days, doubts about the usefulness of its message had whispered darkly in the back of my mind, but I pushed ahead, ever the good soldier.

But on Sunday, at a precise point in time, I mentally bolted! Outwardly I kept preaching—faster, I think. I was gunning for the benediction. Inwardly, though, I was AWOL. I checked out.

What happened?

I had lost faith—the willful act of believing God is in the sermon. I stopped believing that he could use even my words. I lost my nerve.

After the benediction I made a beeline down the aisle and through the foyer to my study, without so much as a nod at an usher. I closed the door, locked it, and crumbled. Another service started in a few minutes, and I didn’t know what to do.

I did, of course, what all preachers do: preach once again, as well as I could with renewed dependence (a desperate dependence) on God to make his Word clear out of the jumble of my sermon.

Lessons in nerve loss

As I reflected on that experience, this much is clear:

It’s not preaching if there is no active faith at work. Then it’s a lecture, a talk, “some thoughts.” Preaching is, by definition, an act of faith. Feeling vulnerable is part of the package, but part of preparation, as surely as exegesis and outlining, is activating our faith that God will work through this message by his Spirit.
Confidence comes from outside us. Preachers can traffic too much in the realm of personal musings. Such thoughts may be theologically solid and pastorally wise, but it’s the Word that is our power. Our task is to let God speak for God.

Preaching is not for the faint of heart. Preaching nerve doesn’t come from self-confidence but from Word-confidence. When I forget that, I start sinking, wide-eyed, into the waves of doubt. When I remember, I can walk on water.

Lee Eclov is pastor of The Village Church of Lincolnshire in Lake Forest, Illinois.

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Oak Hills Church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas

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Sermon Titles:

He Chose the Nails (Colossians 1:20) When You Feel Far from God (Hebrews 10:22) Saved From and Saved For (Colossians 2:14) God’s Greatest Sign (Hebrews 10:20) History’s Greatest Transaction (Mark 10:45)

Why You Chose This Series Because the church needed a fresh encounter with the Cross.

Any Surprises? The wealth of symbolism in the objects of the Cross.

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Series Title: But What Did Jesus Say About It?

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What Did Jesus Say about Salvation? (Luke 5:27-39) What Did Jesus Say about Forgiveness? (Luke 7:36-50) What Did Jesus Say about Responsibility? (Luke 8:4-15) What Did Jesus Say about Life? (Luke 10:25-34) What Did Jesus Say about Things? (Luke 12:13-21) What Did Jesus Say about Calamities? (Luke 13:1-8) What Did Jesus Say about God? (Luke 15:1-32)

Why You Chose This Series Most people say Jesus was a great teacher—maybe the greatest. But that does not mean they know what he taught. We recently did a series “What Did Jesus Do?” (in response to “What Would Jesus Do?”); this is a natural follow up.

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Calvary Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Series Title:The Life and Teaching of Jesus: the Gospel of Mark

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The Temptation of Jesus (Mark 1:12-13) Jesus Came with Good News (1:14-15) What Does It Mean to Be a Follower of Jesus? (1:16-20) Teaching with Authority (1:21-28) For Jesus’ Sake, Get Out of Capernaum! (1:35-39)

Why You Chose This Series As we enter a new century we need to get back to Jesus. Jesus is disturbing. I’m not sure Jesus would be all that happy with the state of the church.

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