Find Your Plot:
Creative-writing teacher Janet Burroway tells us that many writers want “to express their sensitive observations of life but your readers want to wonder what happened next. You must master plot, because no matter how profound or illuminating your vision of the world may be, you cannot convey it to those who do not read you.”^*^ “W hen editors take the trouble to write a rejection letter to a young author the gist of the letter is ‘This piece is sensitive . . . but it is not a story.
This begs the question, how do we know when we have written a story? Fiction writers advise us that a story must have three components: conflict, crisis, and resolution. Conflict is the fundamental element of fiction. The consensus of a number of writers is that “only trouble is interesting.”^® Since a sermon is not a novel, having a plot doesn’t mean beginning each sermon with a protagonist who begins a quest, encounters obstacles, and then experiences a resolution, either happy, tragic, or bittersweet. But creative writers would affirm the insight of much contemporary homiletical theory, that there is a deep narrative plotline to sermons that involves conflict and resolution.
Novelist Madison Smartt Bell describes two basic forms for novels:
1. one is “linear design” and is governed by a chronological sequence of events that fell in order like dominoes.
A second he calls “modular design,” in which the work is arranged around images, ideas, or events, whose meaning doesn’t depend on their chronological sequence.^^
David Schlafer’s 1992 book Surviving the Sermon, in which he specifies three means by which a sermon can be unified and by which its contents can be carried through the stages of its plot (the forward-moving dynamic of the sermon): image, story, and argument.
If your sermon is not engaging for listeners or for you, ask yourself:
Do I have, somewhere in it—running through it, underlying it, driving it—
three C ’s: conflict, crisis, and resolution?”
Show Me (Don ‘t just Tell Me)
For preachers it means that we need to provide examples of the truths we are commending, not just expect people to take our word for it. If you are afraid that your sermons may be boring, check to see if they are chock-full of abstract statements with no examples.
Does your sermon consist of a series of statements about God and the life of feith, each followed by conceptual explanation? “We reach a place in hfe where we reahze that we are hving a superficial existence.” “In our relationship with Christ, God gives us the gift of discovering our deepest identity.” “W e need to live in such a way that the values of our faith take priority over the values of the world.” “The incarnation is God’s action to meet us in our grief.” “Despite the instances of violence and hatred in the world over the past several months, God is at work in the world bringing redemption and reconciliation.” All these statements are edifying and, I believe, true. But we need to give the listener examples, not just expect them to take our word for it.
Try what I call the generalization buster” exercise. Read through your manuscript and highlight every general statement. In the margin next to it, write, “So what? Where? When? How? Show me.”
Show me your character’s emotions. Novelists have lots of advice about portraying characters.
John Gardner recommends that, instead of telling us that “She felt terrible,” we show, by the gesture or look, the nuance of her feelings. An abstract adjective is not much help. He points out that “one can feel sad or happy or bored or cross in 1,000 ways.” The precise gesture, on the other hand, pinpoints the feeling. “Good writers may tell about almost anything in fiction except the characters’ feelings.”^^
His advice to writers is, “In description, directly show what can be seen and allow readers to infer the rest. You must show emotion. Don’t just say outright how your characters feel. Give the reader evidence. How do we know that Joan is bored, that Peter is ashamed, that Thomas is skeptical?
Show how they look and behave, what their hands are doing, and the reader will infer the emotion.”^^
Show me your character’s personality. Use details about a person’s dress, personal tastes, and mannerisms to indicate their personality.
Lavonne Mueller and Jerry Reynolds suggest this exercise to practice showing characters’ traits rather than just telling about them.
Look at the following statements. Offer a couple of details regarding the person’s appearance and mannerisms that show what the person » is like. Carlos has trouble making up his mind. Anita is stingy. Brian is carefree.
Maybe you’re describing a biblical character. “He wore the softest robe in the crowd, though no hands reached out as he passed to touch it. Head down, he looked even shorter, scurrying toward the tree.” We could say much more, but that’s probably enough. The reader or listener can figure out that Zacchaeus is the richest person in the crowd, that no one liked him, and that he knew no one liked him. It’s the difference between the author putting a label on someone and the character revealing his emotions and personality.
Show me setting. Use sensory details to describe setting in sermons. Tlie vivid description that is die key to showing characters’ emotions and personalities is also the key to portraying scenes and settings. The same principles apply. Show listeners details that suggest more than their literal meaning, details that tie the scene or setting to the inner dynamics of the characters in them. Whether you are portraying a biblical setting or a contemporary one, use details that engage all five senses—describe weather, geography, food, smells, textures, place, windows, light, furniture, you name it—to convey concepts and emotional dynamics.
The smell of martyrs’ blood mingled with the dirt of the coliseum floor. The sounds of flames Hcking at the buildings as Rome burned. A wild glint in an emperor’s eyes. The taste of bread and wine as they share their holy meal, but their hands tremble as they reach out to receive it. This is the Gospel of Mark. Probably written at the outset of a persecution, possibly by Nero.
Natalie ‘Goldberg recommends that writers, in their descriptions of places, people, and events, use concrete significant detajls: ‘‘’‘Concrete means that there is an image, something can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted or touched. Detail means that there is a degree of focus and specificity. Significant means that the specific image also suggests an abstraction, generalization or judgement.
The relevance of this advice for our sermons is that we need to focus listener’s attention m something in particular for a reason (that pertains to our theme and purpose) by means of an appeal to one of the senses