On sermon preparation: the benefits of starting early and finishing well

 

I can’t claim to be super organised and disciplined about my sermon preparation. I don’t like Stephen Kneale normally prepare my sermons about three months in advance. In fact it’s not even that I always do my exegesis on a Tuesday morning, work out the structure and points of my sermon on a Wednesday afternoon and finish my prep on Saturday.

But I do have two thoughts that might be helpful:

(1) Plan and read the text as early as you can.

You could do your sermon entirely on Friday and Saturday. But probably serval people in the church will want to know the text earlier, perhaps for the notice sheet, service materials, musicians and readers. And even if no one is bugging you for these things on a Tuesday, I think there is great benefit in knowing what you are going to preach and some of the relevant issues as soon as you can. That way the power of mulling over the text and themes can take place as you walk the dog and drive around the parish. You may even have the chance to chat with others about something related to the sermon. And you can keep an eye out for relevant illustrations and application.

So, at a minimum, I would always suggest reading the text on a Monday morning and beginning to think about it.

(2) Know where you’re going a couple of days ahead.

I’m pleased to say that my regular sermon preparation isn’t always like the weekly student essay crisis. It is a long time since I have done an all-nighter. Though sometimes there are adjustments on a Sunday morning! I like to think of this as keeping things fresh and interesting.

Anyway, what would be an ideal healthy pattern?

I normally have my day off on a Friday. And often Saturdays can be pretty full with events and meetings – as well as family stuff. I’ve found it very beneficial, if possible, to try to know where I’m going with the sermon by the end of work on a Thursday. And of course it is lovely if you don’t always have to work until 11pm the night before you’re day off.

Ideally, one might have some idea of:

Introduction – way in

Main points / structure

Illustrations?

Applications

Conclusion / ending.

If my sermon preparation isn’t where I would like to it to be, I can find that I ruminate about it on my day off or in bed, which you don’t want to do too often.

There are great benefits, I think, to knowing that you have something in hand before a last minute panic, though some people may depend on a deadline to focus them on some decisions!

One can never really say that a sermon is ideally perfected and “finished”, but if you’ve got a plan, you can be freed up to think carefully about your hearers, how you might communicate and so on. I reckon many of us are tempted to neglect this last 20% of sermon preparation which goes beyond an aim sentence and some points.

We would do well to start early, but if we can, we should also try to leave some space to finish well, to re-visit and improve what we have. And, of course, also to pray.

Maybe the preparation of ourselves is even more neglected than the preparation of our sermons.