~The weekend just past was a very busy one for me. I had three funeral services (one Friday evening, one Saturday morning, and one Sunday afternoon) in addition to the regular Saturday evening/Sunday morning schedule, and the rector was away so I was preaching and in charge of everything else as well. It all went very well, I'm thankful to say. But what I've been reflecting on is my sermon writing process.
~As I've mentioned here before, I write best with a deadline looming--nothing like a little pressure to get the words flowing (although that sounds and sometimes feels a bit risky). Combine that with the fact that I've tried to preserve Friday as a day off and the result is that I write my sermons on Saturday morning. I've been thinking about and processing material all week, but it still takes me a good 3-4 hours on Saturday and then I have to jump in the shower and rush down to work.
~When I have something to do on Saturday I try to get the sermon written on Friday, but it feels harder. This was one of those weeks--I started early Friday evening and sat there until I had 600-700 words (I aim for 1200-1400 total). Then I got up early Saturday morning and finished it off.
~The funeral was at 11:30 and because it was a brief graveside service I was home by 12:15. I did a quick edit on the sermon, but then what to do all afternoon? It felt odd to have free time. So eventually I decided to take some advice garnered from several sources and practice the sermon out loud, from the pulpit. so that's what I did--several times. (I haven't done that since my earliest preaching days in seminary.) And when it was time to preach, it went very well.
~I've ALWAYS done my best writing at the last minute with some pressure on. But maybe, just maybe I need to try harder to write on Friday and practice it on Saturday. We'll see. Preserving time off is still an issue. Mondays are off days, too, but because I have some sort of small group every Tuesday that requires some reading for prep, Mondays aren't totally free either--sort of like being an academic--there's always reading or writing to be done.
~It also struck me this weekend that I actually like having several services to lead. As an introvert I'm pretty wiped out by the time I get home, but I have plenty of energy in the moment. Which is a good thing. But it makes me wonder why my boss thinks that adding an additional service on the weekend would be too hard --he's an extrovert, too, so it ought to be easier for him. Whatever. Maybe I'm just a workaholic.
~And once again I meant to go to bed early tonight, but now I've blown it. Nothing new there.
2 comments:
Having recently preached an adapted sermon from a few years ago, I got that experience of knowing the text better than I usually do. It felt good. Thanks for sharing these details of your process, gives me a lot to consider.
yes, thanks for your self-analysis. I find that if I practice out loud too much (more than once) or if I "recycle" a sermon from a previous church, I get bored with it and my delivery of it during the service reflects that.
I share the apparent need for a looming deadline, but I still hate the way I feel on Saturdays when I'm writing. Not to mention the ever-present possibility of some emergency on a Saturday.
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