I love watching reruns of Archbishop Sheen's show "Life is Worth Living" on EWTN. He is such a good communicator, combining great insights with grandiose gestures and a few well-placed jokes here and there. In many ways he is my inspiration as I write my sermons. I hope that one day I can be as effective a communicator for the Lord Jesus Christ as he was. (except without the cape)It seems to me that one of the things that many traditional Anglican churches lack these days are effective communicators. A priest or deacon might be very intelligent, and have a lot of good things to say, but many times they just don't communicate their ideas very well, so parishioners and others don't go away feeling inspired or challenged, and the church doesn't grow too much. Maybe it is a lack of seminary training in that area. Or maybe the sermon is just greatly downplayed in our tradition because good, meaty sermons are thought to be too "Protestant". But the sermon is a supremely important part of the liturgy as the fathers of the Reformation believed, and as the fathers of the liturgical movement and Vatican II believed. There is quite an art to good oratory. St. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost led to three thousand people being baptized! That is good, spirit-filled communication, and that is what the church needs in this day and age.
