It has been pointed out - many times! - that no aspect of worship has been so generally and ecumenically roasted as preaching!1 The many jokes about preachers and sermons rank next to, maybe slightly ahead of, jokes about mothers-in-law.

Being a preacher and teacher of preachers, I have heard my share of funny stories about bad sermons. Like the one where the student preacher, who just finished preaching his masterpiece, piously asked the professor, "With what prayer should I begin my sermon?" The professor responded, "How about, ‘Now I lay me down to sleep.’ " Or the Scot lady who, at the end of the worship service, greeted her preacher with this evaluation, "You dinna have much to say and you dinna say it well!" Or, "Your service was too long by one half and it wouldn’t make any differe…