{"id":22975,"date":"2014-01-19T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2014-01-19T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=22975"},"modified":"2019-07-24T17:14:20","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T23:14:20","slug":"rvwd-word-sermon-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/rvwd-word-sermon-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Word Sermon in the Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"

[box]RVWD is my abbreviation for Religious Vocabulary Word of the Day. (You can read my introduction to the RVWD series here.)<\/a><\/span> I do not intend for these word investigations to be exhaustive, but I hope they stimulate some thinking about assumptions. Possibly they will help with honest evaluations about what is truth and what is unnecessary baggage in life. [\/box]
\nThe word sermon<\/em><\/strong> is apparently derived from the Latin word sermo<\/em>, which means to talk or speak. No where in 8 translations of the Bible I looked at is there any word that is translated as sermon<\/em>. Somewhere along the 13th century (first known usage according to the\u00a0Free Miriam Webster Dictionary online<\/a><\/span>)<\/em>, the word sermon came to mean “a speech given as instruction in religion or morals.” (Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition)<\/em>. This obviously doesn’t mean that no one gave speeches before that. It just means that the word sermon was not regularly employed to describe the orations.
\nSome people assume<\/strong> that the word preach<\/em> implies a sermon. This is not the case. To preach simply means to proclaim or declare news, implying giving information quite possibly not yet heard. Such proclaiming is not even indicating a one-time press release, but can mean a general\u00a0dissemination of the information, through the grapevine, if you will. Teaching is another activity that is associated with sermons. Ironically, in most other situations, the lecture is thought to be the least effective and most tedious method of teaching, being used because it is most cost-effective for a large group to be told things.
\nOne way of describing<\/strong> a contemporary (Christian) sermon is to call it a monologue or lecture given by a person of some sort of elevated status while observers sit quietly in an audience. Interrupting, other than the occasional affirmation, is considered rude. Monetary remuneration is traditionally expected. Not attending to listen regularly puts a person at risk for being labeled rebellious and profane.
\nWhile there are<\/strong> places recorded in the Bible of certain respected persons speaking for varied lengths of time, there is no reason to conclude that this was done in formal auditorium type settings. There is also no reason to assume that since other talking wasn’t recorded that it didn’t occur. The designation ‘sermon’ seems to be somewhat arbitrarily applied to certain situations, too. For instance, when Peter speaks a few sentences after Pentecost to explain what is going on, it is called a sermon. When Stephen speaks at much greater length to those who are accusing him, he is given no such honor. Maybe it is only a sermon if you don’t get stoned?
\nThere is no place<\/strong> in the New Testament advocating a regular weekly attendance to hear an oration, or sermon, by one person. Instead, the very strong implication is that time spent together by Christians should be spent with everyone encouraging everyone else. While there may not be anything ‘wrong’ about a sermon, it takes up time, crowding out what might be shared by several persons, maybe in various subsets of a less formal gathering. Such interactions would do much more to stimulate real relationship. There is only so much time left in most people’s lives after work and kids.
\nThe sermon has become<\/strong> the centerpiece of many church services<\/a><\/span>, and as such is very visible. The less performance-like, mundane daily relationship building of everyday life gets less limelight, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been going on throughout history as well. Quite possibly with more actual impact in people’s lives. It just doesn’t have a catchy religious publicity name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[box]RVWD is my abbreviation for Religious Vocabulary Word of the Day. (You can read my introduction to the RVWD series here.) I do not intend for these word investigations to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,15,80],"tags":[28],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhomeschool.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}