Francis Berger
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In Praise of the Misfits

11/24/2019

8 Comments

 
If my parish priest were a baseball player, he would have batting average of .250; this means he would manage a hit once out of every four turns at bat, which is a fairly respectable in baseball. Unfortunately, my parish priest does not play baseball.

He does, however, step up to the altar once a week to deliver a sermon during Sunday Mass, which means he delivers four sermons every month at my village church. I have come to realize that only one of the four sermons he gives each month manages to connect with me in any meaningful way. One in four is considered satisfactory for batting in baseball. Does the same apply to sermons?  

Now, before anyone berates me for criticizing the man, let me just add that I am well inclined to my parish priest and consider him a hardworking individual. He celebrates Mass four times each Sunday; one in my village - the three others in neighboring villages. He is an astute individual who is well-versed in Christianity, the Bible, history, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. On top of that, he adheres to a rather resolute vision of what the Church should be and spurns liberal encroachments into Christianity.

Nevertheless, I find his sermon 'average' disconcerting and somewhat dispiriting. In all fairness, I doubt my blogging 'average' even comes to his sermon 'average' in terms of interest, profundity, and insight, but I am a mere abecedarian layman whereas he is a trained professional. Don't get me wrong; when my priest manages to hit the ball, he tends to whack it clear out of the park; but the other times . . . 

Of course, my Christian faith does not hinge upon the effectiveness of sermons; in fact, I would continue to consider myself a Christian if I never heard another sermon or never set foot in a church again for the remainder of my earthly life. In other words, I do not need the church or any organized Christianity to be a Christian, and I will not stop being a Christian because of any perceived weakness or corruption in any church within organized Christianity. I approach Christianity from the personal level and build up from there; but at its core, my Christianity does not depend on many external sources to validate it.

Having said all of this, I must stress that external sources can be extremely helpful, stimulating, compelling, and thought-provoking. My experience as a Christian has taught me this - the most helpful, stimulating, compelling, and thought-provoking discourses today are not happening in churches or in sermons, but in the isolated and overlooked corners of our shattered Christendom. And they are being delivered by the misfits, the solitary, the heretics, the non-denominational, the seekers, and the mystics. 

Here's to them.

And here's to hoping my parish priest eventually encounters them.  
8 Comments
bruce charlton
11/25/2019 12:53:13

Traditionally, the 'sermon' is something of an optional extra for Roman, Orthodox and Anglo-Catholics - since the main purpose of attending church is the Mass.

Protestants have almost the opposite view - they don't usually celebrate Holy Communion (maybe as seldom as twice a year), and attend church mainly for the sermon (plus singing). And the more evangelical the Protestant, the more so.

Within the Church of England, the sermons seem to twice as long in the more protestant than the more catholic churches - and the protestants use the sermon for teaching (often systematically going through a book or chapter of scripture, week by week).

Among traditionalist evangelicals, one hour sermons seem to have been the gold standard. Furthermore, the more serious the evangelical, the shorter the text which was preached-on - the extreme I have encountered are the (superb) sermons of the great Welsh orator Dr (of medicine, not theology!) Martyn Lloyd-Jones - who usually spoke for an hour on one verse - and might take a year to cover one chapter of a book in the Bible:

https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/

Reply
Francis Berger
11/25/2019 15:21:13

@ Bruce - Thanks for that. I understand that the sermon is more or less optional in RC Masses - that is, they are not the main focus of the ceremony - but I tend to look forward to them all the same because they provide an opportunity to contemplate verses and meld them with ideas and insights.

My parish priest tends to keep his sermons short - about five-to-ten minutes or so. As I mentioned in the post, roughly one in four are truly thought-provoking while the rest are rather plodding and mundane, both in treatment and theme (at least for me; others might disagree).

I know I my criticism here comes across as rather callous, but I find part of the problem with traditional church religion is its seeming inability to 'move' a congregation and get them thinking.

Reply
bruce charlton
11/25/2019 17:26:49

"seeming inability to 'move' a congregation and get them thinking. "

I agree. But I am beginning to wonder whether this is a wider problem. Apart from a shallow kind of mob ecstasy (like a sports crowd, or rock concert) - the ability of congregation-sized groups to be moved both strongly *and deeply* - or even to want to be so moved - seems to be declining.

Ths was my experience in lecturing over a span of more than 30 years. A lot less is possible now than it was a generation-plus ago; there is, indeed, a resistance to overcome.

There are many factors responsible for decline, it seems to me - but in combination they are something like a fact of life.

Some of it is surely the activity of evils; but some may - perhaps - be an indirect consequence of the divinely destined future - which, if attained, may turn out to have other characteristics than were possible in the past.

Francis Berger
11/26/2019 05:46:39

@ Bruce - That's an interesting observation. When I wrote this post, I was only thinking of myself in relation to sermons, not the entire church congregation. It was only in my reply to you that I began to think of the ineffectiveness of sermons on the congregation itself. All the same, I have noticed that the congregation at the little church I attend is never really moved; even during those sermons when I feel personally moved.

I agree with you assessment ; much of this probably due to technology/distractions/short attention spans and the like, but there may be something else at play here - something that attests to the consciousness and its development. Being moved by words and thoughts seems to constricting down to the level of the individual.

Reply
bruce charlton
11/26/2019 12:48:23

From personal experience, the kind of intense spiritual church experience for which I yearn seems to be shared by... well almost nobody! Therefore since I am pretty indifferent to 'fellowship' - churches offer me personally very little (and only weakly) at an emotional level - even when I support (as I do with our family church) most of the work they do.

But I do get pleasantly surprised! - for example by this sermon from Bishop Martin Morrison the other day (24 Nov 19), aimed at the unsure and unbelievers (my wife was singing in the choir).

https://www.clayton.tv/new/0i0/6192/

Reply
Francis Berger
11/26/2019 15:16:52

@Bruce - I am pleasantly surprised sometimes, too. I used to be quite indifferent to the 'fellowship' aspect of churches, but that all changed when I moved to this little community of 650. Thanks for the link. I will listen to it later today. On a side note, I believe I passed by the Jesmond Church once during one of my exploratory walks in the Newcastle area.

Reply
Cererean
11/26/2019 15:09:29

What do the other's in your congregation think? It may be that only 1 in 4 connect with them, too - but it's a different 1 out of the 4.

The most thought provoking discussions and ideas always happen on the edge, because the edge is where possibility is. Most - nearly all - fizzle out, but some have value and catch on, rejuvenating the (always dying) centre. Christianity isn't immune. After all, it was a (heretical!) minor Jewish sect on the fringes of the Roman Empire, once upon a time...

Reply
Francis Berger
11/26/2019 15:19:38

@ Cererean - Good question. I haven't asked any of them, but I imagine your analysis is probably correct.

With a few notable exceptions, I have found the most thought-provoking discussions about Christianity happen almost exclusively on the fringes today.

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