Sermonettes.

We now live in the age of soundbites and demands for instant - well - everything. This is something about society which, in a technological age, we have to accept rather than to rail against it. It ain't gonna change! During my 36 years as a teacher, powers of concentration amongst pupils have not merely gone down but have plummeted.
And yet, in our Churches, we still have countless exponents of the old-style 'longer sermon'. We seem to be telling our audiences - I often hesitate to use the word congregation - that 'Church will force you to concentrate better!'
True, Jesus sometimes used lengthy sermons as seen 'on the mount' but note how often short, pithy parables were his way of getting the message across in an age when there were many fewer computer games available than there are today.
Last October, I was present when the former Bishop of Lincoln gave an address on 'Salt and Light' which lasted ten minutes and which got through to me better than the vast majority of longer sermons I have heard since.
In my work for Exite FM, my 'sermonettes' last an average three minutes and - if I were a gambling man, I would perhaps wager that three days after the event, the average victim - I mean listener - would actually retain more than from the vast majority of 40 - or even 30 - minute sermons which they hear in Church.

Jesus tailored to His audience, so why are we insisting on giving congregations things which most do not fully follow, indeed do not possess the abilities to concentrate on over a sustained period?
I would be classed 'a poor teacher' and would be failed by OFSTED if I taught lessons in the manner in which most sermons are preached.