Shaundra Taylor works behind the scenes at Backstory Preaching as editor in chief. She writes a weekly “Monday Reflection” in BsP’s free community on Mighty Networks exploring creative work, spirituality, and writing craft. On the weekends, she and her husband shuttle their teens to soccer games and ski slopes from their Victorian fixer-upper just north of Boston.
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done.”
Photographers know this.
They know the quality of a photo is determined less by the beauty of the surroundings and more by their choice of what to include—and exclude.
Where to train the lens.
How much of an object to capture.
Where in the frame to position it.
How to edit it after.
All for the purpose of telling a story that connects with the beholder.
All to capture a moment in a way that evokes some kind of emotion.
Widen the lens, shift angles, zoom in or step back, turn up the green, soften the highlights—every choice changes the focus and final image.
Shoot without paying attention to these details and you end up with an image that may be real but doesn't really capture the deeper truth of a thing.
The photo leaves the observer on the outside.
I guess you had to be there...
This effort to bring your listener into the gospel as you see it is your work in sermons, as well.
And it starts with choosing your subject.
What is your subject?
You come to the scripture like a photographer, training your lens on the passage to determine what you want to capture for your congregation.
Which truth of this particular passage do you want to leave with your listener?
A portrait of a particular character? If so, in which moment? The moment of crisis/confusion/pain/fear? The moment of grace received? The moment where Christ’s hand is outstretched but the decision to reach back remains in limbo?
Do you wish to capture the grandiosity of a concept like grace or resurrection or faith—the way a landscape image of a vast mountain range captures the vista’s magnificence?
Do you wish to zoom way in on an oft overlooked detail, capturing the multitudes held within even the seemingly least significant character or word or action—like the dew drop on a blade of grass reflecting an entire ecosystem?
Define the idea you want your audience to really see, and build your sermon to that end.
Which details will bring your subject into sharper focus?
Once you’ve defined your subject, determine the feeling you want your sermon to evoke.
Is the mood somber? Wrought with tension? Jubilant?
Is there an arc from one feeling to another? How could you best capture that transformation?
In preaching about the last supper, for instance, is your sermon best served by highlighting the joy of feasting together? The humility of foot washing? The dark subtext of Judas’s betrayal in a scene of intimate communion?
You can preach an infinite number of sermons simply by training your lens on a different moment and bringing forth details that evoke a different tone.
Consider these two images: both offer doors with creeping ivy for your consideration, but both create distinct emotional responses with their details.
Once you’ve narrowed your subject, determine how you want to frame and shade it to bring your listeners on an emotional journey with you.
Then choose the details that will help you communicate your idea most clearly:
Sensory details: movements, smells, sounds, colors, voices, temperature
Contextual details: landscape, political pressures, cultural norms, history
Your current context: your own backstory, the particulars of your congregation, where you see these same hopes/fears/power dynamics/familial stressors/etc. playing out in our current reality
(Please note: your word choice around these details will determine the tone they set. Fo example, is the heat oppressive, or does it relieve a chill? Choose your verbs and adjectives with intention.)
Highlight and dwell on only the details that bring the particular message of this sermon to life.
Do we need to hear the jangle of coins in Judas’s purse as he sits at the table? What is Peter’s volume by the time they’ve poured the fourth glass of passover wine? When the disciples sing a hymn before leaving for the Mount of Olives, do they sing in sonorous harmony, or make a joyful noise like an affectionate but off-key rendition of “Happy Birthday”?
Every choice will either enhance your message or distract.
Choose the details that help your listeners focus their attention and emotion where you want them.
Leave out the rest.
Which details should be cut from the frame or faded?
As important as determining what to include is choosing what to exclude.
That fascinating bit of Hebrew language—does it unlock the sublime beauty of the moment? Or is it simply an interesting detail best stored for conversation after the sermon?
Which details in the passage will you let blur into the background in order to maintain focus on the single message of this sermon?
In the images of the doors above, there’s a reason we don’t see the rest of the house, the forest or city dwelling, the sky above. The story is in the doorway and the ivy. The rest is distraction.
The roof or sky or broader setting tell a different story and belong in a different image.
So if your sermon focuses on Jesus’s body-broken and blood-shed message of communion, perhaps Judas’s jangling coins don’t have a place. Then again, depending on the point you’re making, they may be the exact detail that brings the profound depth of that message to life.
What is your message? What serves the message? Let go of the clatter that drives attention anywhere else.
If it helps you to let go, tuck those extraneous bits of information away for another sermon where they will serve the message.
What kind of editing will enhance the listener’s experience?
Even after paying close attention to composition, lighting, and focus during the shoot, photographers return to the details to ensure the their image best reflects their experience of that moment in time.
They may further crop the photo, turn up the color saturation, turn down the highlights, or warm a dark corner.
For preachers, this may look like eliminating unnecessary details, refining word choice, adding sensory texture, streamlining clunky sentences, and practicing delivery.
Is a certain sentence best delivered in a whisper? Should you emphasize a repeated phrase with a gesture? Maybe marking pauses will help you maintain the pacing needed to build and resolve tension.
Once you’ve drafted your sermon, go back to your message with a photographer’s eye and turn up or down elements to ensure your sermon reflects as clearly as possible the gospel you’ve experienced in the passage.
One Sermon, One Image, One message
You bring a photographer’s lens to your sermons to help you to tell this one story, to draw your listener's attention to this one feeling, to invite them into this one particular wonder of the Good News.
Of the infinite messages you could share in a sermon, to what will you say "no" so that your "yes" is as clear, meaningful, and powerful as possible?
As you craft your sermon this week, think like a photographer. See how well you can capture the “image” of your sermon’s message for your congregation.
Bonus Excercise
Study some amazing photographs. You might search "National Geographic photos" or "Pulitzer Prize Winning Photography".
As you browse, pay attention to your emotional response, and then analyze which choices elicited your reaction.
Consider:
What subject did the photographer choose?
What does the image represent? What story does it tell?
What context did they include to tell the story? What is left out of the frame?
What feeling does the image evoke?
Which details/choices create that feeling?
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