Ministers face their Super Sunday on Easter

For a minister, crafting the perfect Easter sermon can seem like the oratorical equivalent of playing quarterback in the Super Bowl, performing in the first-grade music recital and taking the SATs all rolled into one.

The stakes can seem high because of twice-a-year, Christmas-and-Easter, churchgoers who flock to services on Easter and who just might be lured back the next week, and the week after that, by a powerful Easter sermon.

"I will admit that the natural pressure is to bring your A-game," says the Rev. Gregory Mech, senior pastor at First Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

But, he continues, "we shouldn't presume that we're going to create faith in anyone by an isolated sermon.

"That way lies vanity."

Actually, ministers say they try to bring their best to the pulpit every week.

"I think most regular church members expect (sermons) to be good every Sunday," says the Rev. Jim Houston-Hencken, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Las Vegas, who expects an increase in attendance of 20 percent to 35 percent today.

"I certainly think most Christians would consider this the most important Sunday of the year, so you want (the sermon) to be good," says the Rev. Carol Wood, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church. "But I don't know that I feel any more pressure than any other Sunday."

"There is some pressure, I won't deny that," says the Rev. Mark Lansberry, senior pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, even if "it's all self-imposed."

One challenge with today's sermon is that the story -- on Easter, Christians celebrate Jesus' resurrection from the dead after his crucifixion on Good Friday -- is so familiar.

Lansberry says his concern is that, because Christmas-and-Easter worshippers aren't "exposed to the variety of Scripture and texts we preach on" throughout the year, "I don't want them to go away saying, 'Oh, they always talk about the same thing.'

"So, the challenge for me is to try to make it fresh and interesting, maybe try to come at it from a different angle than I have before."

In addition, Mech says, Easter sermons "tend to be more carefully constructed because you do want to leave no doubt. You want to get your message across."

On the upside, an Easter sermon offers ministers an opportunity to reach only-occasional churchgoers.

"You want to do that every week because you never know -- especially in Las Vegas -- who's going to be visiting (in) that one window of opportunity you have," Mech says. "But it certainly is much more likely at Easter."

It also helps that the Easter sermon enables a minister to shift emotional gears, from the restrained tone of the pre-Easter Lenten season to the celebratory joy of Easter itself.

Holy Week, which precedes Easter, is a somber week, Wood notes. "Then we get to Easter, which is a big celebration, and that affects the theme of the sermon."

The Rev. Kevin McAuliffe, pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, says his approach is to stay focused.

"The message of the Resurrection is a universal message," he says. "It speaks to all people no matter where they're from, no matter what their way of life, no matter what their personal circumstances. This is a universal message. That's what (a minister) has a chance to get across, especially on that day: It's a universal message of invitation to redemption in Jesus Christ."

Keeping an Easter sermon in perspective doesn't hurt, either.

"I know, for some of us, we always like to think we're finally going to write or preach the definitive homily (sermon) for all time by which all homilies are measured," McAuliffe says. "But we are imperfect, and we have to remember that."

"You can't let it get to you," Mech agrees. "But at the same time, I'm not writing to be published in 'The Great Sermons of All-time' or anything like that."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@ reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0280.