Do you fear public speaking? If so, you are in a good company of more than 70% of us in the U.S. The comedian Jerry Seinfeld has said, “According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death... This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” It makes a preacher (or a teacher or a comedian) seem like a super hero. Tomorrow and Wednesday I'll be leading the Southwest UU Ministers in a training about how to preach without a manuscript or notes. I've added lots of resources to the website for them and for you, if this is a skill you would like to have.
I've never been afraid of public speaking (though sometimes I have been afraid of what I need to say) because I know one indispensable thing -- when anyone rises to speak or perform before a group an immense wave of positive anticipation radiates from the listeners. We want things to go well. We want to be delighted. We want the experience to be entirely positive. I believe that this is the source of heckling -- a strong sense of having one's hopes dashed, of being disappointed.
Worship is a shared experience and not a performance. It is to be judged on its authenticity, its effectiveness, its impact but never on whether or not it was perfectly done. Like life itself, much of its beauty is in its flaws and surprises and serendipity and in the eye and heart and mind of the beholder. There are no spectators. No one comes out unchanged. Even so, be not afraid.
I've never been afraid of public speaking (though sometimes I have been afraid of what I need to say) because I know one indispensable thing -- when anyone rises to speak or perform before a group an immense wave of positive anticipation radiates from the listeners. We want things to go well. We want to be delighted. We want the experience to be entirely positive. I believe that this is the source of heckling -- a strong sense of having one's hopes dashed, of being disappointed.
Worship is a shared experience and not a performance. It is to be judged on its authenticity, its effectiveness, its impact but never on whether or not it was perfectly done. Like life itself, much of its beauty is in its flaws and surprises and serendipity and in the eye and heart and mind of the beholder. There are no spectators. No one comes out unchanged. Even so, be not afraid.
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