And Also With You What is a Sermon?
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Apr 13, 2026 A lively dive into what a sermon actually is and why some services include one while others do not. They trace historical practices and debate different definitions. Practical preaching tips, boundaries around vulnerability, and how to handle difficult texts get candid attention. The episode also explores diversity in who preaches and how congregations respond.
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Sermon Defined In Episcopal Tradition
- The Episcopal definition frames a sermon as breaking open Scripture within the liturgical context to proclaim God's love.
- It highlights historical shifts: sermons were central, then diminished, and 20th-century liturgy reclaimed them, now required after the gospel in the 1979 BCP.
Preachers Historically Read Sermons Aloud
- Historically preachers often read printed sermons or church fathers, so preaching from books was common.
- Lizzie cites Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice and Eastern Orthodox practice of reading Chrysostom as examples.
Sermon As Contextual Offering
- A sermon is a temporally bound offering shaped by the preacher's experience, scripture, and the specific congregation.
- Lizzie prepares by praying for parishioners by name and imagining how the text will land on their faces and lives.
