• The Master Teacher: Sermons from Mark
• The Master Preacher: Sermons from John
• The Master Storyteller: Sermons from Luke
By Rev. Dr. Roy Sheldon MacKenzie
What can I do to prepare a sermon that will be well-remembered by the listeners? How can I make a balanced or consistent sermon, which is not draggy, nor a mosaic from the lectionary readings? How can I approach and preach four different gospel stories while preserving their own peculiar flavour? These are the questions and challenges I had in mind before reading Rev. Dr. Roy Sheldon MacKenzie’s sermon collections.
We, as preachers, are uniquely made and have gone through different life journeys. As a result, it is difficult to say what is the correct formula to make a good sermon. I feel it is appropriate to read and rethink the works of a veteran preacher such as MacKenzie especially at a time when the pulpits are at risk and changes are necessary.
His sermons are not prose, but rather verse. His sermon sentences are simple, rhythmical and colloquial. The sermons trigger the senses and imagination of the listeners. For example, the sermon A Visible Sign on Mark 2:1-12: “Dust and dirt got into their eyes, so that they couldn’t see. It got into their noses. They began to cough and sneeze. The noise of the falling earth and breaking wood drowned out the words of Jesus below. Within minutes the crowd was angry. The man of the house was beside himself. Get down off the roof! The hole just got bigger. Suddenly, the large hole in the roof was darkened. Down through the hole came a stretcher. On the stretcher lay a frightened, paralyzed man. Little wonder if he was frightened. He had never been airborne before!” What picturesque story telling! The call of the preacher is as that of a tour guide when he or she guides a group into scenes where they have never been.
The most difficult process as a lectionary-based preacher is the job of “blending.” The proper blending of each portion of the scriptures and producing one consistent message is a most challenging job for me. I agree with the metaphor that a sermon is like food. If it is tasty, then people will come again. If not, they will stop coming. As many cooks say, the blending of ingredients is the most essential part in the preparation. In that sense, there are many nuggets on which to chew in MacKenzie’s sermons. Let us take a look into one titled, Sorry, Not For Sale! based on Acts 8:9-24 — the conversion of Simon the sorcerer — and 2 Kings 4:8-37 — Elisha and the Shunammite’s son. From the two passages and two different characters such as greedy Ghazi, the confidante of the prophet Elisha in the Old Testament, and a power seeker, Simon, the sorcerer in the New Testament, the preacher blends two separate stories and heralds one prophetic message relevant with church mission today. “The story of Simon illustrates how easily false teaching may invade the church of Christ. It encourages vigilance on our part against the excess of fundamentalism, authoritarianism and sectarianism. At a time when the church of Christ finds its message at odds with current political and social practice, we need the conviction and courage of Peter as he dealt with the first Christian heretic.”
Finally, MacKenzie’s sermon is experiential and is well-flavoured with humour. From his sermon, titled Mistaken Identity based on Mark 3:19-30, he tells his own story of how he was mistaken for the former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. MacKenzie gave his autograph to an American tourist. One could use this idea in a sermon where Jesus would be mistaken for Moses or Elijah. MacKenzie’s sermons have many humourous stories. I like to call them heavenly humour.
I am pleased to say that I learned much from his sermon collections. They reflect much of what I am preaching today.
