I want to be a sermon coach

By Bill Fox/Columnist

I will start by listing my qualifications:

-For over 65 years I have attended church services regularly.  That makes my experience longer than the service of many priests, ministers, rabbis, imams, etc.

-I do have two university masters degrees, those being a Master of Adult Education and a Master of Religious Education.

-I have more than 40 years experience in either teaching religion or acting as a religion consultant to aid others in teaching religion.  Many of my religion lessons (especially to young teenagers) were similar in some ways to giving sermons.

-I have learned from masters of communication like Mother Teresa, Jean Vanier, John Howard Griffin, Viktor Frankl and many others whom I had the pleasure of personally meeting.

I believe that these experiences make me qualified to coach religious leaders in giving their sermons or lessons.  I also have learned that your spirituality is more important than your religious beliefs and that actions do speak louder than words.

I have come from a rich Catholic background. My wife and I have been blessed to have met so many good, faithful and inspiring priests.  I will relate here what I believe made them so.  Father Tom McKillop received the Order of Canada and was an early inspiration for my wife and I.  Tom challenged us!  Often we would have a mass (or service) in a smaller setting and after reading the Gospel he would ask those present about their thoughts on the readings.  Tom was very humble, but he realized that God does not just talk through priests and ministers.  It is important to listen to everyone as often a physical challenged individual will have a perspective that others will have missed.

Father Don MacLellan worked in prisons and had a masters degree in counseling.  He too would listen and was a very inspirational spiritual leader who would relate to his listeners remarkable stories of his experiences with prisoners, etc.

Father Ermanno Bulfon, died suddenly in his 40s of a brain tumour.  I rarely have seen anyone who had such enthusiasm about his faith and so well communicated that from the pulpit.  It was contagious.

Those individuals have long gone now to their heavenly reward.  I do not want to embarrass the ministers and priests who still today give us inspiration, so I won’t mention their full names, but they will know who they are.  Paul has worked for years in social justice, and has had the opportunity to travel worldwide.  He is a fantastic inspirational man of God who shares his experiences and stories, in such a way, that it makes one want to follow in his or Jesus’s path.

My wife and I like to occasionally attend a church in Niagara Falls.  We have come to know another Father Tom.  He is an exceptional homilist.  It is clear that he spends a lot of time studying that week’s readings and researching and developing an inspirational sermon every week.  Tom uses cue cards to guide him through his sermon.  When we leave that church at the end of the service, we long to listen to him again, and carry with us the lessons he has taught us.

Just as Jesus did through his parables, it is important to tell stories in sermons or lessons.  For too many ministers, they don’t have too many stories or experiences from their own lives, so it is all right, in my mind to research and use the stories of others.  Humility and a sense of humour are also important. Our friend Tom when talking about a theme, such as love of nature will mention that he too has to appreciate God’s creations more.  He will often site his own shortcomings while invoking us to do better as well.

Too often I have come out of church having listened to a priest simply intellectually breaking down the scripture readings for the day.  Having had a scriptural background, I don’t learn anything new, and I’m not challenged or inspired to work on some personal improvement that week.  I have often heard you don’t attend church just for the sermon. To an extent this is true, but good music and an inspirational message will bring people back.  A dry dissertation of the readings will not.

Finally some advice from Father Brad, who said, if a message is important to convey, you should be able to impart it, in 10 minutes or so.

My sermon-consulting fee will simply be a prayer for someone else in need.

BDFOX@Rogers.com is where I can be reached.