Pastor's Pastor

Sermon conclusions-1

Preachers preach too many elephant sermons. An elephant sermon is one having a big head at the beginning, plenty of body in the middle, but almost no tail at the end! The conclusion seems just an afterthought.

Floyd Bresee, Ph.D., is a former secretary of the General Conference Ministerial Association, and continues to pastor and preach in Oregon, where he and his wife, Ellen, live in retirement.

Preaching a sermon is like flying an air plane. Some parts of it are fairly easy. But there are two crucial moments—getting off the ground, and getting back on the ground.

Broadus said it best: "The beginning and earlier progress of the sermon show good preparation, and do well. But to wards the close the preacher no longer knows the way; here he wanders with a bewildered look, there he struggles and flounders. Another, feeling excited at the close, launches into general exhortation, and proceeding till body and mind are exhausted, ends with what is scattering, feeble, flat. The conclusion ought to have moved like a river, growing in volume and power, but instead of that, the discourse loses itself in some great marsh, or ends like the emptying of a pitcher, with a few poor drops and dregs."1

Preachers preach too many elephant sermons. An elephant sermon is one having a big head at the beginning, plenty of body in the middle, but almost no tail at the end! The conclusion seems just an afterthought.

Yet, though it is short on planning, the conclusion often lasts too long. Does your congregation sometimes feel your sermon conclusion rattled on and on? Perhaps you're afflicted with some of the following problems.

1. You are excited over the subject. Every grandparent telling about a new grandchild knows how easy it is to go on talking about something he's excited over, even when he's run out of anything worthwhile to say. The sermon is part of the preacher's flesh and blood. If you weren't enthusiastic over it, you wouldn't be preaching it. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm may lead you to preach it all over again in the conclusion, when you really have nothing new to say.

2. Your congregation is not excited over the subject. You may say to yourself, "I know my people need this, and they don't seem to have gotten it. I'll use my conclusion to try once more to get through to them."

In some sports the last few minutes of playing time seem to take forever. Losing coaches continually call time out hoping to come up with some desperation move that can still win the game. You may have noticed, however, that the crowd gets bored and starts to leave.

In preaching, you may sometimes drag out the last few minutes of your sermon, still hoping to accomplish what you feel you haven't been able to do. But people get bored. You ought to quit when you're through. And you ought to be through preaching before your people are through listening.

3. You haven't prepared your conclusion. The conclusion, above any other part of the sermon, must come from your heart and the Holy Spirit's moving. One reason it is often neglected in preparation is that you may feel you'll let the Holy Spirit move when the time comes. You should. But don't let this prevent the Spirit from moving you in your study to prepare a conclusion that can assist the Spirit in moving the congregation.

4. You haven't prepared your final words. Charles Reynolds Brown shared his personal method: "In my own practice, while I never use a manuscript in preaching, there are five sentences in my sermon that I always write out in advance and know by heart the first one and the last four. I like to begin, if I can, with a sentence as good as I know how to make it, so that the first ball may be pitched, if possible, right over the plate and at the proper level. And I want to have the last four sentences definitely in mind so that I may not be left circling around in the air, like some helpless crow, flying to and fro above a rail fence where the stakes have all been sharpened, seeking in vain for a suitable place to light."2

We've all suffered along with speakers who were feeling like that poor crow. They wanted to come down but didn't know where to land. Landing options are almost endless: state what change you hope the sermon will make to the individual, restate your theme, read a text, use a portion of the closing hymn, give a poem, repeat your title, offer a prayer, ask for some physical response such as raising a hand, standing, or coming for ward. The possible plans for an ending are almost unlimited. But do plan. Don't ever stand up until you have some plan for how you're going to get sat down!

1. John Broadus, A Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1926), p. 208.

2. Charles Reynolds Brown, The Art of Preaching (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1922), p. 113.


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Floyd Bresee, Ph.D., is a former secretary of the General Conference Ministerial Association, and continues to pastor and preach in Oregon, where he and his wife, Ellen, live in retirement.

January 1990

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