Upon Closer Inspection
So, a few days after preaching my first sermon, I got to hear my first sermon. Tavistock tapes their sermons, for the benefit of those that miss occasional Sundays, or are unable to make it to church for various health issues. I thought it would be helpful to evaluate myself by listening to the tape as well. I cringed at every stumbling of words, and laughed through the embarrassment of what was the children's story. The scary part however, was listening to my jokes. Sure people laughed, and sure I thought they were funny, but hearing myself tell them was very, very odd. I realized that I have a terrible joke delivery. Never have I heard such a dry, emotionless attempt at comedy, and this is what I once thought was the bread and butter of my comedic repertoire. No inflection, no intonations, nothing to imply that the statement was intended to be funny.
While I struggled over the awkwardness of what I perceived for that Sunday, it struck me, I've been telling jokes like this all my life. For some reason, people have always been able to look past this, and laugh. I would then like to take a moment to thank all those who have laughed at my jokes in the past, despite, what has now become apparent to me, a dry, dry, delivery. While I have now made this realization, I fully realize the inability to teach this proverbial old dog new proverbial tricks, but still there are points to ponder. It is now easier to understand why my jokes aren't always laughed at, especially by people that don't know me. Certainly an audio cassette doesn't convey the twinkle in my eye that is the charm of William Loewen, but now that I know how I sound, I can adjust to make myself a more effective speaker.
Speed is another factor. The other pastor head suggested that for her, a 2800 word sermon would take 23 minutes. With mine needing to be between 20-25 minutes, I polished mine off in 2900 words. After taping the recorded sermon today, I realized that it was only 15 minutes. I can slow down, at least I certainly need to.
I will make known when my next sermon is, and hopefully by then I'll be able to implement some of these changes.

   [ posted by William @ 4:00 PM ]