Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County

Advice on Worship and Sermons

Rev. James Kubal-Komoto, of the Saltwater Church in Des Moines, Washington (near Seattle) wrote these seven reminders about a worship service and 20 tips for writing a sermon. (below). He graciously gave us permission to copy them here for the benefit of our members who are thinking about leading a worship service or writing a sermon.

Seven Points on a Theology of Worship

1. Worship is a religious activity.

• "Religion" is all about connection and meaning.
• Religion literally means to "connect again."
• James Luther Adams: religion is about the search for "intimacy and ultimacy."
• Through worship we "connect again" to ourselves, to one another, to nature, to God/spirit/holy/divine; to the symbols and stories that give meaning to the events of our lives; to our highest values and ideals.

2. What worship is not:

• People looking for just intellectual stimulation should stay home and read the New York Times or sign up for a community college class
• A good worship service should inform, entertain, but most of all inspire.

3. Very broadly, a worship service should help us answer the question, "How should we live our lives?"

• If there is a gospel of liberal religion, it's not about pie in the sky when you die. It's the promise that a more abundant life is possible in the here and now.

4. Why worship is necessary from a liberal religious perspective:

• Not necessary to glorify God
• Not necessary because we are sinful
• Necessary because we are forgetful
• Necessary because we are distracted by competing cultural narratives telling us how to live our lives
• Necessary because we get disconnected
• Important implication of this: A sermon doesn't have to tell us anything new. A good sermon reminds us what we already ourselves know.

5. Good worship lifts us up, but good worship doesn't necessarily, however, always have to be ecstatic.

• Alice Walker: We come to church not to find God, but to share God.
• A paraphrase: We come to church not always to experience that which is inspiring, sustaining, transforming, and redeeming, but to remind us these experiences are possible. We don't come to church rather than spending time on top of mountains. We come to church to remind us to go back up to the top of mountains.

6. People can even benefit from bad worship

• Mark Twain: "I've never heard a sermon in which I could not find some good, though there have been a few near misses."

7. At its best, however, worship should be transformative.

• Kendyl Gibbons, First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis: No matter what anyone tells you, everybody walks through the door of the sanctuary expecting to be transformed

Top 20 Ideas about Writing and Delivering a Sermon

1. A sermon should be religious. It should address in some way the ultimate of religious question, "How shall we live our lives?"
   
   
2. The purpose of a sermon is not to inform or to entertain - - though a good sermon often does both of these - - but to inspire. A good sermon transforms how people see the world. A good sermon is like a good joke. It shifts our perspective.
   
   
3. A good sermon doesn't necessarily say anything new. Rather, it reminds people of what they already know.
   
   
4. Write out a manuscript. Very few people preach well extemporaneously. One of my typical sermons is 4-5 pages single-spaced and last 20-25 minutes. A sermon shouldn't be shorter that 15 or longer than 30 minutes.
   
   
5. My secret formula for sermon writing: Tell one story. Explain what's wrong about it. Tell a second story. Explain what's right about it.
   
   
6. Whatever you say, people will often hear what they need to hear from a sermon. Give them a chance to do this. A good sermon shouldn't be written so tightly that people can't drift in and out of it.
   
   
7. A sermon is always a relational event. It often helps to write a sermon for a particular person or group of people even if that person doesn't show up to hear it.
   
   
8. Include YOU in the sermon, but don't make it all about you. Make room for everybody listening.
   
   
9. Don't bleed on your audience. You probably shouldn't talk about stuff you're going through now.
   
   
10. Be sensitive. Remember that it's possible or even likely that somebody listening to your sermon has just found out his mother is dying, just found out her spouse is cheating, just found out he's losing his job, or just found out her child isn't doing well at school.
    
    
11. Land the plane. It's okay to talk about the heights or depths of human experience, but don't do this unless you bring people back to a place of hope where life is affirmed despite its limitations.
    
    
12. Use statistics sparingly. Avoid extensive quoting. Avoid blanket statements. Avoid making assumptions about your audience. Avoid inappropriate language or humor. When in doubt, leave it out.
    
    
13. A common mistake among beginning preachers is to try to include everything they believe about everything in one sermon. Don't.
    
    
14. When I get stuck, most of the time it's because I'm trying to fit something in - a story, a quotation, an idea - that doesn't fit.
    
    
15. If you get stuck writing a sermon, get up and take a walk. Try talking to somebody else about what you'd like to say.
    
    
16. When you print out your manuscript, print it out double-spaced with a large font. I usually use a 20-point font. It also helps to print only on the top half or two-thirds of the page.
    
    
17. Practice reading your sermon out loud several times before giving it. Speak slowly. Don't mumble. Practice using a microphone.
    
    
18. If you're a little nervous about giving a sermon, that's a good thing. The sermons I get most nervous about turn out to be my best.
    
    
19. Never apologize for a sermon, before, during, or after giving it. You may say something that is transformative for somebody. By apologizing, you belittle that experience.
    
    
20. Remember that sermons are transitory things. For better or worse, people usually don't remember very good ones or very bad ones for very long, yet they do make a difference in people's lives.

[Ed. note: We link to this page from the bottom of each Guest Sermon, on the theory that members thinking about writing a sermon will look to see what others have done. Rev. Kubal-Komoto's 20 tips are suggestions, not a checklist. If you write a sermon, we don't judge you on how many of his points you met.]