ePriest.com: Your Spanish Homily

Readings

Reading I: Sirach 27:4-7
Psalm: Psalms 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16
Reading II: 1 Cor 15:54-58
Gospel: Lk 6:39-45

Preaching Tip

Preaching to a Postmodern Audience

We have one hour, one day a week to speak to the people who sit in our pews.  The culture at large has six full days to speak to them.  Because our message and the message of the culture are at odds, we have a real “David and Goliath” situation.

The culture at large has to a more or less degree affected our parishioners.  For most pastors, we can assume we have a post-modern audience before us every Sunday morning. This audience struggles with meaning, with objective truth, and with trust.

One way to understand what a post-modern world is like is to think of it as a world that has lost its “story”.  Today, we are very unmoored from the historical past.

The post-modern audience does not accept the meta-narrative or over-arching story that gives meaning to life. For years, this over-arching story was the Bible, God’s promises were fulfilled in Christ and his Church and salvation history was something we were a part of.  But this is no longer the case.

• The Christian message is just “another slogan” out in the world competing for power in a dominance structure. 

• There is no universal story and thus no “Universal Story-Teller”.  All narratives are on equal footing.

• God cannot be trusted to keep his promises.

In our preaching to this post-modern audience, we must keep in mind that:

• The Christian message is the answer to all life’s problems.  It is not a bunch of rules. Rather, it is a source of divine beauty, truth, and joy.

• We must bring alive the story of salvation and give the “Universal-Story-Teller” back his voice. 

• We must emphasize how God keeps his promises.