When I was being trained as a preacher, I heard a great deal about content but also a great deal about the necessity for good illustrations, eye contact, and a good turn of the phrase. I will admit that wordsmithing remains a concern of mine not because the sermon is great literature but because the time our hearers give us is precious and we need to use it effectively and wisely. This means knowing how to speak in English, using the full tools of the language and grammar. Of course, I am not an expert in this but I do try.
I do not believe that I am a great preacher. It is not because I am humble that I admit this. It is because I listen to sermons all the time (thanks to the miracle of the internet!). I love to listen to sermons and to read them. When I do, I realize that there are really great preachers out there and I am not one of them. That is okay. I try very hard and work on improving my craft not for the sake of me but for the solemn sake of the Gospel.
Since my parish sends out many people across the nation and even the world, I get reports back from the folks we send forth. Their most common complaints are the lack of a Lutheran parish using the liturgy faithfully, reverently, and with confidence AND poor preaching. They are not talking about eye contact or the lack of a good story but sermons which end up being good orations yet without a point -- or at least without the Gospel. They tell me that sermons tend to fall into a predictable pattern. You were bad, God was/is good, not try harder not to be bad. This is the better pattern. The worse pattern spends even less time on your sin and trying harder to be holy and leaves you simply with the idea that God is good and that is all that matters. I do not have objective evidence of their complaint about the preaching but I presume that they were being accurate in their critique. I know this because this is how I began preaching! In the beginning it was an attempt to preach the whole counsel of God's Word, from Genesis to Revelation, every week. Then it evolved into the desire to engage God's people and the story became the means. It moved to a same sing song story of a Gospel sandwich -- dutifully between two slices of the law and spiced up with the requisite stories, illustrations, and eye contact with the hearers. In the end, I learned from listening to preachers how to preach, from reading sermons how to write them, and from faithful pastors how to call their people to repentance and faith.
It could be worse. Listen to most other preachers (not Lutheran!) and those in liberal Lutheran congregations! It could be far worse. If I could say anything to a preacher, it would be the caution that you do not have the time to spend on stories, illustrations, and oratorical skills. The sermon has fewer minutes of the hearer's attention than in the past. The pressure is on. You have time to preach the Word and that is what you need to do. Furthermore, the Law/Gospel dialectic, while important, is NOT a sermon pattern. All deference to Walther, the Law Gospel stuff he talks about in his book by the same name is more about pastoral care than directly about preaching. If you read Walther's sermons you would find that they violate what he says in his lectures. Thankfully, his preaching is better for it. Preach the Word. Let that Word define the sermon and not a formula for content (% illustration, % Law, % Gospel, etc...). Remember, not to get in the way of the Word but neither let your own self-consciousness in standing in the pulpit prevent you from speaking that Word. If Jesus said that His witnesses would preach repentance, forgiveness, and faith, then He expects us to do the same -- and not just occasionally.
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