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.
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