CREEDE HINSHAW: The risks and rewards of preparing a sermon

A recent return to the pulpit gives me opportunity to reflect on the rewarding and arduous task of preparing sermons. On most weeks, both feelings come into play.

The most commonly asked question of a preacher is: “How long does it take to prepare your sermon?” That’s a simple question with a complicated answer. Some sermons fly off the pen (or the processor) with record speed, the words, the thoughts, the concepts, coming unbidden from a divine source. Those sermons are fun to prepare and usually easy to deliver because they represent the message God seems to want delivered in that time and place.

More often, however, sermons take a great deal of thought, study, research, writing, re-writing, editing, re-editing and sometimes starting all over again. My last week’s sermon was a good example. I laid out the basic thought two months ago. Then I began fleshing it out last Monday. By last Tuesday I had thrown away everything I had written and started all over with a new outline of the same text from John 6. But by Thursday, I realized that everything I thought was so brilliant on Tuesday was not even preachable, so I returned to what I had originally understood. It took a good hunk of Friday and Saturday to complete the thoughts I wanted to convey.

So how much time did it take to prepare that sermon? That’s still a hard question. In addition to the time spent putting my thoughts to paper, I am thinking about that sermon while driving the car, flossing my teeth, and even starting to doze off in the evening. I carry a tablet of scratch paper in the car, often scribbling words or phrases that may fit into the sermon. The bottom line is that most pastors spend a great deal of their week immersed in the upcoming sermon.

The second most asked question is, “How does the preacher arrive at his/her subject matter?” Again, there is no simple answer. Sometimes events of the week (either in the church, community or world) dictate the sermon content. Sometimes the pastor is trying to move the congregation in a certain direction and will make sure that every sermon at least alludes to a key or important theme.

Some pastors link their sermons to particular sacred calendar events (Christmas, Advent, Lent, etc.) while other pastors choose sermons based on a secular calendar (Fourth of July, Fathers’ Day, etc.). Some pastors will be guided by what they understand the Holy Spirit wants them to preach.

Other pastors, in an effort to guard against preaching their own favorite topics, will be guided by the lectionary, a three-year cycle of scripture suggestions covering most of the Bible. I have used the lectionary over the years because it forces me to preach from books of the Bible I might otherwise avoid. But I have also realized that if a preacher wants to address a certain theme/topic, he or she can figure out a way, legitimate or not, to shoehorn that point into the sermon.

In conclusion, it’s probably best not to ask the preacher these questions unless you are prepared for a longer answer than you anticipated.