It was Mother’s Day. I knew the two well-dressed elderly ladies glaring at me were visitors because they sat in the front row. In the middle of my sermon, one said aloud to the other, “This isn’t about mothers.” The other responded, “What kind of church is this?” and together they looked down the row disapprovingly at the family members who brought them.
Choosing not to focus an entire sermon on a special day, as I sometimes do, can create a stir. By contrast, some may avoid church on a special day because of the strong negative emotions attached. One man told me, “I skipped last week because it was Mother’s Day.” When I asked why, he replied, “It was pointless. My mother’s been dead for years.”
SPECIAL DAYS PRESENT PREACHERS WITH SPECIAL CHALLENGES
1. When we ignore a special day, we may suffer the consequences of disappointing people.
My experience has been that if you choose not to address a given holiday, most people will be happy provided it’s a good sermon. But as the above story shows, that isn’t always the case. Depending on the day, we encounter expectations from several sources:
- Congregational expectations. Members of the congregation may be disappointed if there is no patriotic sermon on July 4 or Christmas sermon for every Sunday in Advent.
- Visitor and irregular attender expectations. Some holidays mean in influx of visitors or an appearance by sporadic attenders. They are there because of the holiday and find it strange if it is not addressed. At other times the holiday means fewer people in worship, which can disrupt a sermon series.
- Denominational expectations. Beyond the days on the average calendar, your denomination has its own expectations about special themes to be addressed, projects to be plugged, and offerings to be raised.
- Liturgical expectations. Although I have never been part of a liturgical tradition, one year an elder called a hasty meeting to uncover why we had ignored Pentecost that Sunday. Depending on your church, you may not want to ignore Reformation Sunday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, or St. Patrick’s Day.
2. People may focus on the holiday rather than on God.
This is probably the greatest danger of any special day. Humanism, hyper-patriotism, and outright idolatry can hijack worship. Biblical preachers must avoid dressing the gospel in patriotic clothes, tying the flag on the cross on July 4, or turning Christmas into merely a sentimental family affair.
After one worship service, a member met me at the door with a mild rebuke: “I was a little disappointed not to hear a sermon about mothers today.”
“Why was that?” I said as casually as possible, dismayed that so many in the narthex seemed to be listening.
“It is Mother’s Day,” she replied. “Shouldn’t mothers get one Sunday a year?”
In a flash (of what I hope was inspiration) I responded, “Nope. God gets ’em all.”
That is the heart of the matter. There are many holidays and special events that demand attention, but the only thing that matters is that God be honored. As Stephen Rummage writes, “The purpose of the special day sermon is not to glorify the special day but to glorify Jesus Christ” (Planning Your Preaching, 2002, p. 124).
3. The celebration pushes the sermon off to the side.
A word from God can be overshadowed by a musical extravaganza, a powerful drama, or cute children waving palm branches. Recognition of the oldest father present or the presentation of a lengthy musical number leaves less time for preaching. One Easter our platform was filled with so much staging I had to preach from the aisle.
4. We may use Scripture wrongly to address the holiday.
When we try to speak to a special day, we may make a text mean what it never meant. For example, we may offer biblical characters as case studies in parenthood when that was not the intent of the text.
- “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Eccl. 4:12) is not the right text for Trinity Sunday.
- “But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow” (Ps. 60:4) does not refer to our nation’s flag and a call to patriotism.
5. The holiday theme is not what we sense God wants preached at this time.
Have you ever faced a holiday and sensed the theme seemed opposite to what God wanted? The calendar season was not the spiritual season of the church. It was Thanksgiving, but you felt the mind of the Lord was to deal with broken relationships. The holiday mood was celebratory, but you sensed the need for repentance.
Rather than automatically jettisoning either, try to wed the two. How does what you sense relate to the holiday? Another option is to ignore the holiday and explain why. This only adds to the urgency of the message.
6. We have run out of fresh things to say.
Of all special days, the most significant are Christmas and Easter, and that makes them also the most challenging. Since each of those days tends to arrive every year, a pastor must find ways to declare powerfully the basic message of Christ’s incarnation and resurrection to the same audience. The preacher must be able to do more than declare “ditto.”
Read the nine tips to stay fresh >>
