When I first started preaching, I would spend somewhere around 20 hours writing. It's possible it was more. I learned that I'm a perfectionist. I didn't know before, but I definitely am. Also, despite starting a blog, writing doesn't come easy to me, so I'd go over it and over it and over it and pick at it until it was right. Then I'd read it mostly word for word in front of the congregation.
One time in my senior preaching class, I caught senioritis. I had to present my sermon to my small group in class that day and I just couldn't think of anything to say, and the whole senioritis wasn't inspiring me to try very hard. Finally it was like thirty minutes before class and I really didn't have a sermon. I wrote down a few bullet points of where I was hoping to go, prayed, and then gave a more extemporaneous/ slightly impromptu sermon. One of my friends in the small group said, "That was one of your better sermons!" And I said, "you've got to be kidding me." Turns out that my delivery is a zillion times better when I'm not reading. I haven't preached from a manuscript on a Sunday morning since that class.
I don't want to wing it like I did in my seminary class and I don't think I should be spending 20+ hours writing, so I've come up with a different way that seems to work for me.
Here's what I do:
First I read all the assigned bible verses of the day and see which one grabs me the most. Sometimes I'll incorporate two readings, but usually I try to stick to one so we don't all get too confused. Then I read it a bunch and think about it a bunch.
At our weekly worship planning meetings, we try to hone in a particular message/theme/idea to focus on for the day. We usually do this a few weeks ahead of time, but I don't really flesh it out until the week of when I'm working on the sermon. I keep thinking about the text and theme for days.
Thursday I'm usually mulling through commentaries, online discussions in the Young Clergy Women Project Facebook page, looking at Greek words, and talking through some ideas. In a perfect world, I would be done and practicing it at this point, but so far that's happened only once or twice in 7 years.
Friday is my day off, so I try really hard to not work on my sermon so that I can have rest and good boundaries, even if it makes me anxious that I'm not finished. I still think about it every other minute though.
The next step in the process is called, "pacing". This step almost always happens on Saturday right after a cup of coffee and an episode of House Hunters. We have a 5:30 service on Saturday, so I have to figure it out by then. Pacing is when I pace around a room talking to myself. Usually it's my living room and kitchen. Instead of typing words on a computer screen in a way that I could imagine them being said, I write it in my head by saying sentences to myself until they sound right.
I try to put all of the pieces that I've come up with in the right order. Sometimes I'm talking to myself for hours until it seems right. I practice transitions and stories and the introduction a lot.
I write out a few bullet points and include a few sentences that I can't forget to say so the transitions work.
When I give the sermon, I know where I want to go, but I'm not always sure how it will come out. I pray a lot. I think some of that not being totally certain of which words I'll use leaves more room for the Holy Spirit to get the words right for people to hear. I hope anyways.
My sermon endings can be a little abrupt. Part of that is because I figure, once you've said it, you don't need keep saying it for 5 more minutes. Also I kind of like that they're abrupt. You know how when you're listening to a song in the car and you just can't get yourself to get out of the car until the song resolves or ends. If you don't wait, the song just kind of lingers with you. You sing it all day. I want the message to linger. I kind of want this discomfort of missing this perfectly beautiful ending. Maybe they'll even keep being bothered by it all day? And then have to think about it? Maybe!
The last step is "the nap". This is tiring (and so fun!), so sometimes I've got to sleep for a while!
THE END!
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