Here's her very first piece of advice: "No speech should last more than twenty minutes." As soon as I saw this, I thought of all the sermons I've heard--and delivered--that have been way longer than that, many of them twice as long.
I figure Noonan hasn't attended many, if any, churches like those where I've worshipped or spoken. And I'm pretty sure she's never delivered a sermon. But she's given lots of speeches, and written many hundreds more of them. Here, from President Ronald Reagan's most famous speechwriter, is her advice:
No speech should last more than twenty minutes. Why? Because Ronald Reagan said so. Reagan used to say that no one wants to sit in an audience in respectful silence for longer than that, if that. He also knew twenty minutes is more than enough time to say the biggest, most important thing in the world. The Gettysburg Address went three minutes or so, the Sermon on the Mount hardly more. It is usually and paradoxically true that the more important the message, the less time required to say it.Again this week I listened as a young preacher spoke about his church's adjustment to a music style that will appeal to today's generation. But I can't remember when I've heard a preacher talk about adjusting his preaching style to appeal to today's generation. I know many preachers do more than speak glued to a podium. I know they move around the platform and try to speak conversationally. I know they use PowerPoint. I know many preachers think about how to engage today's audience.
I would add that forty years of the habit of television has probably affected how people receive information. They are used to fifteen- or eighteen-minute pieces on 60 Minutes. . . . They are used to twelve-minute segments within the arc of [a TV] drama. . . . They are used to commercials interrupting the flow of thought. They are not used to watching forty- and fifty- and sixty-minute presentations without a break, and there is no reason to believe they want to get used to it.
So keep in mind what Hubert Humphrey's wife is said to have advised him: "Darling, for a speech to be immortal it need not be interminable."
So here's one more principle to consider. For every thoughtful preacher, and for myself, I'm adding this advice from someone in tune with today's listener: No speech should last more than twenty minutes.
Sermonettes make Christianettes! (John Stott)
ReplyDeleteDepends on your audiance
ReplyDeleteI think I would question the idea that a sermon ought to be only 20 mins. long. It seems to me that this is once again the church capitulating to culture. I think the reason why people are unwilling to listen to sermons for more than 20 mins. is due to a lack of training in focus and attention. If you were to go back in church history, you would find that 20 mins was just the intro to most sermons, and no one complained about it! The complaints today I believe reflect our current impatient culture that dislikes anything that takes thought, focus, and attention. People back in church history were more trained to think critically and had the patience to follow an argument. The church ought to help train people to do this again.
ReplyDeleteThat the 20 min. argument is reflective of American culture may be substantiated by observing other cultures. Take a trip to Haiti or the Philippines--sermons there are much longer than the ones here.
In addition, I think many people would be willing to sit and listen to a presentation longer than 20 mins. if it is interesting and has substance. Most conferences worth going to all have speakers who speak for about an hour. The problem is, from my observation, is that many sermons are vacuous of any substance; they are nothing but self-help manuals read from the pulpit--what Michael Horton refers to as "moralistic therapeutic deism."
Think, too, about how most high school classes and college courses all last for about an hour. What's the difference between these and a sermon? I would think Christians would enjoy gleaning from God's word for an hour more than learning mathematics for an hour. Should we argue for 20 min college courses and high school classes?
I really think that church leaders need to begin to challenge the current cultural anti-intellectualism that will put up with only rhetoric and anecdotal devices found in most public presentations today, including sermons.