John Stott gives some excellent advice to young preachers. Like Stott, I also am saddened at how low preaching has fallen in the modern Christian church service. It's not just a matter of poor speaking skills or poor presentation; too many modern sermons are paint-by-the-numbers bromides. Many busy pastors, already pressed for time with other business of the church, often just outsource the preparation of their sermons to outside services. Sometimes they even have the sermons themselves ghost-written and preach from the pulpit as if the work was their own. This practice goes over the line from laziness into dishonesty in my view. I lament this situation because there is little in church life I love more than a good sermon. A good sermon is like a good meal: it sets you up, it satiates you, and it fills you. A good sermon can have life-altering power. But it requires hard work and preparation on the part of the pastor. Even a pastor who is not gifted with a golden tongue, as St. John Chrysostom was, can still deliver a mighty sermon when working under the power of the Holy Spirit. I have a big two-volume set of the sermons of Jonathan Edwards on my shelf, and I sometimes look at them and think, "Can any pastor these days produce sermons like these? And do we have any congregations able to sit still long enough to listen to them?" Don't get me wrong. I'm a firm believer that brevity is the soul of wit, and 20 minutes is more than enough time for a good sermon. It's not necessary to speechify for two hours on a simple topic like a banana-republic dictator ranting from a balcony. But surely there are times when weighty subjects require weighty sermons! Contrary to modern practice, there is no eleventh commandment that states "Thou shalt keep thy services to 60 minutes or less".
Our service is never just 60 minutes. I would not know what to think if we go out that fast. I guess we would have to skip parts of the sermon. My priest, is one of the better preachers I have been blessed to be around. I have been to an Anglican Church that the priest looked down, read something for 5 minutes, and then moved on with the service. Fr. Doug is a blessing for sure when it comes to being a priest. I don't say this lightly or say it because he is my priest but if we all had have the love, compassion, the outreach to those in need, and willingness to priest the Gospel to those that are against it this world would be a much much better place.