Sunday Sermons

Billy Sunday and D.L. Moody both blur the line between entertainment and religion.  Even when reading their works with an academic eye, I found myself pulled into their narratives and at times having an emotional response to the powerful stories of love and redemption told by both evangelists.  Both men’s anecdotes were full of comforting and triumphant Christian hope and the folksy style of delivery made me feel at ease.

As I read from both men, I was keenly aware of the impact their style of preaching had on modern-day Christians’ expectations for a sermon.  Even within a very mainline congregation, one could not get away long with sermons lacking entertaining stories and a few jokes.  The modern expectation is that sermons should be easy to listen to and entertaining.  This is where I have discomfort with modern expectations.

Billy Sunday, for all his warts, seems to have seen a delineation between evangelist and pastor.  When people accepted his call to Jesus during his revivals he would connect them with a congregation nearest their house for continued pastoral care and spiritual growth.  This view seems fair.  The parish sermon and the revival sermon are two different things.  A pastor does so much more than write sermons and has a greater responsibility for her or his parish than an itinerant evangelist seeking lost souls.  In the modern evangelical culture where the pastor must be Billy Sunday, Jonathan Edwards, and Mother Teresa how do we reclaim the distinct roles of evangelist and pastor?