In preparing a sermon you need to come empty

The temptation is to come full, or half full. To come having something to offer.

You don’t really think of it as a “temptation.” You think of it as expertise.

Or at least you think of it as the reasonable thing to do.

“Here is my idea,” you say. And you develop it. And you craft it. And you craft it some more.

But in preparing a sermon you need to know when it just sounds crafty. It is the first sign towards realizing that coming half full is like coming half cocked.

By midweek, you need to know when the wind is not blowing.

And to stop and wait for the wind.

For me that means going back to the passage I am preaching on – now there’s an idea -- with open hands and open heart.

What do you see?

Nothing.

Go back until you see something.

Logos2Go

1 Kings 18.43-44 "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back." The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go …”