On Preaching

I love writing sermons. I'm not going to lie. I'm sort of a geek (haha...that's an understatement). I love reading the texts, talking about them, really internalizing their meaning, reading commentaries, etc. I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to spend so much time in the text each week when I'm a pastor. I really hope that I can also continue to incorporate storytelling in my sermons.

So I spent about two weeks working on my sermon prior to this Sunday--a luxury I hope to have as a pastor with proper planning. The time spent really living in the text is extremely important to me, and I do not want to lose that just because I have to write a sermon every week. At first, I just read the texts once or twice a day, writing some notes on my thoughts, feelings, etc. There was no attempt to find a theme or even pick a text. I just wanted to read the texts and let them speak to me. I loved this. It's amazing where I see these texts play out because I spent so much time reading and thinking on them.

Then I spent some time planning out the focus of my sermon. I chose my main text, thought about the point I wanted to get across, considered possible stories to help connect the biblical passage to the parishoner's lives, and God's grace in the text. I honestly found this to be the hardest part. How do you choose a text? They're all wonderful. They're all important. They're all God's Word! How do I pick just one of four texts? What does that mean for the rest of them? I suppose this will get easier with time, as I can better gauge what my congregation feels and needs, and I have the opportunity to preach most weeks. So I choose the easy route--using the Gospel text and trying to incorporate pieces of the others without being ridiculous.

So when I finally got done with the planning, the sermon literally just flowed out of me in about 30 minutes. Beautiful. This is how I know that the Spirit is flowing. Over the next week, I had Wes and Linda read the sermon, practiced it, tweaked it, and generally listened to the words God was speaking into my life. And on Sunday, I finally got up and delivered it. Wow, that was an interesting experience. I was amazed at the people who were engaged, the people who were not, the people who looked asleep and the ones who were glued to my words. What a terrifying place to be! When Linda asked me how I was feeling about it earlier in the week, I said "Really nervous." My job is to speak God's Words. First I have to listen to God speaking into my life, and then I have to share that. What if God tells me something scary? Controversial? New? Weird?

Yes, I'm nervous, but I'm also so excited. I'm honored that God has placed this call on my life, and I hope I can live up to it. What a powerful position...and what a scary one.