Who Is in Your Pews?
Effective preaching requires knowing who you’re talking to
Deacon Steve Kramer Comments Off on Who Is in Your Pews?
As a preaching professor, one of my go-to documents when teaching homiletics is “Preaching in the Sunday Assembly: A Pastoral Commentary on ‘Fulfilled in Your Hearing,’ ” edited by James A. Wallace, CSSR. The beginning of the book starts not with Scripture, as one might assume, but with the importance of the people in the pews: the gathered assembly.
No matter how homogeneous a parish may seem to be, there is almost always some type of diversity in the congregation. Age, race, sex, socioeconomic status and education level all play a factor in who is in our pews. Is the parish in a rural, urban or suburban setting? Is it in a college town? Do many of the parishioners work at one of two major industries in the community? Is there a major cultural connection in the parish? Sometimes it is difficult to pinpoint a specific major parish identity because diversity is inherent in almost every congregation.
Every January, Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology hosts an annual preaching conference, and its theme this year was “Who Is In Your Pews.” The goal was to identify and address some of the varied places where a preacher may find himself. Today’s preacher may find himself delivering the “same” homily to three or four different parishes over a weekend. One might be in a farming community, one in an urban environment, and still another may be in an ethnic parish. Adaptation is key. A preacher must know his audience and be aware of the variety of parishioners he will address. The basic message remains the same, but it needs to be modified in order to engage the listeners in each parish setting by relating to their lived experiences and backgrounds.
Listening for the Story of Community
If we are preaching at a jail, prison, hospital or nursing home, the emphasis of our message may be geared towards hope, suffering, reconciliation or forgiveness. Sometimes the homily may be focused on the individual who is suffering; other times the spotlight is on their family members, who may be going through a difficult transition. Their loved one could be facing a long prison sentence, or perhaps they have recently been moved to hospice care, and words of comfort are particularly important.
In many of our parishes today, there are communities within the larger community. It is not unusual for a parish to celebrate at least one of its Masses in Spanish or in a bilingual manner. There are also a number of national parishes around the country whose liturgies are centered on a specific culture or language. Not every minister has the ability to gain fluency in another language. However, it is quite possible to learn and incorporate some of that language into the important phrases of the Mass, or any of the sacraments we celebrate, in order to embrace the culture of the community. People are always grateful that the preacher or presider tries his best to learn what he can.
In his book “Of Poets, Prophets and Preachers,” Father Joseph Juknialis makes an important point for all preachers. He says that “a homily tells the story of the community”: “A homily points to how God is working by means of the rhythms of culture, in the Church, in society, the parish and in the neighborhood. Listen for the story of the entire community” (p. 7, emphasis in original).
When we know who is in our pews, when we listen for the story of the community, we can then preach an effective message that brings people closer to God.
DEACON STEVE KRAMER, D.Min., is director of homiletics and associate professor of pastoral studies at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin.
