Whodathunkit?

Four years into this calling to serve as a pastor I find myself in my study doing two very unlikely things.  The first is revising my "method" of sermon preparation, again, and the second is willingly editing something that I'm writing.  Whodathunkit? 

One of the requirements of the preaching class I took in seminary was to have a method for sermon preparation.  We had to write out some kind of process that we would use as we prepared to preach.  That was actually a pretty good assignment, in theory.  It was good to give a bit of thought as to how one would approach the task in an organized way, rather than, say, the alternative of opening the Bible, reading a text and then panicking when faced with the task of  trying to figure out how to bring something of meaning from that text to God's people.

I say that it was a good assignment in theory because my professor did not tell me how very impractical my own intended method was.  I don’t recall how long I was at this before I began to change things and settle into the basic process that I now use from week to week.  It couldn't have been more than two months.

And while I would just as soon have a workable process figured out for any task, when it comes to preaching I have found that as I attempt to improve my skills, I need to adjust various parts of the process.  Last week I attended an excellent workshop on preaching and therefore today I have the unavoidable task of incorporating some new learning into a revised method of preparation.  It's not as easy as I'd like it to be, but I know that it is for the better as I gain competence in bringing God's word to God's people.

Which brings me to the second unlikely thing today, the editing of my writing.  For many years, decades even, from high school in the early 70's to at least the middle of seminary thirty-five years later, I've been the kind of writer who wants to put things down on paper and be done with them.  Writing a first draft was always such a laborious process that I never wanted to go back over my words again.

But as with sermon preparation, I've learned something unexpected. I have come to find the editing process as something necessary, perhaps even something to be welcomed.  It can make the text more readable. It can bring clarity to my ideas as I share them with others.  It can help me make sure I have the right voice for the situation or circumstance at hand. 

If you are one of my more regular readers, this is when I may work in a Bible verse that has been on my mind, and then make a move towards the Gospel.  I hope I'm not disappointing you, but I don’t have anything like that today.  I'm beginning to work on preaching through Amos, and today have thought much more about the process than the content. 

I guess a last "whodathunkit?" is that I think I'm among the most unlikely of people to find themselves in the calling to preach God's word.  Of course I write that full well knowing the stories of many great preachers in history, probably most of whom were as unlikely as I am.  I don't have aspirations to achieve their acclaim, but I do share in their desire to faithfully handle God's word each week, for the strengthening of God's people, and to His eternal glory.