From Chaos to Cadence
Preaching in Rhythm with the Liturgy
Photo from Photos.comFaith formation produces “the habit” of living the gospel in daily life. The homily nurtures the habit of faithful living in the way that a child learns music.
“I watch my daughter play new songs,” writes Ann Voskamp. “The process is challenging, even frustrating…but once mastered, the child plays effortlessly.”*
Voskamp goes on to note the similarity between music and ritual: “Once the behaviors become habits… we catch ourselves singing without thinking.”
Only in a Homily
The genius of homiletic preaching lies in its ability to teach in harmony with the rhythm of the liturgical year. In contrast to didactic preaching which employs logical analysis, homiletic preaching teaches through association, uniting contemporary living with the on-going cadence of Christ’s life, death and resurrection.
Each step in the journey is learned through concentration and repetition: Lent-almsgiving-fasting; Advent-prophets-anticipation; Pentecost-exuberance-testimony. Within this framework, the homilist sets out to harmonize the lives of the listeners with the spirit of the season, challenges in the Word of God, and events in the contemporary world.
In short, a homily teaches faith and morality through stringing together—like notes on a scale—moods, attitudes, and actions that correspond to the prescribed beat of the liturgical year.
Can You Drink of this Cup?
This homily excerpt matches an episode in the gospel with a contemporary workday experience. It then expands the notion of personal suffering by placing it in the context of sacrificial love.
Just when the apostles get comfortable with their professional standing and career development, Jesus gives the ecclesial ladder a good shake: “Can you drink the cup of suffering of which I am to drink?”
It’s a pattern woven throughout the gospel: Peter stuns his friends with amazing insight:
“Lord, you are the Messiah!” Moments later, he hears the sharp rebuke “Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking in human terms, not God’s.”
Do you wince when you read a passage like this? I do. Why? Because the truth hurts and the truth about discipleship is that it involves suffering: Unless you shoulder the cross and walk in my footsteps, you cannot be my disciple.
The words give us pause…until we put them into the context of love:
• The parent at the bedside of a sick child.
• The soldier shielding a comrade in the heat of battle.
• A laid-off worker with bills to pay and mouths to feed.
Love without suffering is love is without substance. “Can you drink of this cup?” is the Lord’s way of asking: “How far can you love?”
More than Doctrine
“Without imagination,” writes novelist and film critic A.G. Harmon, “ we are slaves to facts, strapped to bald truths, hopeless.”** His words make it easy to imagine a boring sermon looking like a rickety cart of “bald truths” bumping down a rutted road. The result? No conversion, no motivation, no encounter with the Spirit of the living God.
When a homily employs the power of imagination, on the other hand, it establishes a context in which a rhythmic dance takes shape between one’s life and the teaching of Christ. In this imaginative context, basic steps in the relationship are tested, practiced, and eventually “learned by heart.”
A Song in the Soul
Last May, a news article hailed a teacher in Monterrey, Mexico who used a song to calm her kindergarten students as they cowered beneath their desks when gunfire erupted in the street outside their school.
It is an apt image for the song of salvation: something that strengthens us with a faith “we know by heart.” When homilists merge the reality of life with the Paschal Mystery of Christ, then the work of the Spirit is achieved: chaos gives way to cadence and meaning transcends despair.
*Ann Voskamp, Christian Women Online, August 2008
** A.G. Harmon, Image Journal Blog, July 4, 2008
Father Jim Schmitmeyer is pastor of Holy Angels Church, Childress, Texas, and Sacred Heart Church, Memphis, Texas.
