Reducing Clutter 1.22.2026

    I lent the book and never got it back, but I clearly remember Stephen King treating adverbs like the screaming victim in one of his horror books. I have never read any of his other work but as far as I’m concerned On Writing is the best thing Stephen King ever wrote. Craftsmen need to spend time with their tools. They need to know how to operate, use, and maintain them. Most preachers know what it takes to study scripture. If they lack tools or information they know where to get it. Fewer have as clear a grasp of the rest of their toolbox. Those adverbs that King adamantly commanded his readers to cut from their work…abundant in most sermons. For crying out loud, I used one in the last sentence (sorry). 

    Those who speak for a living—we preachers as much as any, are guilty of many vices against our native language. Most of them can be catalogued under the general heading of Clutter. To review, Language is the systematic use of words (our ammunition) to communicate. For preachers and other speakers our cache of words should be selected with an understanding that we will be speaking aloud most of what we write. And most of the problems we create for ourselves are these very problems of clutter that I’m addressing right now. I’m guilty, you’re guilty. We can blame, accuse, cite, and complain till we are out of breath. My goal is to help us fix it. There are some tools that will help. Some are real, actual digital or analog tools to help us track and clean up our linguistic messes. Other tools are habits of mind that help us reduce the need. Much of what I write to help preachers falls under the headings of Rules and Tools. This issue is not an exception. We will start with tools. 

Tools

    I’ve mentioned dictionaries and thesauri this month. Let me reiterate. Use them. You might object “I’ve got a college education, I read a lot, I understand the writing process!” Good. You shouldn’t really need me to say this because you already understand; the only people who do use these tools are educated people. We use them because we are educated and understand how these tools contribute to our capacity to express ourselves. A plug. I use a free program called Terminology (https://agiletortoise.com/terminology) on my full Apple stack—Macs, iPad, iPhone. It hooks into the platform(s) on-board dictionary and functions in one interface as both thesaurus and dictionary. Open it when you write and you can look up a term, discover a synonym, or clarify an antonym without taking your fingers off the keyboard. There is a pro version, but the free version is all you need. 

    Next consider the lowly word count. Yep, a simple word count. If you have preached several years, you have a pace, a style, and an overall tempo to how you speak. Virtually every word processor has an ongoing word count as does the Sermon Builder in Logos. After a month or so of using these calculations in a real-world setting you will know how many words you need on paper to preach a sermon of your preferred duration. (The last word was 546 in this document). 

    Apple now has something called Writing Tools. Which is their take on grammar and spell checking. For practical reasons I use Microsoft Word for editing work, and their Editor module is very good—in fact I prefer it to Grammarly, not just because it is free, I think it is easier to use. These kinds of tools help you keep things straight from a usage standpoint, but as I learned from William Safire many years ago, style and context are more consequential than mere usage. One feature you need to use religiously is located under document stats in Word’s Editor. Besides normal statistical information you will her find the Flesch Reading Ease score, and the Flesch-Kinkaid Grade Level score. These tell you how complicated your writing reads, and at what grade-level it is written. Yes! You are a college graduate, well-read and articulate. Your congregation will not all be at your grade-level, nor will they be as active in the reading arts as you are. Plus, you must remember that you are speaking these words, your congregation is not reading them. 

    My goal is to write at an ease level of 70-75, with scores at grade-level of 5.5-6.5. What’s the point of this? 1. I’m preaching this to listeners. 2. I WANT them to understand what I say. Even if the text, I’m preaching from elicits questions I don’t want to lose people by writing and then preaching over their heads. 

    To reduce clutter, you need to know how much to write at the proper level for maximum impact. Next let’s consider some basic rules. 

Rules

Texture

    Thick is better than deep. The texture of an essay or sermon is a matter of color, sense, timing, and word usage. It is easy to think that a “deep” scholarly aside will help people understand. The chances are greater that people will just check out. Texture is a very difficult stylistic rule to master but will pay enormous dividends when it comes to congregational engagement. 

    More than anything else the texture of your preaching will be crafted by selecting the proper words (ammunition) and using them appropriately (fire-discipline) to elicit broad multi-sensory listening. Some Biblical stories bring the texture with them. In other episodes the texture is there but it is up to you to bring it to the surface and articulate it in an appropriate fashion. 

Explanation

    Make Jesus the star of the show and the text the source of information. Good preaching brings your hermeneutical experience into the pulpit. The interrogatories that drive dialogue should be found in your exegesis and explanation of the text. If not, it may be a religious speech—but it’s not a sermon. 

Access

    The job of a preacher is making the details of the text accessible to people who don’t have the time, talent, treasure, or inclination to pour into the process. If you do the work and go into the pulpit and no one has access to the truth you’ve mined, then why even dig it up. 

    An example. I’m preaching from John 3.1-10 this Sunday. You know the text, the background and circumstances. There are many access points to this text for virtually any person. Let me highlight a couple. After reading the text and identifying him as Nicodemus, much of the rest of the sermon I call him Nick at Night. People remember Nickelodeon and may recall that every evening the channel shifted to a format more appropriate for Moms and Dads. Calling him Nick at Night aligns the biblical story with something people may remember giving easy access--a relatable connection to the story. Another access point in this text is the timidity if not fear of Nick at Night. I don’t know of anyone that has never been afraid. Specifically, Nick is afraid of religious people. You can bet that most of your listeners have at one time or another, been afraid of religious people. 

Conversation

    Talk with and to people, not at them. I don’t care if there are 2, 20, 200, or 2000 people in the congregation, involve them in the sermon. Ask questions. Build bridges. Evoke emotion. It is tempting here to say “Be authentic” or “transparent” or something like that. I won’t. The issue is not whether you’re a real person but that you recognize that they are. 

Be Clear. 

    People listen when they are interested. People become uninterested or disengaged when they are lost. People don’t get lost—we lose them. Don't mumble. Enunciate. Look at them. Consider their expressions and reactions to what you say. Don’t look over their heads. Don’t preach to a crowd, congregation, or audience. Preach to people. 

    Clarity is as much about approachability as it is about content. The content of the text is what it is, no more nor less. You are one responsible for taking the raw ingredients of textual intent and making a palatable meal from this text, for these people, at this moment. Once the text is explained and people drawn into it, once they see how this text—in its own unique way draws them closer to Jesus, they will find it as refreshing as clear, fresh water. 

Endings

    Essays, like sermons have endings. We are at the end of this one. Do remember that sermons can be varied and should flow naturally from the overall structure, content, and movement of the text. Sometimes in concluding your message you will restate truths and take your listeners a little bit deeper prior to provoking a decision. Other times you really need to just stop and allow the Spirit to work within those who have submitted themselves to the authority of the Word. 

    We reduce clutter so that when we have finished, the living Jesus has entered our auditor’s consciousness through the dutiful and accurate proclamation of the sacred text. When you have done the task correctly—the task to which we are called and submit—once Jesus is in the room, you are pretty much done.