outline preaching

Some weeks are hard for preaching.  I usually am able to take the time to get into the texts and to prayerfully discuss them with colleagues and to stew over the gospel message as I do the things that it takes to be the church… and other things as well.

But some weeks, there is too much to do to take the time to write a manuscript.  I lose hours of sleep on Saturday evening and Sunday morning painstakingly typing out the right words to say. I have always been a manuscript preacher and it takes so much more time… on the front end at least.

This last week, I had no time to write.  I had thought and thought and thought… but there was no time to sit at my computer and write.  I sat through deep theological conversations on death and life and the new creation (which was my sermon topic)… but there was no time to sit and write.  I wrestled with what God was calling me to preach… but there was no time to sit and write. I spent time with friends I haven’t seen in a year… and there was no time to write.

Sunday morning at 6:15, I got up and took some of the jumbled thoughts that had filled my life for a full seven days and jotted them down.  I put the stories in order.  I found the natural flow of the message.  I connected the gospel to the epistle in a quick comparison and contrast.  I knew where I wanted to get and I trusted God would get it there. (or, rather, I thought I knew where God wanted us all to get and I prayed God would send the Spirit) And I let it be.

I think that Sunday morning – even with only 4 hours of sleep – was a good morning for preaching.  Thanks be to God the Spirit showed up.  Thanks be to God that I had the courage to step away from the pulpit to tell a story for only the second time since I’ve been here.  Thanks be to God that I didn’t have it all written out and that the message flowed through me.  Thanks be to God.