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Claiming Theology in the Pulpit, homiletics, John S. McClure, other-wise, preaching, sermon, sermon illustration, theology and preaching
In the old days (meaning when I was a parish minister) publishers produced books such as 5000 Best Sermon Illustrations, or Stories for Sunday, and we would plow through mostly irrelevant, sentimental, and usually dated ditties culled from Reader’s Digest and well-known sermons for a gem, often wasting untold amounts of precious time. Nowadays, the Internet stands in, and the preacher’s wrist is worn out clicking on link after link – sermon helps, newspaper websites, blogs. Of course, preachers also search for illustrations in lots of other places – books, pastoral and personal experience, etc.
When illustration-searching seems to be going nowhere, it might be due to one, very simple problem – the need to narrow your search. We all know that the key to good browsing is to know what we’re looking for in the most specific terms possible.
In our book, Claiming Theology in the Pulpit, Burton Cooper and I identify several needed “theological moments” that should go into sermon preparation, and one of them needs to occur before going in search of illustrations. This “theological moment” can be tremendously helpful for narrowing one’s search for the right illustration. Here’s a little process to try.
1. Identify what, in particular, you are trying to illustrate or illumine with an image, picture, story, etc. Write it down.
2. Now stop. Don’t start searching yet! Have a “theological moment.” Ask yourself what broad theological category you are illustrating (sin, faith, the human condition, evil, church, hope, God, salvation, eschatology, grace, etc.).
3. Without over-ruling the theological emphases in the biblical text, remind yourself what you, within your operative theology (liberationist, evangelical, process-relational, existentialist, feminist, etc.) want to communicate on an ongoing basis about this theological category. For instance, if the broad category is sin, remember that sin looks different for a liberation theologian (Segundo, for instance) and an existentialist (Tillich, for instance). Right? For the liberationist, sin is the oppressive misuse of power, for the existentialist, sin is any idolatrous attempt to secure oneself against one’s finitude. If your category is a bit more specific – forgiveness, for instance, remind yourself of any issues attached to the idea of forgiveness that you don’t want to forget from within your theological perspective. A feminist-liberationist, for instance, will want to remember the close relationship between forgiveness and justice.
4. Now, return to the task of finding an illustration. Hopefully, this little exercise will considerably narrow your search. If you’re an existentialist, you now know that you’re looking for an illustration for sin that is a picture of self-securing idolatry. If you’re a liberationist, you’re now searching for a picture of oppressive power. If forgiveness is your target idea, and you’re a feminist-liberationist, you’ll go in search of a story where the restoration of justice and right relationship precedes or accompanies forgiveness.
This simple practice, applied consistently, can considerably narrow your search for illustrations, assure theological consistency, and save you precious time in sermon preparation. Try it.
Otherwise Thinking 
Refresh me. What role do personal stories have to play? I tend to stay away from them, will third-person my own experiences. But I also think there’s power in personal stories. I’m just not an “I, me” preacher.
The Romans passage this week is, in part, about receiving a spirit of adoption. Since that’s an important issue in my family, I want to speak to it from a human and theological point of view. And from a personal one……anyway, what say you?
Hey Laurie,
I think that’s a different topic and I’ll address it sometime in a blog…i.e. self-disclosure and preaching. I would, of course, include in any “search for illustration” process, not merely the Internet or other publications, but most certainly the lens of one’s own daily experience of life itself. In my post, I was mainly trying to paint a picture of the “search” issue in its most pejorative sense. The same theological moment would be needed for personal experiences, or for any other kind of identification of sin and grace in ordinary life.
In relation to the Romans text, therefore, let’s say that your personal experience is part of the mix of possible illustrations – but not the only possibility, right? Now, try the little process I outlined and see if it leads you to decide to use your experience with adoption, or pursue something else. I’d be interested to know what happens.
John, it is strange for me to think clergy are “surfing the web” for illustrations – It’s just never occurred to me to go there – But I’m now pondering where my “illustrations” come from – Often, stories from the congregation, which they really appreciate. Books I’ve read. Articles I’ve read. Something that has come “into” or “through” me – Not something I’ve gone trolling for….. Hmm…
Amy, well put. I’m learning a lot about blogging. My attempt at a catchy intro has distracted somewhat from my main thought – which is that wherever one goes in search of illustration, it is helpful to ask theological questions first. Maybe I’ll see if WordPress will permit an update in order to clarify this a little.
Isn’t that nice. WordPress allows “updates,” so I added a brief sentence at the end of the first paragraph making use of your comment, Amy. Isn’t technology lovely? Thanks for collaborating with me on this blog to help it be more clear and homiletically wise.
John – It certainly has gotten me thinking about how easy it is to become theologically lazy in the constant sermon preparation cycle – I’m sure I’m just as guilty as the next preacher in using illustrations for less-than-theologically-illustrative reasons. The beauty and gift of parish ministry is that there is always next Sunday!
The United Methodist website Ministry Matters just re-posted the non-updated version. Notice at the bottom of their web-page the link to the “Sermon Illustrator Database.” http://www.ministrymatters.com/preach/blog/entry/1473/narrowing-the-search-for-a-great-sermon-illustration
Hmmmm.