“What’cha doin?” “Thinking.” “Thinking ’bout what?” “Just thinking.” “Well, you have to be thinking about something.” “Not really – just waiting for thoughts to come.” “About what?” “Thoughts about my sermon.” “What’s it on?” “Don’t know yet – that’s why I am thinking.”
This could be a weekly conversation if anyone were to walk by at a certain time as I sit and stare at the computer screen. I always have some kind of idea because I know the scripture and from it I pick the hymns and have a certain kind of direction in mind. I usually have a title but until I am in the midst of writing I am not completely sure which direction it will go.
We have already recorded the video service so that sermon is done and no I am working on our ‘in-house’ service, as I call it. Last Sunday we had our first service back in the sanctuary. There were only 23 in the congregation but it was still good to be back together. As one person said, as she walked through the door, “It’s good to be home.” And it felt that way – back in our place, back together. But it is different preaching to 23 than it is to 100 and it different again than it is preaching to a camera! So I am sitting here, in my office , working on what I need to say, want to say on Sunday morning. Anyone walking by my office window would think I am just sitting and daydreaming. And, I guess in some ways, I am.
I generally begin my sermon by pulling out the kernel of truth I want from the passage for this week. Any scripture reading is a prism with many many sides and one could go off in several directions. In fact. I have sometimes wondered what it would be like to preach on the same passage fro several weeks in a row picking out a different detail each week.
Having decided on the direction of the sermon I visualize who will be in the pews. I never know exactly, of course, but I usually have a bit of an idea and I wonder to myself what they need to hear this week. I might scroll around online and read other people’s sermons on the passage and see how they have taken the words and worked with them. Then I start to write. Sometimes it flows. Sometimes it is nothing but struggle. Sometimes I have to go for a walk, or pull some weeds, or stare into space, to give my brain time to ruminate. One thing for certain, there is a time frame and come Sunday morning it had better be done!
But what I want you to know… if you see me staring off into space and you are tempted to ask me, “What’cha doin’?” chances are I am working on my sermon!
