Melinda Quivik is an ordained ELCA pastor who has served Lutheran churches in three states, and a UCC/Presbyterian congregation in Michigan. A former professor of liturgy and preaching and past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy, she is now the Editor-in-Chief of Liturgy, a mentor with Backstory Preaching, and a liturgical and homiletical scholar whose books include Worship at a Crossroads: Racism and Segregated Sundays (2023), Leading Worship Matters (2017), Serving the Word: Preaching in Worship (2009) with scholar’s contributions to Sundays & Seasons: Preaching and other publications.

Did you ever have a member of your congregation tell you he liked to sit behind a large person because then he could nap during your sermon?

I did.

His name was Terry, a farmer.

You can’t help thinking, “How can I wake Terry up?!”

You muse on all the things you know about Terry: his wife, his children, his business, and the time you pulled a muscle in your back and he recommended the chiropractor you should see because Terry has to see this guy at least five times a year.

There’s a lot to know about Terry.

But also it’s hard to know Terry because, like a lot of people, he is reticent about himself, making it hard to learn his loyalties and opinions. He certainly won’t talk about his needs!

As a preacher, it would be helpful to know a lot about all the people in your congregation—of all ages and types and histories—so that your work to forge a sermon out of your interpretation of the scripture readings, the day in the church year, and the social/cultural context could result in good news .

Terry might stay awake!

However, given the realities of how people do or do not engage community, preachers have to do a lot of guessing.

We have to make assumptions about what people want to hear, don’t want to hear, and especially what they are hearing in worship.

Of course, preachers cannot meet everybody’s needs all at once. Not ever. Not even partially.

So what is a preacher to do to hold the attention of the listeners?

Here are a few cues:

Talk about the listeners’ World

….not just about the world of the scripture reading or the historical circumstances in which it was written or the way it has been interpreted through the centuries or how one Gospel story differs from the others. If you do that, your words are too distant from current life to help people see how God is at work in the world around them.

Speak about what really matters to you

People can tell if what a preacher says is rote or a quote they found on the internet or not important to them. If you can’t find the kernel of life-and-death issues in the scripture reading/s, dive into lectio divina—prayerful reading and study—some more. Ask yourself: What is it about this particular biblical text that might save someone from despair? Begin by asking yourself that question about your own life.

Reach into the hearts of the people assembled by admitting hard truths

Yes, we are all going to die. Yes, we all suffer grief. Yes, we are all afraid our barns are too big for the little we have achieved. Yes, we have known guilt and even shame. Laying out reality creates trust, and trust builds relationship, and relationships are medicine.

Keep the ideas moving

Dwelling on one story too long will lose people. When listening to a speaker, we “get it” pretty quickly. Part I of David Buttrick’s book Homiletic is all about “moves.” As he says, “Language is inescapably linear.” We speak of one thing and then another and another. He continues, “Sermons are a movement of language from one idea to another…” (p 23). Buttrick’s key finding about moves is that a congregation can only attend to one idea for about four minutes. That’s enough time to get across a full idea, even something as complex as saying “God is a mystery,” an example Buttrick uses.

Shape the ideas into visual and concrete images

Here’s Buttrick again: “Homiletic thinking is always a thinking of theology toward images” (p 29). He adds further insight later in his book: “Because sermons ‘bring into view’ unseen reality, they will, of necessity, dabble in metaphor, image, illustration, and all kinds of depiction. After all, preaching is preoccupied with Christ who comes to us as story” (p 113). For example, rather than reciting the need to forgive, a preacher depicts forgiveness through a story of two people who have reconciled, making the idea emotionally available. Make the ideas real.

Admit your own failings

Do not become the hero of a story you tell to illustrate something. It won’t be believable and it will detract from your point. If you can “own up” to a weakness—even a small one, even a sort of trivial one like not having learned how to swim—everyone who listens will think of their own failures and feel kinship with you.

Let your first sentences hint at where the sermon will end up

This means: Don’t start with a joke. Period. Unless you are a stand-up comedian in your off-time and have won awards, it is nearly impossible for a light-hearted quip to bear the gravitas that is inherent in God becoming human and rising from the dead. For us.

Assume everyone knows a lot more than you may think

This doesn’t mean that you trot out hefty Hebrew and Greek words every week because people will easily follow. It does mean you assume what you find interesting (even a highly nuanced definition of a Greek word) will be interesting to the listeners. Honor their intelligence so that you take them along on your journey of insight. Never condescend, but speak to lift up your spiritual siblings.

Speak more about what God is doing in our midst than what we are to do

One of the fine preachers in my life was also a teacher who would respond to every student’s presentation in class by first listing at least three (maybe eight!) things about a student’s presentation that was admirable. Only then would he make a suggestion about one little thing that needed to be reconsidered. What did the student remember afterwards? Not the praise heaped upon her but the one little thing that did not measure up. When we are told what to do, we hear it as another task, a job added to those we already have. We may feel defeated because we can’t do it, don’t know how to do it, and believe we will fail because there is no perfection in human life. Help people leave the worship service with a definite image of God’s strong and steadfast love at work in our midst rather than their incapacity to accomplish an improved world. Better yet: point out where God’s desire for good is evident.

On Keeping the Listeners' Attention (A Guest Post)