As one who preaches every Sunday, I appreciated the criticisms of Alisha Garber, Warren Yoder and José Arrias (Mennonite World Review, Aug. 24). Why do these criticisms of preaching ring true? Wherefore this readiness to part with preaching as an art form essential to Christian worship? In particular, the persistent Anabaptist refrain of “shorter sermons!” (echoed in the July 27 MWR) seems disingenuous when evangelicals among us hang rapt on every word of the televangelist or talk-radio pundit for 30 minutes or more while progressives among us are transported by stand-up comedy routines that run in excess of 60 minutes.
May it be that I and my preaching colleagues want not so much for brevity as for mastery of form and veracity of content? Would we all be better off if our preachers pulpit-swapped with the local night-club stage or produced a podcast on the side? Wherein lie the deficiencies of Anabaptist preaching? Or have the 10-minute TED Talk and three-minute YouTube video run away with our attention spans?
Matthew Yoder, Bluffton, Ohio
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