Notes from Chicagoland: We’re in a hot spell — in the 90s or close to it every day. Kris has made great progress in healing from her wrist injury and has begun physical therapy. The All Star baseball game has never interested either of us so this has been most a week break from baseball. And our wood duck family is growing from little ducks into mostly mature ducks, which means they’ve learned to be spooked by humans. We treasure spotting them on a log on the north side of our village’s lake. A red tail hawk family, with two juveniles, thinks it’s an out-of-tune choir most mornings. On our morning walk the juvies are often screeching for someone to bring them some food. Friday AM we saw one of them with something to eat below it, walking around it seemingly wondered how one eats is own meal.
To the length of sermons….20 minutes is Ideal. I also would relish the East Timor experience of a day long service. It takes time for the glory of the Lord to touch us and fill us. He doesn’t operate in fits and starts or by our clocks and calendars.
Thanks Scot, for your blog. Read it every day and have relished reading Austin’s book along with you.
How long should a sermon last? Rather than talk "minutes" I want to talk "Structure" or "Content." My preference (and it's only that) is that a good sermon focuses on one good point, whether it takes 15 minutes or 45 minutes to develop adequately. Too many sermons give listeners a smorgabord of "lessons" from which to choose. Just give me one strong point that may take several steps to develop but which gives me solid support (even 45 minutes in some cases) to cement it in my mind and heart. Some sermons can do that in 15 minutes. Others take longer. But don't give me too many "spiritual" options from which to choose - none of which will be developed to the point that it meets my need.
To the length of sermons….20 minutes is Ideal. I also would relish the East Timor experience of a day long service. It takes time for the glory of the Lord to touch us and fill us. He doesn’t operate in fits and starts or by our clocks and calendars.
Thanks Scot, for your blog. Read it every day and have relished reading Austin’s book along with you.
Scot, thanks for doing this each week. It’s fun, but I’ve also picked up some good sermon content from these meanderings.
You never know what you might pick up from Weekly Meanderings! Glad it can be helpful besides fun and interesting (which is great too of course).
How long should a sermon last? Rather than talk "minutes" I want to talk "Structure" or "Content." My preference (and it's only that) is that a good sermon focuses on one good point, whether it takes 15 minutes or 45 minutes to develop adequately. Too many sermons give listeners a smorgabord of "lessons" from which to choose. Just give me one strong point that may take several steps to develop but which gives me solid support (even 45 minutes in some cases) to cement it in my mind and heart. Some sermons can do that in 15 minutes. Others take longer. But don't give me too many "spiritual" options from which to choose - none of which will be developed to the point that it meets my need.