Monday, September 26, 2011
Devotions in Norwegian American Weekly
Recently I was asked to do a weekly devotional piece for the Norwegian American Weekly. It is the only Norwegian heritage paper left in the U.S. I told them I would do it every other week and so far that has been a real challenge. My mode of operation so far is to find a good example and draw a spiritual lesson of some kind from it in a very short piece. Unlike writing an extemporaneous sermon you don't get a chance to change anything or make any adjustments at the time of delivery. So far it feels a little too much like coming out of retirement. It has refreshed my memory of what it is like for Pastors to be constantly under the gun to come up with sermons and devotions and all the other things they do on a weekly basis.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Lecture by Dr. John Carrick
I recently came across a lecture by Dr. John Carrick, a Presbyterian homiletics professor at Greenville Seminary, on the subject of reading sermons. Suffice it to say that he is against it. He makes the most compelling argument I have ever heard for preaching freely in the extemporaneous style. I have a link to his lecture on my web site at (http://www.extemporaneouspreaching.wikispaces.com/) or you can find it at. (http://www.sermonaudio.com/?sermoninfo.asp?SID=124092165410. I must warn you that if you are still reading your sermons you may not want to listen to this as his arguments against the practice are very compelling.
New Web Site
I recently started a web site on the subject of extemporaneous preaching. I have put a number of links on the site and hope to keep updating it as time goes on. The url for the site is http://www.extemporaneouspreaching.wikispaces.com/
It all came about when my daughter-in-law told me about wikispaces and I was able to hire my 13 year old grandson ($5.00 / hr.) to set it up and keep it up for me. There are a number of people around the country working on the issue of helping pastors move away from reading their sermons. I hope this web site will become part of the larger resource in this area..
It all came about when my daughter-in-law told me about wikispaces and I was able to hire my 13 year old grandson ($5.00 / hr.) to set it up and keep it up for me. There are a number of people around the country working on the issue of helping pastors move away from reading their sermons. I hope this web site will become part of the larger resource in this area..
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
SPEAKING THE WORD FREELY
One year ago I self published a book on the subject of extemporaneous preaching and the Process Preching method. I called it, "Speaking the Word Freely." For the first year I had my publisher handle sales of the book but this has become too expensive. The book is now only available from me personally. You can order a copy for $18.00 plus $2.00 for shipping by sending your check to, Jerry Larson, 14235 288th Ave. NW. Zimmerman, MN 55398. If you have any questions you can E-mail me at jerlarson@visi.com. The book includes a DVD in which I demonstrate the particular kind of oral rehearsal that makes the extemporaneous preaching of a manuscript possible for anyone to do.
WHAT LANGUAGE IS
Recently I read a review by Kevin Canfield of a book entitled What Language Is (and what it isn't and what it could be) by John McWhorter. He says in his review. "The parts of "What Language is" that will connect with most readers are those that deal with the patchwork that is English in its spoken form. A linguist who has published more than a dozen books. McWhorter is obviously devoted to the written word, but he argues that speech is more vibrant. "Dance is a useful analogy," he writes. "There are systems available to transcribe ballets on paper for future dancers to use for re-creations. Yet none would think of these transcriptions, despite their usefulness, tidiness, and accessibility, as the ballet itself."
PATCHWORK
I like this word patchwork for describing the spoken word. What bothers a lot of preachers about speaking freely is that things are never perfect. There are so many stops and starts and interruptions of thought that the sermon indeed feels like a patchwork quilt rather that a seamless garment. This can be very frustrating at times and yet it is often what makes the spoken word so much more compelling than the written word.
THE BALLET OF LANGUAGE
What a great analogy for describing the difference between the written and the oral word. The written word is like the systems available for transcribing ballets on paper. They are helpful for future generations who want to perform these ballets but they are not the ballets themselves.
In a similar sense, the written manuscripts we prepare to guide us in preaching are not the sermons themselves. I would even suggest that the Gospel in it's written form can only serve as a guide and an inspiration for proclamation and not as the proclamation itself. Luther was very quick to point this out on numerous occasions. He believed that if the preaching of the Gospel ever ceased and only the written word continued, Christianity would be dead in the matter of a generation or two.
Recently I read a review by Kevin Canfield of a book entitled What Language Is (and what it isn't and what it could be) by John McWhorter. He says in his review. "The parts of "What Language is" that will connect with most readers are those that deal with the patchwork that is English in its spoken form. A linguist who has published more than a dozen books. McWhorter is obviously devoted to the written word, but he argues that speech is more vibrant. "Dance is a useful analogy," he writes. "There are systems available to transcribe ballets on paper for future dancers to use for re-creations. Yet none would think of these transcriptions, despite their usefulness, tidiness, and accessibility, as the ballet itself."
PATCHWORK
I like this word patchwork for describing the spoken word. What bothers a lot of preachers about speaking freely is that things are never perfect. There are so many stops and starts and interruptions of thought that the sermon indeed feels like a patchwork quilt rather that a seamless garment. This can be very frustrating at times and yet it is often what makes the spoken word so much more compelling than the written word.
THE BALLET OF LANGUAGE
What a great analogy for describing the difference between the written and the oral word. The written word is like the systems available for transcribing ballets on paper. They are helpful for future generations who want to perform these ballets but they are not the ballets themselves.
In a similar sense, the written manuscripts we prepare to guide us in preaching are not the sermons themselves. I would even suggest that the Gospel in it's written form can only serve as a guide and an inspiration for proclamation and not as the proclamation itself. Luther was very quick to point this out on numerous occasions. He believed that if the preaching of the Gospel ever ceased and only the written word continued, Christianity would be dead in the matter of a generation or two.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Speaking the Word Freely
I have recently published a book on the subject of Process Preaching called, SPEAKING THE WORD FREELY - Writing with Purpose, Preaching with Power. It is available to buy for $18.00 plus $2.00 for shipping from me directly You can send a check for $20.00 to me at 14235 288th Ave. NW. Zimmerman, MN 55398. If you have any questions you can contact me at jerlarson@visi.com. It has been a long process getting a book published. I have been working on it for 5 years. I finished the manuscript 2 years ago and showed it to an English Professor friend of mine. After looking at it he simply called me and said. "Jerry, we have to talk." What followed was another year in which I completely re-wrote and edited every paragraph of the book. In the end the manuscript was a lot better and I am very happy with it now. I published the book myself after being turned down by Fortress Press our ELCA church publisher. The publisher of the book is Tasora books and the printer is Bookmobile. com located in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. They did a beautiful job of printing the book. It really does look good. The book includes a DVD demonstration disc of me orally rehearsing a sermon. Watching the DVD is a little like watching paint dry but once someone sees me doing these oral rehearsals they will see exactly how an extemporaneous delivery is achieved with the Process Preaching System. As of this date, 11/30/12 I have sold 100 books. I had 300 printed so I am still a ways away from breaking even on this project.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)