the word is very near you

A few words about extemporaneous daily Mass preaching in the Episcopal Church

Lord help me, I try to not cry while preaching. I am not someone easily overcome when speaking in public, but there are moments of sudden breakage and longing – moments of profound recognition, revelation, and gratitude – when all I can do is pray in earnest that I, the humble preacher, will defy all circumstances and attendant impulse and keep it together.

This was the case this afternoon upon praying the eleventh verse of Psalm 27:

You speak in my heart and say, “seek my face.”

Your face, O Lord, will I seek.

I preached today on this one verse. I repeated it at the beginning of the homily as it occurred to me that I had uncovered perfect treasure. The words themselves seemed to shine too bright to bear, because this is the point of everything, isn’t it? To listen for the Lord’s call and to heed it. To prepare our hearts to receive the words of the Lord and to orient absolutely every other singular thing around what it is that we hear.

But this is not supposed to be a recapitulation of the homily. This is a few words on homilies. This may be of more interest to priests and other preachers than others, so there are no hard feelings if you skim this one.

It is worth noting that I write from a very specific context: an urban Episcopal parish in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, committed to a rhythm of daily worship and prayer with the morning Office each day at 9:00 AM, Mass each day at 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM. I celebrate the Mass at least once each Sunday. If I am celebrant at the High Mass, I prepare a manuscript. I do not live in the manuscript, by any means, but it is a guide for a sermon of approximately 15 minutes. For our Family Mass, I prepare a no-notes, interactive sermon of about six minutes.

During the rest of the week, I celebrate Mass two, three, or four times, and each time, I preach a brief, no-notes homily of about five minutes. This is one of my very favorite ways to preach, and it has become one of the sublime joys of my weekday services. I realize that it is not common for Episcopal churches to have Mass each day, but I also know that it is always a blessing to prepare oneself for the unexpected opportunity to proclaim the Word of God. One never knows when a grave site, a DMV, a campfire, or a conversation with a stranger will invite some faithful meditation on the Gospel, so I’ve compiled a few tips here that may be helpful if you are someone thinking about preaching in a more frequent or flexible way.

1. Perspective is paramount

Preaching is an unutterable blessing. I don’t know how to put it otherwise. Preaching has been stressful, it has been marvelous, it has been literally the greatest joy of my life, it has been burdensome, it has felt impossible, but it always, always a gift.

I keep this in mind when the week is long and the throat is dry. The world always needs to hear the Gospel. Always. Even if it stumbles out feebly from my own heart, there is always a chance that someone will hear it and know themselves beloved by Christ. In my experience, in fact, it is often those sermons that we didn’t think much of that take upon a surprising and joyful life of their own in the heart of a listener.

Preaching is always a gift. This perspective has helped me take the work seriously while holding my own weakness with grace.

2. Read the Bible and pray as much as you can

I imagine this sounds obvious. I hope this sounds obvious. There is no better preparation for any kind of preaching than living immersed in and enraptured by the Word of God.

There are typically only a few moments between when I set the books for daily Mass and when I begin the preparations for celebration. It is helpful, for example, to turn to today’s Gospel reading from John 17 and to know that the appointed verses come from Jesus’ high priestly prayer. It has been my practice to study and meditate upon John 17 specifically on the Ember Days when we pray for those who are preparing for ordination. So even though I’ve just turned to the text and will be speaking on it in about fifteen minutes, I already have something to say about John 17.

It is good to greet scripture as a friend. The more we read it, learn about it, pray with it, and discuss it, the more it shapes us and animates the way we move in the world in all times and circumstances. The more familiarity we have the breadth of the Bible, the more we can recognize the moments when texts are in dialogue with one another. We can share the things we love with those who hear us, and we can find our own imaginations enchanted by the surprising connections the Holy Spirit might be stirring up within us as we speak.

Preaching has been called “loving scripture in public.” What is better than loving something and sharing it joyfully with others?

A life of prayer (worthy of another post, to be sure) is also necessary. In prayer, we learn to discern the voice of God. God clears out some of the detritus of our minds and makes room for the invitations to holiness each one of us receives each day. When we pray often and with humility, we become better equipped to hear God’s voice always, even and especially as we speak on his behalf. Without prayer, we are like the seeds that fall upon the rocks: efforts sown in anticipant faith, but with no roots and no nourishment.

3. Trust the Holy Spirit

Always pray before preaching. Just a moment or two of silence inclines the heart toward trust and openness. Know that God has brought you here specifically for his own good purposes, and your gifts (whatever they may be, whatever you may think of them) are his own profound delight.

4. Be who God made you to be

We all have preachers we admire. Such an enlivening part of our faith is the diversity of those who love and serve God alongside us. And it is also true that we are always unavoidably – at times, insufferably – ourselves. I admire the preaching of Martin Luther King, Jr. If I were to attempt to replicate his preaching, it would be…let’s just say…not great. I cannot preach like Martin Luther King, Jr. God does not want me to do this. For better or for worse, it is my voice that God calls forward in the pulpit.

An odd dimension of the whole thing is that the substance of preaching is both so far beyond the preacher and yet bound up within us and the person God has created us to be. There is a delicate exchange here between submitting our personalities to the refiner’s fire of the task at hand while at the same time showing up with a degree of authenticity and grace by which our hearers will know us to be sincere. I love watching my friends from seminary preach, because I love seeing the uniqueness of their identities illuminate their message. I also am wearied by certain celebrity preachers whose own story or skill overshadow the vitality of the Word being proclaimed. It is a tricky balance indeed sometimes, and it is one I try to keep in mind.

There is much to say here, too, but at the heart: be the preacher that Almighty God has created you to be.

5. Calm down

Some of us are better at this than others. Of course it will also be difficult to soothe one’s nerves if you are new to a place or to preaching in general – or if you find that the bishop is inexplicably sitting in the front row. I’ve been there.

When I get nervous, I try to imagine that I am about to do something I love and that I know I’m good at. This is teaching, for me. I love teaching. And I’m decently good at it. So while a homily is not a lecture, I try to get myself in the mindset of those moments where I am preparing to teach. I have a friend who imagines he is about to play with his kids. The idea being that there is something that each of us does well without worrying about it. If it helps you to remember something like this, perhaps give it a try.

Deep breaths and sips of water are also helpful. Sometimes, it is even helpful for me to hear my own voice begin the sermon with the opening prayer: “In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Even that sound reminds me that I am doing the work that God has given me to do, and all will be well.

6. One point and one point only

This is actually something I keep in mind for all sermons, not just daily Mass homilies. But truly: you have about five minutes. Choose one idea from one of the readings (or one idea that is present among multiple texts) and stick to it. Let it be spoken clearly at the very beginning, repeated throughout, and integral to the conclusion.

7. Be discerning with illustrations, if you use them at all

You do not need sermon illustrations in a daily Mass homily. My strategy is usually thus: if I read the text and immediately something pops into my head, I maybe think about using it, but in general, the scripture itself gives you more than enough substance to speak for a few minutes. Don’t force it. Chances are you’ll speak too long and the portion where you dig into the text itself will be much better anyway.

8. Ask the following questions:

• Where is this text coming from? A little background is helpful. Is this an epistle of Paul? Who is he writing to? What is this king doing in 1 Kings? Where is Jesus at this point in the Gospel and what is he up to? One or two sentences (or a few more) of clarification are a great way to begin a daily Mass homily (“This morning in the Gospel of St. John, we meet Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum…”)

• What does this text tell us about God/Jesus? Scripture tells us more than we could ever imagine about God. Does this passage show us something about a quality of God (mercy, justice, omnipotence, etc.)? Does it reveal something about God’s kingdom? Does it help us know Jesus better? How? (“We see here that the authority of God looks different than the authority of earthly kings…”)

• What does this text invite us to consider/be/do? How does this text welcome us in? You don’t need to always have a “go and do likewise” moment, but there is usually abundant opportunity to point out “practical application” (ask me my thoughts about that phrase, but not here). (“While the world gives high regard to power – financial, political, and otherwise – we as disciples of Jesus are invited into a better way…”)

These three questions alone can structure a thorough and enriching meditation on scripture.

9. Cheat: preach the saint of the day

Kidding. It’s wonderful to preach on the commemorations and Feasts of the day. A blessing of daily Mass is the opportunity to get to know so many of our friends, forefathers, and foremothers in heaven. If the day is a Feast, it is lovely and simple to say a few words about it, connect it to the appointed scripture, and conclude with: “St. So and So showed us how to be a disciple of Jesus with courage in the face of adversity [or whatever]. Let us pray for the inspiration to do the same. Amen.”

10. Make a mind map

Preaching without notes can be intimidating, but it does get easier. A good way to settle into it is to make sure to keep yourself organized. My biggest weakness is digression: I can meander off on a potentially interesting, moderately related, but thoroughly unnecessary train of thought unless I keep close watch on myself. Thus, I began the practice of the homiletic mind map.

When you have your one point (see item 6 above), and when you’ve pondered some insightful questions (see point 8 above), decide three things:

• How you will begin

• Where you want to emphasize the heart of the message

• How you will end

You can riff in between these items, but having a sense of direction and boundaries will reduce the likelihood that you’ll wander off or (worse!) forget how and when to wrap it up. An example of a mind map might look like this on the Feast of Saint Aelred of Rievaulx:

• Today is the Feast of Saint Aelred of Rievaulx. Here is a bit about who he is and when he lived. He wrote about spiritual friendship. Here is a bit about that work.

• The appointed Gospel is appropriate, because in it, Jesus tells his disciples that he no longer calls them servants, but friends. This is a radical shift from how people encountered and expected to know God.

• What would our lives of faith be like if we truly began to welcome Jesus as our friend? Let us pray for the grace to do so.

Now in there, of course, would be more substance, but here I have the beginning, the place I would like to get to, and the way I am going to conclude. Even having this secure in my mind as I begin inspires confidence as I move through each point.

11. Practice

As with most things, with preaching extemporaneously, you can get much, much better with deliberate attention to honing the skill. My own masterclass was the beginning of the pandemic when a nearby church asked me to supply for their Wednesday low Mass to give the poor rector a day off. I preached to one server and a few loyal parishioners on YouTube. When I began, I was surely all over the place, but as I preached more, week in and week out, I improved. I started to read the day’s texts at breakfast and make a mind map as I drove to the church. Then I tested my strengths and prayed about my weaknesses. I still have much to learn, but O how good it is to learn something important well.

Your parish may not have a daily Mass where the celebrant is invited to preach with regularity, but there are still fulsome ways to practice. At one time, a group of friends and I would gather and write down four or five scripture passages on pieces of paper. We’d put them in a box, and then each one of us would draw a passage in turn. We’d have only enough time to read the passage out loud. Then we’d try to preach on it, just for a few moments, with no preparation. Because we all trusted one another and enjoyed the effort, it was unbelievably fun. You can even do a challenge round where everyone suggests particularly bizarre or difficult passages.

If you are a normal person who isn’t ecstatic about spontaneous public speaking, there is still much hope for you too. Above all, trust in what you have to say, trust in the God who has called you to say it, and trust that those who hear you want to be with you in your insight and wisdom. See if you might be able to lead a Bible study, in person or online. See if you might guest teach a Sunday School lesson or if your spouse, children, or a friend would like to discuss the texts from the week with you.

The more you speak with others about scripture, the more you ask questions and hold your own doubts up to the light, the more radiant it all becomes as the Living Word of God draws near to you.

12. Begin with the wisdom of another

If you’re still working up to the idea of daily Mass preaching, that’s just wonderful. You have options! My first Episcopal parish has a daily Mass where the priest does not preach at those services. He moves directly from the Gospel reading to the Creed or the Prayers, depending on the day, and those Masses are a blessing. If you are clergy, don’t let the prospect of homilies stop you from adding a service to your weekly schedule if it would otherwise be a blessing!

Something I have also seen work well is for the celebrant to simply read a passage from a work of spiritual wisdom following the proclamation of the Gospel. Stick to the greats: Saint Francis de Sales, Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, and other heralded saints of the Church are a good place to begin. I attended a parish a few times over a summer where the evening Mass homily was a short reading from The Imitation of Christ. It was contemplative and fruitful, and I could tell that the priest was blessed by the experience too.

Amen.

This has gone far longer than I’d anticipated, but I hope there might be an insight or two for your preaching here. If there is a point I’ve missed, please do reply to this post as an email or find me on Twitter: @PotentiaEtActus. I’d love to hear your tips and to share more as you might be interested.

I am contemplating another post on the spirituality of preaching, so stay tuned for that at some point in the near future.

God bless you! May his Word dwell richly in your heart.