What is the occasion?

A good sermon form, then, grows out of the particularities of preach­ing this truthful word on this day to these people. Think of those occasions when a person must speak an important truth to another. Perhaps it is a joyful but risky tru&, like “I love you.” Or perhaps it is a hard truth, like ‘Tour work is not satisfactory and must improve if you are to stay here.” The one who speaks words like these must decide how to speak them. In some ways the nature of the message itself demands its own form. “I love you” must be said personally, directly, straightfor­wardly. In other ways, the form must be fitting for the one to whom the word is spoken. We say “I love you” differently to a person who already knows of our love and will hear this as confirmation than we do to a person who has reason to think that we do not care for them and who will receive this word as a shock. How we speak a word of truth is the result of an interplay between the word spoken and the ones to whom it is said. The preacher is attempting to bear witness to the truth claims of the gospel that have been heard through a specific biblical text. p.156-157

Every sermon form, then, must be custom-tailored to match the particular preaching occasion. P. 57