AJ the Irish Lass' Ramblings

Sermons have been preached in Christian communities from the earliest days when the New Testament epistles and Gospels were still being written. To this day, preaching still plays a role in the life of the Church. normally, a sermon is preached by a bishop (if present), priest or deacon.

Some smaller congregations without weekly access to clergy may train lay worship leaders to preach sermons as well. Giving a member the authority to preach a sermon isn’t a matter taken lightly. This is why only designated people preach sermons.

Most of the time, the designated preacher* for the day preaches a sermon or homily (shorter sermon) about one or more of the lectionary readings. Some might try to preach a sermon based on all 3 lessons for the day, while others might focus most of the sermon on a single reading. Occasionally, you might hear a sermon about some aspect of our worship or a current social concern.  The sermon might be preached from the pulpit, or from the center aisle of the church in the midst of the congregation.

*Preacher designates a certain job that clergy fulfill as part of their profession, however, in the Episcopal Church tradition, a clergy member is not generally referred to as “a preacher”, nor is the term used as a title.