After six years of full-time preaching, I think I've found my "groove." I have a pretty good idea of what works for the congregation where I serve. I have a sermon prep day (Friday), and a process I go through to get from selecting the topic to determining the content. This process provides a "rhythm" to the week that is predictable and familiar. More importantly, its been something I've seen the Lord use in the lives of the people I'm called to serve.
Part of this rhythm has to do with preaching in series. I tend to select books or sections of scripture to preach on and then work my way through the material. I'm much more of an exegete than a topical preacher. Generally I'm irked by preachers that have their congregants flipping all over their bibles to locate the next verse the preacher wants to use (even more irksome to me is the tendency of some preachers to change versions of scripture as it suits their purposes, but I digress.)
Snow breaks the flow. When we get enough snow to go to a single service, I know that the majority of those who typically come on a Sunday morning aren't hearing the next sermon in the series. Miss a couple of these in a row, and suddenly it seems like you're out of the loop. You don't feel like you know what's going on any more. The two recent service-altering snowfalls led me to preach half of a sermon in the series first, saving the other portion for the scheduled Family Sunday. But when we had to postpone Family Sunday a second time, I found myself at an impasse. I didn't believe I should go any further, but there was nowhere to go back.
So this week I prayed and considered what the Lord has been showing me in my reading. I decided I would preach a sermon simply entitled, "Why?" The subtitle was, "A Question of Theodicy." The message was more teaching than preaching and I addressed the struggles we all face with the goodness and justice of God when we find ourselves facing tragedy. I wasn't sure how this topical message would work, but when I listened to the voices of those who described how it ministered to them, I was grateful for the Lord's subtle guidance when we look to Him.
What I find myself wondering is what would happen if I tried going for a season of life and preparing the sermons I felt led to speak each week? I'm not sure I'm comfortable enough yet to try something like that, but if this week was any indication, perhaps I should recruit some prayer warriors and try it for a month or so. Where is the line between trusting God and being haphazard?
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3 comments:
I'll pray with you.
Hmm, that's a tough question to face. When is God speaking to us, and when are we just hearing what our imaginations and subconsciousness are feeding us? (I think that's what you're saying...) I respect your approach though. I think you're much more likely to succeed with the encouragement, support and accountability of prayer partners than without. I would like to believe God would hear the voices of those praying with you, and truly lead you. After all, doesn't it say in James 5, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (The verse isn't addressing this type of situation directly, but I think it still applies.)
Seems like Jesus had that enviable quality of being spontaneous in the moment, really speaking to the issues on people's minds and hearts.
I think you do a great job though in exegetical series at bending sermons to touch people where they are.
But the experiment sounds gold and bold. To tie into your thoughts on parables, maybe people need an occasional sermon starting at their point of reference and finding God's truth from there, rather than the normal top-down approach. Thanks for your example of relying on prayer in your sermon prep.
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