In my journey to becoming a new preacher, I have had the opportunity to experience the preaching of incredibly inspiring voices, many from our region, the Christian Church in Northern California and Nevada.  Sermons that blew my mind, filled my heart, and renewed my spirit in ways I didn’t even know I needed.  I made a list of my favorite things I’m learning from you, the things that made me fall in love with the preaching and hearing of sermons, and make me want to be a better preacher.

I am drawn in when you grab my attention right away, when I feel intrigued or shocked or surprised or confused as soon as you start talking and forget whatever I was browsing in the bulletin or mulling over from before church.

I feel joy and relief at the invitation to laugh.  Life can feel so heavy!  As a listener, laughter is healing, and those moments where we all drop our guard a little connects us and balances out serious topics.  Also as a preacher, occasions for laughter are a good time to gauge whether I’m engaging my listeners or if I’ve left them unattended as I wandered off through the weeds.

I feel alive  when I learn new things!  A word origin, some historical factoid,  a social context that I didn’t know, a reference to a connection, author, situation or history that piques my curiosity.  My own challenge as a new preacher is that so much of what I’m learning is exciting I have to remember not put it all in one sermon!

Living in a time of extreme political and social manipulation designed to sharply separate us from each other makes our souls weary and yearn for rest, peace or meaning.  Your best sermons have taught me to use the pulpit to encourage, educate and draw together especially in the midst of the outside noise of naming, shaming, blaming and separating.  If someone different from me accidentally stumbles into our little church while I’m preaching, I want them to hear we have enough sacred similarities that they belong in that space too, even if I’m preaching something they don’t agree with.

I feel connected to what came before me when you share historical relevance, and I find it interesting the way bringing the past alive makes the future also seem tangible in a way that connects us to something bigger than now,  I like the way it invites us to ponder whether we are evolving as humans and why or why not.

One of the greatest gifts in so many of your sermons is your ability to explore scripture from the context and times in which it was written and amplify the voices that are not as readily heard, expanding the possibilities of who might feel seen and loved by God.

I appreciate how your acknowledgement of current events makes the message relevant and validates our experiences even when the circumstances seem more than one sermon could possibly make a difference in.

When you connect your sermon to things that are personal to me, I feel seen and heard. When you connect your sermon to things that are personal to you, I understand you better.

The way you preach hard things and then spotlight the areas of hope is the true Balm in Gilead.

Finally, your sermons that leave me somehow changed and also armed with the understanding that I have the capacity to make change that matters, keep your words alive  long after the benediction, in ways that reach far beyond the church walls.

I feel grateful to get to learn from you.  Thank you!

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Published in the May 2026 issue of For the Messengers.

Rev. Christiane Swartz preaches the first Sundays of the month at the Geyserville Christian Church, and starting in 2026 her sermons can be followed on her Substack page, “Disheveled Grace.”