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“You haven’t changed a bit.”
It is usually meant as a compliment, as if to say that having avoided the ravages of time, we are still as youthful as we ever were. You will forgive me, however, if I am disappointed if the statement could be used of my listeners. My goal as a preacher is to incite change, dramatic change, profound change that lasts forever. Every sermon that I preach intends a difference. Helping people to come to the place where they are willing to change and where they can, in fact, change is the passion of my preaching. It requires a lot of imagination.
Imaginations are Powerful
In the classic children’s Christmas movie, Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street, Natalie Wood plays a little girl with no imagination. Her mother, wanting to ensure that her daughter grows up with a firm grip on the truth, had trained the imagination right out of her. Now she has an explanation for everything including a very realistic seeming Santa Claus who is obviously suffering from some kind of neurotic delusion. Or so says the unfortunate little girl. She reminds me of a lot of preachers I have heard. Somehow, many of them have cultivated the idea that an imagination is a dangerous thing in a preacher. Imaginative preaching might lead people to believe in Santa Claus or some other such dubious myth.
Of course, truth ought not to be imagined. Truth is not the figment of some preacher’s fancy. The message is as God intends it. The implications of that truth, however, are as varied as the listeners are. Preachers who want to motivate listeners toward a life that honors Christ, will make full use of their creative juices, imagining outcomes that make a difference in the listener’s life.
Current theory holds that pastors need to develop a vision for their congregations. Churches without vision stagnate. We understand that churches do not prosper by accident. Growth happens on purpose. Similarly, preachers need to have a vision for their sermons and more importantly, a vision for their people. The preacher that can use the imagination to paint a compelling and tangible picture of a preferred future for the listener, will lead the people towarda more meaningful experience.
Imagining the Difference as the Sermon’s Final (Fourth) Move
Imagining the difference is the fourth and final movement of the sermon. This is the point of integration between heart and today, the place where the sermon touches the life and experience of the listener in real time. As the final move of the sermon, the preacher’s concern is to motivate a definitive response. It is the point of reckoning as the listener comes to terms with the very voice of God.
It should be said that emphasizing imagination is not a license, to invent truth. This can be a dangerous part of the sermon. Haddon Robinson published an article with the title “The Heresy of Application.” His intention was not to suggest that it was heresy to apply sermons but to say that the greatest potential for heresy in the sermon is in the application. In some texts, the application is clear. “Love your enemies,” does not require a lot of explanation. In other cases, the text might seem a little more obscure. In either case, the preacher strives to help the listener understand the principle as it applies to the life sheor he lives each day. It is not enough, however, for the preacher to simply state the principles. The preacher must make sure to offer imaginative examples as to the implications of this principle for the life of the listener. The preacher needs to put himself or herself into scenarios familiar to the listeners, thinking through the implications so as to locate the sermon in the listener’s real time.
Improving Our Imagination
Encouraging change through imagining the difference can be enhanced through attending to the following four categories: set the mood, put it into action, and see it in perspective.
The first concern is to set the mood that will be appropriate for the intention of the sermon. The preacher may desire to help the listener feel hopeful or to fear God. Sermons have a variety of intentions. It is a matter of addressing what Jonathan Edwards called, the religious affections. Edwards distinguished between the faculty of understanding and the faculty of inclination. It is the inclination or the will (the heart) that the preacher seeks to influence in this final move of the sermon. The way to move the will, according to Edwards, is to work upon the listener’s affections. The listener is moved by positive affections such as love, joy, and delight. Other affections, like grief and sorrow, have a negative effect. In the former case, the listener is attracted to the presentation of hope, gratitude, and desire. In the latter case, the listener is moved against the creation of hatred, fear, and anger (Edwards 190). The preacher needs to think, then, about what kind of emotional mood is in view for the sermon’s concluding moments. Accessing the appropriate affection is critical to a motivating ending.
The second concern is to put things into action. The preacher needs to consider what kind of response is being called for. If the sermon is going to call for change, the listener needs to know exactly what kind of change is expected. The intended action could be framed in a positive or a negative direction. For instance, is the listener to do something (positive), or to stop doing something (negative)? And what exactly is that something? Should the listener stop or go? give or take? build or tear down? Putting the message into active terminology will keep the sermon from being a frustrating abstraction.
The third concern is to see it in perspective. The preacher can take the action being prescribed and observe it from various points of view. What are the implications from a global perspective? A local perspective? A personal perspective? Within the local point of view, the preacher ought to consider implications for the church as well as for the community. The preacher would do well to see the action in the various venues of the listener’s experience; at work, at play; at school; at church . . . The challenge is to identify the point in the listener’s real time.
Finally, then, the preacher puts it all together so that the listener understands what she or he must do. Perhaps through real life stories, or through imaginative scenarious, the preacher must offer tangible examples of what it would look like if the listener were to respond exactly the way that God intends. It is helpful, in fact, for the preacher to pose that exact question: “What would it look like (smell like, sound like…) if we were to live this message in full obedience to God’s call?” This is where the imagination comes into play. The more deliberate and specific the preacher can be in describing that difference in tangible terms, the more likely the listener will be able to understand how to respond. The preacher might not be able to predict the exact application of the message for each individual listener. Nevertheless, the preacher can put forward pictures that suggest a range of possibilities for life application.
All of this requires the preacher to employ imagination. Creating hopeful and meaningful possibilities for listeners who are recognizing God’s voice in his word will make for memorable sermons and lead to lasting results.
“Now What?”
Ultimately, the preacher is trying to help the listener answer the question, “Now what?” Having heard from God, the preacher seeks to encourage the listener to respond to the message of the sermon. Now, what would God have me do in response to the word that I have heard? This is the point of reckoning.
Encouraging listeners to real-life change is a difficult proposition. People don’t easily relinquish their well-worn habits. Yet as listeners encounter God in our preaching, they will find their ruts begin to dissipate. As we offer them hope and give them reassurance, they will begin to consider new possibilities. Perhaps they will find themselves willing to relinquish and respond. God will work in their life and create the person he intends for them to be. In the end we will look on them with pleasure and we will eventually say, “My how you’ve changed.”
Edwards, Jonathan. “A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections.” In Jonathan Edwards: Basic Writings. The New American Library. New York: Signet, 1966 (1741).
Robinson, Haddon. “The Heresy of Application.” Leadership (Fall 1997): 21-27.