Well now, who’da thunk?

This little story ran a couple weeks ago and didn’t get much national attention. The subject is “pulpit plagiarism”: when preachers borrow, lift or even buy a sermon and pass it off as their own. It popped up in my Google news summary, and I’m sure it will leave some people shocked, simply shocked.

Here’s a snippet:

Parishioners who dwell on the meaning of their pastor’s words now face the question: Is the sermon an act of man or an act of the Internet? Sermon borrowing — called “pulpit plagiarism” by critics — is spreading among the nation’s clergy.

“The kerosene on the fire is the Internet,” the Rev. Thomas Long, a professor of preaching at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology (and no relation to the New Birth pastor), wrote in a recent article in Christian Century magazine.

Pastors pinched for time no longer need to lean solely on divine inspiration. With a credit card and a few mouse clicks, they can surf sites such as Sermon.com and desperatepreacher.com to find sermons to fit virtually any occasion — Mother’s Day, say, or Easter. The sites serve as the Home Depot for homilies. Any preaching tool is available.

Some pastors, though, don’t let on they’ve sermon-shopped. They pass the ideas off as their own. Critics say they’re dishonoring their calling and deceiving their flock.

I’m not sure this sin is unforgivable — if it’s a sin at all. I suspect most of the people in the pews would rather hear a good sermon or homily written by someone else than a mediocre one composed by the preacher.

I’ve heard enough lame-to-dreadful sermons that rambled with no discernible thesis. I’ve often wished, desperately, that more preachers had an editor (or, maybe, someone behind the pulpit with a hook.) Any help is better than none when it comes to transmitting the word of God. But I’m willing to be persuaded otherwise. Thoughts?

Photo: Evangelical Theological Seminary