THE TUNES OF PREACHING
Words and moods can either make toes tap or set teeth on edge.
Fred Craddock
April 1, 1987
Everyone knows a sermon has points, but not everyone knows a sermon also has a tune. I applied the word tune to preaching a few years ago when I began to wonder, Why do I especially like certain sermons? What makes certain ones really work? There was some important ingredient in effective sermons that went beyond the normal considerations of content. That ingredient, I realized, was the tune. A sermon's tune-its mood or spirit-is not easy to define precisely, but it's unmistakable. Hearing some sermons, I think of seventy-six trombones coming down Main Street. Other messages make me picture a violin and a crust of bread. We don't often think of the tune we'll play when we're preparing a sermon, because our preparation tends to focus on the content. But afterward, when we evaluate how we spoke it and how people responded to it, then we recall the tune: the subtle atmosphere that was projected, the mood that filled the sanctuary as the sermon was preached. Complicating matters is that not just sermons but preachers have tunes. I ask my students to imagine what sound track would best complement their preaching, and they give me answers ranging from Willie Nelson's music to something majestic from Handel's "Messiah." In fact, when I open my ears, I find tunes all around me. Churches have their tunes. Communities do, too. In Appalachia, most of the tunes are somber; "We're going down the valley one by one," " 'Tis midnight, and on Olive's brow," "The Old Rugged Cross." Pathos flows through these tunes. If I want to preach to Appalachia a greater sense of Easter, I can't fuss at them for not jumping up and down the first Sunday I sound that unfamiliar refrain. Joy is a strange tune to their ears. They need time to catch the beat. So ...
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