ABSTRACT
This chapter explores COVID-19 pandemic sermon rhetoric, with a case study examining selected online sermons delivered by two Seattle-area American evangelical pastors during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020–March 2022), attending to language employed in welcoming worshippers and connecting with both live and virtual audiences while preaching. White (1990) and Charland (1987) provide the theoretical framework of constitutive rhetoric for interpreting lexical elements, embedded power relations, and preachers’ carefully constructed personas that accomplish rhetorical aims. By uploading sermons online, ostensibly to convert nonbelievers and nurture the flock, evangelical Christian ministers blur lines between insider/ outsider language by foregrounding in-group discourse normally reserved for closed religious services. Moreover, sermon videos become linguistic artifacts that endure long after Sunday morning. Archiving sermons online obliterates narrow boundaries of the traditional evangelical church audience, opening the sermon to linguistic scrutiny that provides valuable material for scholars interested in contemporary American religious discourse.
