A tiresome thing when preparing a sermon

A tiresome thing when preparing a sermon is this: not waiting. The date for the sermon has been fixed, and it is right around the corner. You must have a sermon to give; this you know. But you do not have the contents of what you are to say. This you ought to know, but this is where it gets tricky. Or tiresome. And if you start making things up, you go down the tiresome road.

There are several junctures in preparing a sermon at which you can take that tiresome detour. The first is right at the start: the Spirit must give you the germ – or better: the germination – of the message you are to preach. For me, usually this comes when a verse or two in context of its larger passage becomes alive in my spirit and, after lunch, or coffee, or chores, or whatever, it remains alive as the right fit for that sermon. If you have it, you have it. If you don’t, you don’t.

I've given my share of sermons without actually having the initial germ of the message. Not good. Certainly a waste of time. But waiting for the germination is hard to do. You have to be relaxed, but watchful in spirit. You can’t chomp at the bit, because then the germ won’t come. And even if it does, you might not hear it.

Another juncture is having the germ of the message – but that is all you have. This is my conundrum this morning. I have the germ of the message I am to give in a week and a half. But man, after several days of preparing, I just can’t get past the introduction. Yesterday I was halfway through writing out the first point. But I had the nagging feeling I was making it up. This morning I am having the same problem ...

(The alternative to making it up is surfing the Spirit. It's the difference between surfing the crest of a wave and, well, paddling in standing water. Paddling is more tiresome, and much less exciting. So when you're tired out and unexcited while preparing your sermon, chances are you’re making it up.

But then: this is a kind of tiresomeness that is sometimes hard to recognize. I often think I'm surfing when I'm actually paddling. The trick is to recognize the fatigue. Then it quietly dawns on me: "Oh yea ... this is just paddling ...").

So here I am, writing this Logos2Go entry because it may be a better thing to do than to paddle out my sermon. Today is probably another waiting day. But may my tongue be the pen of a ready writer.

Logos2Go

Psalm 45.1 My heart overflows with a good theme; I address my verses to the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.