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“The Word of God” portion of the Eucharist is exactly what it says it is; it is the time where we hear what it is that God is saying to us.
The Lessons tell us what the Lord has said to the people of God in the past. Certainly understanding what God has said to those people is important and helpful.
But the sermon’s place is to do more than that. The sermon not only explains what the words of Scripture said in the past, but it also uses those words to tell us what God is saying to us today.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword”. Yes, Scripture is the collection of what God said in days gone by, but in listening to those words, we can actually hear what God is saying to us now, and the sermon is a tool meant to help us do that.
God is still in conversation with us today. That is why the sermon is so important. Not only is God in conversation with us, but God is also in relationship with us, and relationship requires a back and forth in conversation. In the service, we hear what God says to us. Then we have the chance to respond with our Faith, our prayers, and our repentance. After that, we come together, joining our gifts from God’s creation to the work of the Lord, before we head back out into the world in the name of Christ Jesus. The Eucharist is about continuing that relationship with God and one another in the hopes that this relationship does not begin and end here but instead follows us outside these doors as well. The sermon is a part of that relationship because it helps us to hear more clearly what it is that God is trying to say to us on this very day.