The Little Things 2.20.2025

     If we work according to a good plan, we will include time for review and adopt practices that insure we remain focused. These commitments lead the issues we shall discuss the next two weeks. First, we will consider what it means to do the little things. Next week we will look at some big things. Mrs. Beckman made potato salad today. We will enjoy it for supper. Making any dish, following a well-tested recipe is a good comparison for this process of looking at little things, and big things. 

    The little things might be thought of as the details of our sermon writing system. The big things are the broader concerns that give a completed sermon a good presentation, accurate theology, and satisfying texture, and “flavor.” Preaching requires both emphases and they must be kept somewhat separate during the preparation and preaching phases. Potato salad has many ingredients. Some of those ingredients are essential to flavor. They are the small details, which when omitted keep the final product from being at its very best. On the other hand, it’s not potato salad without potatoes. In this illustration they are a big thing, not a small. Preaching requires both kinds of work and we do the work within the constraints of weekly worship. 

    Before we move on let me say a word about the value of these seemingly insignificant distinctions. This is important when we consider the product we take into the pulpit each week. The dish my wife prepared is potato salad. It is not called: a salad of potatoes, with a tangy mustard-Miracle Whip dressing, further dressed with hard-boiled eggs, celery and onion. That’s not a name, it is simply a record of the ingredients, it’s the recipe. When everything works properly the ingredients (details) disappear into the final dish. We have all heard too many sermons which sounded like a rehearsal of the recipe, like the preacher took his or her research notes into the pulpit. Those kinds of sermons feel unfinished. Our congregations should not be burdened with the details. That is our job. If something rises in the process of preparation that seems like a small, piddling detail, taking on greater importance during the process of study that is proper. The process has correctly identified a big thing, isolated it from the focus on little things, and puts the exegete/preacher in a position to determine if it requires attention within the sermon. Sermons are not the proper place to teach people to cook. They come to Church to be fed. This distinction between the little and big things in sermon preparation is work for us to do, by ourselves, in the homiletical kitchen. 

    Let me start with a basic list of research areas in which a particular item (word, phrase, practice) can prove to be either a small thing or a big thing depending on context. 

• Basics of grammar and syntax. 

• Word meaning(s) in context.

• Text-critical matters. 

• Distinctions between author and speaker(s).

• Cultural background.

• Cross-cultural connections. 

• Characterization. 

• Post-biblical theological developments. 

• Anachronisms. 

• Plot-development. 

• History of interpretation. 

• Local, universal, or denominational tradition.

This is not exhaustive but provides some basic guidance about some of the questions we need to ask as we do exegesis and then transition from exegesis to sermon. In the throes of sermon writing, when we are immersed in a text it is tempting to read our enthusiasm for what we learn, into the text, mistaking that passion for the concern of the text. 

    We are particularly prone to read subtle, detailed distinctions of meaning into words or constructions that are absent from the intention of the author. When Matthew quotes Jesus saying, “I will build my Church” (ἐκκλησίαν) there is no secret, etymological, “coded”, message. It is a little thing, not a big one. The word meant assembly. Jesus talked about an assembly and Matthew chose the appropriate word. Building the edifice of a sermon about supposed meanings of a single word (which was practically universal, widely used, and well know when Matthew wrote it) is practically the archetypical example of transforming a little thing into a big one. 

    Why do we do such things? I have looked at past sermons and cringed at some of the errors I made. Upon reflection I commit the errors I am describing in this month’s essays myself. And the answer to the question why? It’s easy, fast, and undetectable by our people. That doesn’t make it right, but it does explain it. Our task is to not fall into the temptation to mistake the little things for the big things. That means doing the hard work in the study. That means following a recipe that does not mistake the preparing for the preaching. 

Let me provide a few recommendations. Regular readers will recognize some familiar themes. 

1. Follow a regular, weekly process that considers small and big matters in proper context with appropriate emphasis. 

2. Writing multiple drafts is the opportunity to strive for clarity. Summarize what you can, explain what is absolutely necessary, don’t dig pointless holes and spend an entire message filling them.

3. The details in the text serve the message of the text. Know the author’s intent or you risk reversing or completely negating this central premise. 

4. It is easier to kill hobby horses if you never ride them. 

5. Biblical preaching requires a translator to explain the message of the text for a contemporary audience. Where you preach you are that person. 

6. It is better to omit something you are sure of than to include something you are unsure of. 

7. Do your best and come back next week to do it all again. 

The devil may be in the details, but not all details are created equally. The structural integrity of a building is a big thing. How the building is decorated is a little thing. The primary ingredient in a dish—usually the one that provides the name—is a big thing. Some of the details are decoration, others are essential. Becoming a good architect is a process of deciding which little things are discretionary and which are crucial. Becoming a good cook is a process of deciding which little things add flavor and which are garnishes. In preaching, clarifying the relationship between the little things and the big things is often the difference between a word from God and a word from man. Be the messenger not the message. Do the work and master the craft.