Since I have retired, I have visited many churches. Some of them have been huge, seating many hundreds, even thousands, of worshipers. After worship, people may exit out of any one of many doors.
Most of the churches I served were small, seating at the most 200, crowded in for big weddings and funerals, or, Christmas and Easter. After the service, unless you exited through the door in the sacristy behind the pulpit, there was only one way out.
In the large churches I have attended, the pastor disappears into the crowd after the service; that is, if he or she is even there. There are many multi-site congregations now, and the preacher may be at one of the other sites; so, you see the sermon on a big video screen, or perhaps even a hologram.
In the churches I served, I could not have disappeared into the small crowd even if I tried. But I never wanted to do that. I would stand by the only door out of the sanctuary, and greet everyone who was there that day. I liked that. It was a brief, but personal, weekly connection with the people of my congregation. It was also a way to meet and greet any visitors that day.
And it might be an opportunity to hear reactions to the sermon. Preachers have mixed feelings about getting feedback. We are not angling for praise, and we often don’t deserve it. And if the reaction is not positive, there is not enough time for someone to list and discuss everything they did not like about what was said. But I would put a great deal of time into preparing my sermons, and once in a while, it was helpful to know if it was meaningful to, or understood by, anyone.
Preaching, you know, is a little like pitching in baseball. Pitchers, they say, are only as good as their last game; and preachers are only as good as their last sermon—at least, it can feel that way. But there are no statistics on preachers, as there are for baseball pitchers. So, without an occasional comment or two, we don’t even know if we are throwing strikes (being understood).
Elmer was one who had something to say about my sermon every week. But unfortunately, Elmer was a hard-working farmer, and the hour at church provided him an opportunity to get caught up on his rest. He slept through almost every sermon, but every Sunday on the way out of church, he shook my hand and said enthusiastically, “Good sermon, pastor!” That is not exactly the kind of feedback I am referring to.
Every once in a while (to continue the baseball metaphor), I would hit a home run. Preachers can sense if the congregation is tuned in, and some Sundays, they are all paying attention. Even Elmer. On those Sundays, I could get several “Good sermon, pastor” comments, and even an occasional, “That was the best sermon I ever heard on that parable” (or whatever).
Then… there are several ways a pastor can respond.
One can say, “Yes, I know I am brilliant.” (Not good. Even if you think it, don’t say it. Don’t think it, either.)
Or, one can simply say, “Thank you.” (Much better, and usually all you will have time for with many people standing in the aisle waiting to exit.)
If you have a little time, you might say, “What was it that you found helpful?” (That might lead to an interesting discussion with some people; though with others, it may make them uncomfortable, and you will never get another word of response to a sermon from them—ever.)
Too much praise all at once can open the door to pride, a feature that is most unappealing in a pastor. If someone is too excessive in their praise of a sermon, the pastor can say, “Ah yes, the devil was just telling me the very same thing.” (That might be a bit off-putting to a nice parishioner who just wants to offer a bit of encouragement and appreciation; though I have used it a time or two with the right person. And, it is a good thing for every pastor to keep in mind when they are tempted to pat themselves on the back too much.)
A very good, thorough, honest, true, and holy reply (but too long) would be to say: “To God be the glory. It is the Holy Spirit behind every sermon. Sometimes, I work hard and nothing comes, and hour after hour, it is just ‘delete, delete, delete…arghhh! Other times, I sit down at my computer and the words just flow and I can be done in 90 minutes. But either way, the words are a gift; not to mention my mind, the ability to speak, and the Bible which contains the Word I proclaim. It is all from God. Thanks be to God.” St. Augustine said: “O Lord, my God, I would sacrifice to Thee the service of my thoughts and tongue; only do Thou give to me, what I may offer Thee.”
There is one more way to respond that often (though not always) applies. I have said, “Thank you, but I got most of it from someone else.” The ideas, stories, quotes, and even phrases are often mined from my library. I have always been a reader, and God has given me a good memory of where the good stuff is. God has also given me a good memory of things that I have heard or read, and as I write, many things come to mind. My contribution is to take what is in my head from ‘wherever,’ and arrange it in a way that I think might speak to those people God has placed ahead of me, who I have come to know.
Many times, I do not know (or cannot remember) if I created, reworked, or unwittingly called to mind something I had previously read. With that in mind, I quote from the book ‘acknowledgements’ of two others who faced that same issue (every writer does). The first from Lutheran pastor and author Kent Knutson (1924-1973):
I do not know the source of all the words. Some of them surely are stolen from those wiser than I, but the moments of their communication to me are lost from my consciousness. So, I ask forgiveness of those from whom I have borrowed. Perhaps some who read will recognize their own words. I hope you are complimented rather than distressed. You have my permission to borrow without credit. If, in the process, the Gospel is enlightened and its power enriches others, we shall, both of us, the giver and the borrower, have been faithful.
The second is from theologian and author H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962):
There are reflections in this book which I regard as the fruits of my own effort to understand, but which, nevertheless, are in reality ideas which I have appropriated from others. Yet there is more pleasure than embarrassment in acknowledging this unspecified indebtedness to members of that wide community in which all know that no one possesses anything that he has not received, and that ‘as we have freely received, so we may freely give’ (see Matthew 10:8).
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P.S. These two quotes are from a page on my EmailMeditations website which describes my approach to ‘copyright and fair use.’ You may read that entire page here: https://emailmeditations.com/copyright-information/
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II Timothy 4:1-5 — I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
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AUTHOR’S PRAYER:
O Thou who art the light of my soul, I thank Thee for the incomparable joy of listening to Thy voice within. As I hear, and then proclaim Thy Word, I know that no word of Thine shall be in vain, however brokenly uttered. If anything I have written was said through lack of knowledge, or through weakness of faith, or misunderstanding, I pray Thee to overrule my sin and turn aside its force before it harms Thy cause. Pardon the frailty of Thy servant, and look upon him only as he sinks in life in Jesus, his Master and Savior. Amen.
–Adapted from a prayer by Lutheran pastor, author, and social reformer Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918).
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