How Thinking Changed How I Write Sermons
What I do after thinking.
To get a sermon to go that long, it is usually 8-12 pages long in 12 pt. font., plus any extra quotes that are photo-copied and reading the actual biblical text.
When I first started preaching I did A LOT of preliminary academic study, prior to just sitting down and writing the sermon.
What that means is I would read the actual text several times in about 5 different bible translations: ESV, NRSV, TNIV, NLT and The Message. I would also read it in the original language - I am better at Greek than Hebrew.
I have noticed something change in the last couple of months. I still do the preliminary study - consulting commentaries, etc. But, now, I find that I spend a lot of time just thinking.... and thinking and thinking.
That is, I just play around with ideas in my head, revisit them and think about them some more.
Thinking - sounds pretty simple, but it just might be the most under used tool for most people.
Obama says he spends up to an hour a day thinking. Some C.E.O's I have read say that the most important thing they do is taking time out to think.
Bill Gates takes 2 weeks a year and goes to a cabin and..... thinks.
I wonder if the rapid fire barrage of pop media and high tech life has robbed of the capability to think well? When most of us spend most of our waking hours in front of a screen of some sort, perhaps it has.
About a month ago, I found I was thinking about a sermon about the story in Mark 2 of the 4 guys who lower their paralyzed friend through a roof to get him to Jesus. I thought about it all week, read it several times and then sat down and wrote the entire sermon in 2 hours in one sitting. I revised it a couple of times the next day and practiced it once. And it was a pretty good sermon - one in which some of the concepts will form my ministry for quite some time.
It has been quite interesting to see this transition take place in my professional life. My sermons still take quite a long time to write, but the way I spend my time has shifted somewhat.
Perhaps - the time I take out to sit quietly and think and pray opens up more room for the Holy Spirit to interact with my mind. Whereas, before I spent a lot of time filling up my mind with academic insights into the text - maybe now the Holy Spirit can go a little deeper into my mind and soul, by-passing the mere intellect.
This is all pretty speculative, but maybe I'm on to something. I would love to hear others thoughts on what I have written.
Comments
Thanks for the... thoughts. :)
Although I haven't preached much yet in my pastoral career, I did preach this past Sunday (at Emmanuel, actually), and I felt better about it than I did about others. I think what made the difference was talking out the text with Danice, which may be my equivalent of "thinking." I sometimes need to think aloud, and I'm discovering that thinking in the presence of another who can respond and challenge and encourage imagination and creativity is a great gift indeed. Makes me think that sermons should be written in community...