Why do we preach like that ?
"How long are the sermons ?" asked the lady. My reply brought a stunned reaction worthy of Hildebrand Glossop on being told that there remained two acts of Figaro to endure..
Why are our sermons as they are ? Why this approximate duration of, say, 25 to 45 minutes ? Why the habit of explaining truth and then explaining practical implications ? Why ? When a thoughtful little poem might be nice, after all.
I don't think it is hard to see why.
At the time of the writing of the New Testament, i.e. the foundation years of the Christian church, few people could read. Even many wealthy people couldn't read. Some had educated slaves to do their reading for them, just like some wealthy people today employ others to do their sums (accounts).All manuscripts were hand written (manu-scripts). So hardly anyone possessed a book. In fact nobody did, because even books hadn't been invented. People wrote on long scrolls that you rolled up.
Even in Reformation times few people could read and still almost nobody had books, not like we do today ! I think that's why my heart still grieves when I throw out a book, even if it is a load of old rubbish. A book is a treasure - or at least it was ! Remember, one of the great acts of the English Reformation was to ensure that a Bible was chained in each church - to make sure there would be at least one Bible in each Parish, and those who could read would go to the church to read it, and those who couldn't would go to hear it read.
That meant that in the first century churches the public reading of the Bible was really important. (incidentally everyone read out loud. I think it was Ambrose of Milan who first developed the habit of reading silently and people used to watch him, amazed, as his finger moved across the page but no sound came out of his mouth...)
Of course, "the Bible" in the first century was the Old Testament. The New Testament was still being written. And lots of the New Testament takes the form of letters written to churches (in Rome, Corinth, etc). So, when the letter arrived the pastor would take it to his secretary who would .run off a couple of hundred photocopies and send them out with the afternoon post. Ah no ! The letter would be read in the church, read aloud to everybody.
And many of these letters have a standard form. Christian truth explained, followed by Christian truth applied. Some letters do one big cycle of this. Others do lots of little cycles truth-action-truth-action-truth-action... Others blend explanation and application together more homogeneously. But they'd all have been read out loud to the listening congregation (which must have included boys and girls or Paul wouldn't have written to them as well).
Nowadays the New Testament is complete. But that structure of "a letter to be read out", explaining truth, then applying truth, has given us the shape and the approximate duration of our sermons even today. Except now we explain and apply the New Testament Letters themselves, and we don't always read it out.
Why are our sermons as they are ? Why this approximate duration of, say, 25 to 45 minutes ? Why the habit of explaining truth and then explaining practical implications ? Why ? When a thoughtful little poem might be nice, after all.
I don't think it is hard to see why.
At the time of the writing of the New Testament, i.e. the foundation years of the Christian church, few people could read. Even many wealthy people couldn't read. Some had educated slaves to do their reading for them, just like some wealthy people today employ others to do their sums (accounts).All manuscripts were hand written (manu-scripts). So hardly anyone possessed a book. In fact nobody did, because even books hadn't been invented. People wrote on long scrolls that you rolled up.
Even in Reformation times few people could read and still almost nobody had books, not like we do today ! I think that's why my heart still grieves when I throw out a book, even if it is a load of old rubbish. A book is a treasure - or at least it was ! Remember, one of the great acts of the English Reformation was to ensure that a Bible was chained in each church - to make sure there would be at least one Bible in each Parish, and those who could read would go to the church to read it, and those who couldn't would go to hear it read.
That meant that in the first century churches the public reading of the Bible was really important. (incidentally everyone read out loud. I think it was Ambrose of Milan who first developed the habit of reading silently and people used to watch him, amazed, as his finger moved across the page but no sound came out of his mouth...)
Of course, "the Bible" in the first century was the Old Testament. The New Testament was still being written. And lots of the New Testament takes the form of letters written to churches (in Rome, Corinth, etc). So, when the letter arrived the pastor would take it to his secretary who would .run off a couple of hundred photocopies and send them out with the afternoon post. Ah no ! The letter would be read in the church, read aloud to everybody.
And many of these letters have a standard form. Christian truth explained, followed by Christian truth applied. Some letters do one big cycle of this. Others do lots of little cycles truth-action-truth-action-truth-action... Others blend explanation and application together more homogeneously. But they'd all have been read out loud to the listening congregation (which must have included boys and girls or Paul wouldn't have written to them as well).
Nowadays the New Testament is complete. But that structure of "a letter to be read out", explaining truth, then applying truth, has given us the shape and the approximate duration of our sermons even today. Except now we explain and apply the New Testament Letters themselves, and we don't always read it out.
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