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Dear
Visitor,
I
found this blog item especially amusing because one of my
favorite speaking engagements was addressing 350 Seventh Day
Adventist ministers. The article was written by one of the
most prolific writers and brilliant minds I have met, freelance
speech writer Hal Gordon. I first met Hal when we were seated
next to each other at the speaker's dinner prior to my first
Ragan Speechwriters Conference. You can imagine my excitement
when Hal told me he used to write for Colin Powell and Ed
Meese. He is now a popular speaker at speechwriter events.
Giving him full credit and attribution, as well as my utmost
respect, I thought you would this excerpt.
-Patricia
Fripp
Nice
Sermon, Pastor-Who Wrote It?
by
Hal Gordon
Earlier
this week, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page
story on members of the clergy who buy sermons off the Internet.
The Journal listed five websites that offer sermon
ideas, and even entire transcripts, for modest fees. One of
these sites, amusingly titled, desperatepreacher.com, offered
this comforting quote of the day from Henry David Thoreau:
"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life."
Indeed,
the morality of using canned sermons does not seem to weigh
heavily on some of those who labor in the Lord's vineyard.
One clergyman quoted in the article, the Rev. Steve Sjogren
of Cincinnati, actually advised his fellow preachers to "get
over the idea that we have to be completely original with
our messages, each and every week." Instead, they should recycle
the best material they can lay their hands on. "Don't be original,"
says the good reverend. "Be effective."
As a
speechwriter, I readily agree that if someone else can get
a point across more wittily, more profoundly, or more effectively
than I can, it makes sense to use that other person's words.
But I also believe that I should attribute those words to
their author and not try to pass them off as the speaker's.
Yet,
astonishingly, some of the ministers quoted in the Journal's
article don't see anything unethical about quoting without
attribution in a sermon. According to Rev. Sjogren, it doesn't
count as plagiarism. "Real" plagiarism, he says, "is taking
stuff out of a book and putting it into another book." But
"taking people's material and putting it into a speaking forum,
is not plagiarism."
Then
what is it, pray?
I once
worked for the CEO of a major corporation who scrupulously
removed quotes from speech drafts, even when they were properly
attributed, because, as he put it, "I don't quote authors
whom I haven't read." This man—who graduated "with distinction"
from the U.S. Naval Academy—thought it was dishonest to appear
more learned than he actually was. Maybe he should be lecturing
divinity students on the ethics of rhetoric.
Fortunately,
the Journal article quotes other preachers who are disgusted
by the casual attitude toward attribution displayed by Rev.
Sjogren and his ilk. They worry, with good reason, that parishioners
will feel betrayed if they find out that their pastors have
been passing off canned sermons as their own. When this happens,
the erring shepherd is sometimes driven from his pulpit by
his outraged flock.
Thomas
G. Long, a preaching professor at the Candler School of Theology
at Emory University in Atlanta, suggests that too many preachers
have succumbed to the sin of pride. They want to be clerical
superstars, like the ones who attract millions of viewers
on television. "Our churches have turned into theatres," sighs
Mr. Long, "and our preachers have turned into witty motivational
speakers with high entertainment value.
"Call
me old-fashioned, but I think that if a preacher can't find
the inspiration he needs to preach the gospel without surreptitiously
borrowing from the sermons of others, he ought to find another
line of work. As St. Paul—no slouch as a preacher himself—once
said: 'Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels
and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass or a
tinkling cymbal.'"
 (554
words)
Hal
Gordon is a friend of Patricia Fripp's and a freelance speech
writer who lives in Houston. He
has written for Colin Powell and Ed Meese. For more infomation
on Hal Gordon: gordon.h@sbcglobal.net, http://blog.ragan.com/speechblog
To
find out about Patricia Fripp's CDs on How to Design and Deliver
a Charismatic, Life-Changing Sermon http://www.greatsermon.com/
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