Then shall follow the Sermon, or one of the Homilies already set forth, or hereafter to be set forth, by authority. (1662 Book of Common Prayer, Order for Holy Communion)
"Take thou authority to preach the Word of God, and to minister the holy Sacraments in the Congregation, where thou shalt be lawfully appointed thereunto." (1662 Ordinal, Ordering of Priests)
To many people, the high point of any Church service is the preaching. They may pray, they may sing hymns, they may take communion, but the real meat of the service for them is the sermon.
If you look in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer for references to sermons, you will find the sermon placed after the Nicene Creed in the Communion service. There is no provision for a sermon at Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer, but then everybody was required by law to "resort to their parish church..., and then and there to abide orderly and soberly during the time of the common prayer", which would have meant attending Morning Prayer, the Litany and the first part of the Communion service at least. (Those who disobeyed had to forfeit twelve pence, to be collected by the churchwardens and given to the poor.)
We know that the early church met each Sunday to share their faith, and to share too in the Lord's death and resurrection in bread and wine. When they did so, as Paul says to the Corinthians, "each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation" (1 Cor 14:26). After the pattern of worship in the synagogue at the time, anyone who was led could have his say (and for once, I have not used inclusive language!)
"Preaching" (as opposed to "interpreting") in New Testament times was the job of the apostles, and of the leaders whom they appointed. It meant telling the good news about Jesus to anyone who would listen. It might take place in public, and its aim was to convince people of the error of their ways, to bring them to Christ. In the content of a church service, it was addressed to those "on the edge", and also to those within the church, to strengthen their faith.
This is why the sermon in our present-day Eucharist comes where it does. The whole of the first part of the service is for meeting together and for learning about what God has done for us. In times past, the catechumens, the people preparing themselves for the decisive step of joining the church through baptism, would have stayed for the sermon, and then, before the Creed, would have left. (The Eastern liturgy still preserves a call, "The doors, the doors", reminding us that the first part of the service is to proclaim the gospel, while the second is to become a closed (and close!) community, sharing together in our knowledge of Christ.)
A good sermon is not an essential part of meeting together for a service. It is an added bonus. Not everyone in the fourth century could hear John Chrysostom, whose name means "John Gold-Tongue". In the middle ages, St Dominic founded an order of monks who would go around improving the quality of preaching. Good sermons were printed out and read from pulpits - and the Prayer Book provides for readings from officially-published Homilies, so that "disaffected and unlearned" clergy could teach the faith clearly to lay people.
The existence of these books of Homilies reminds us that the content of a sermon is even more important than its presentation. Having a golden tongue is no guarantee of truth. "There are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers" (Tit. 1:10), which is why both the apostles and the church today commissioned preachers rather than allowing a free-for-all. That is why congregations in the Church of England do not invite potential ministers to preach to them. The truth of a sermon is what matters! And what matters even more is the sincerity and holiness of our worship.
But of course a good sermon is an added bonus. Thank you, Richard and Linda!
HD