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| An Approach to Liturgical ‘Style’ Twenty-Eight Dicta
The Elements of Style by Oliver Strunk, now in its 4th edition, remains one of the best handbooks on the practical use of the English language. Rev. E.J. Stefanski (www.CAT41.org) has adapted the final chapter of that book (“An Approach to Style” by E.B. White) to suggest guidelines for the delivery of sermons and the conduct of the liturgy. Following is his list. The entire chapter by White, is available on the Net @ http://orwell.ru/library/others/style/e/estyle5.htm.
******* Number 1
To achieve style, begin by affecting none—that is, place yourself in the background.
Number 2
The use of language begins with imitation.
Number 3
Work from a suitable design. You raise a pup tent from one sort of vision, a cathedral from another.
Number 4
It is nouns and verbs, not their assistants, that give toughness and color.
Number 5
Few writers are so expert that they can produce what they are after on the first try…much less, something *appropriate* on every try.
Number 6
Ornate prose-the sickly sweet word, the overblown phrase-is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.
Number 7
A single overstatement diminishes the whole; everything that preceded and everything that follows will be suspect.
Number 8
Avoid the use of qualifiers.
Number 9
A breezy style is the mark of an egocentric.
Number 10
Use orthodox forms. There is practically unanimous agreement as to what these are; changing to unaccepted and oversimplified forms distract attention, exhaust the patience of those who know better, and detract from the reverence and, thus, the import of the Divine Service.
Number 11
Use orthodox forms. From time to time, clarifications may be proposed; such will either win their place (if born of necessity) or die of neglect.
Number 12
Do not explain too much; let the conversation itself disclose the speaker’s manner or condition.
Number 13
Do not dress the words of the rite up, as though putting a hat on a horse.
Number 14
Make sure the worshipper knows (W)ho is speaking.
Number 15
Avoid the pretentious, the coy, and the cute.
Number 16
Be consistent; when the worshiper has become attuned to the ‘dialect’ of the Divine Service, he will become impatient or confused if he finds it being incessantly changed.
Number 17
Muddiness is not merely a disturber of prose, it is also a destroyer of life, of hope.
Number 18
Tragedies are rotted in ambiguity. Be clear!
Number 19
Do not interject opinion. Such intrusions in liturgy or homily are a certain mark of egotism.
Number 20
The only reliable shortcut is to use words that are strong and surefooted.
Number 21
It is occasionally necessary to borrow from other languages.
Number 22
Prefer the standard to the offbeat, the familiar cadences of time-tested language to the beat of new vocabularies and the exciting rhythms of the diverse segments of society.
Number 23
To use the liturgy well, do not begin by hacking it to bits; accept the whole body of it, cherish its classic form, its variety, and its richness.
Number 24
The trouble with adopting usages too quickly is that they will bedevil one by insinuating themselves where they do not belong.
Number 25
Most new practices are, as Wolcott Gibbs once wrote (on another subject), “detached from the [historic liturgy] and inflated like little balloons.” The young shepherd should learn to spot them—words and actions that at first glance seem to be freighted with delicious meaning but that soon burst in air, leaving nothing but a memory of bright sound.
Number 26
Do not forget that what may seem like pioneering may be merely evasion, or laziness—the disinclination to submit to discipline.
Number 27
What a man is, rather than what he knows, will at last determine his style. Style *is* the writer. By (W)hom must our rite be written?
Number 28
The preacher, the liturgist…he must sympathize with the plight of those who hear him (even as does the Lord), but never seek to know his wants. Let him start sniffing the air, or glancing at the Trend Machine, and he is as good as dead, although he may make a nice living.
The Rev. Eric J. Stefanski, Holy Trinity Ev. – Luth. Church (Unaltered Augsburg Confession) P.O. Box 2612 – Harrison, Arkansas 72601
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