Indeed you were, but I opted to answer you literally so as to make a counter-point to encourage you as my friend and brother in Christ for fear that you might be selling yourself short.
When I preach in Church, I have to accommodate children and people whose comprehension of English is less substantial, but the way preaching works in any liturgical church is we begin with a set of predefined scripture lessons for each church service over a period of time* , which are read during the liturgy, and then the sermon expounds upon these. A competent liturgical preacher will not need to ask the laity to open their Bibles to page X, nor should laity be expected to bring their Bibles with them, although some might be included in pews. And in delivering the homily (the sermon), while in expounding upon the meaning of the appointed scripture lessons (there might be an Old Testament prophecy, a Psalm, an Epistle and a Gospel, for instance; in most churches the laity stand when the Gospel is read, and it is read last, with the utmost reverence, based on how the Torah Scroll was read in the liturgy of Second Temple Judaism as established by St. Esdras (Ezra) the Priest and St. Nehemiah the Prophet, and still is in the modern forms of Judaism that postdate the ministry of Christ.
Thus my job is to explain what these scriptures are believed to mean, and their relevance to the liturgical occasion, and this will require referring to other scriptures and to Church Fathers, but since I am not debating the congregation it not always relevant to provide the exact chapter and verse. Indeed in some liturgical churches, people might be more easily recalled to, for example, the Gospel lesson read on the third Sunday in Lent, then to the specific chapter and verse.
My goal must be to enable as many people to understand the liturgical occasion and to explain the scriptures so as to provide an easily understandable exposition of the Bible in support of that objective. Additionally, I try to preach for no longer than fifteen minutes, and this goal is made achievable since in a liturgical church the liturgy and hymns themselves provide a catechtical mystagogy as well as a focus for prayer and devotional worship. Indeed in many monasteries normally there are no homilies, the appointed hymns and scripture lessons doing all the work, and this is restful. The sermon is the most dangerous part of the church service for a clergyman because it is where he is given the access to confuse the people or cause them to believe in a heresy. Unitarianism, Arianism, Iconoclasm, Collyridianism, Marcionism, all started with an ill-conceived sermon. So I myself prefer to base my sermons directly on those preached by the Fathers, which sometimes are very concise, and in other cases were preached apart from the Eucharist at a separate service and were very long, for example, some of the sermons of St. Chrysostom.
Whereas a great many were metrical homilies that were sung, this format being particularly popular among Aramaic speaking Christians, the deacon St. Ephraim the Syrian being the most beloved exponent of that form, venerated as “the harp of the Spirit.” The Syriac Orthodox have as their contender for “the flute of the Spirit” St. Jacob of Sarugh, whose short metrical homily on the Eucharist, Haw Nurone, is frequently used as a communion hymn, and I love it. Sadly his Assyrian counterpart, Mar Narsai, actually was a bona fide Nestorian, and composed my least favorite hymn of the early church, in which he would alternately name activities of Christ that he assigned either to the humanity or the divinity of our Lord.
As much as I some day hope to reintroduce the Metrical homily, people would be weirded out if I or, due to my illness, one of my brethren were to start singing the sermon.
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In the context of an online discussion such as this however the goal is intellectual stimulation and mutual edification, and so the strictures I and my colleagues must apply when preaching are undesirable. Rather, here, my desire is to challenge and bw challenged, intellectually, and I believe you
@Ceallaigh are graced with ample intellectual ability to do that. Indeed I think you are probably more intelligent than I am.
* For the primary lectionary used in any historical Christian or Second Temple Jewish liturgical rite, this was traditionally one year, but was increased to three years in the case of the 1969 Roman Catholic Novus Ordo lectionary and the Revised Common Lectionary based on it, which is defective in my opinion unless one adds a fourth year, Year D, as plaX by a Presbyterian seminary professor, a Dr. Slemmons, so that one year is based on each Gospel rather than each Synoptic Gospel, and certain important passages read in the traditional lectionaries but not in the RCL, such as 1 Corinthians 11:27-34, are restored.
** Excepr obviously in the case of those Orthodox Churches where most laity will stand for the entire liturgy, although seating is always provided for the elderly, infirm and anyone else who requires it regardless of whether or not pews exist, but if pews exist the first priority should be to stock them with appropriate liturgical books such as hymnals, missals or the Anglican Book of Common Prayer or the Coptic Euchologion, and then with Psalters, since the Psalms are the scripture the laity are most likely to need during the service, but in the near future I believe we will have Linux tablets at every pew containing all of the above, and bibles.