I had a great session with my clergy coach today (about which I will likely have more to say later) and one thing we touched on was how I write--particularly how I write sermons. In fact, I write sermons the same way I wrote academic papers: I read and study and reflect and fill my head up with stuff early in the week, and on Saturday morning, having digested and processed it all, I sit down and write--beginning to end. I usually have a kernel of an idea, something I want to express--but HOW I'm going to express it may not be clear to me until I actually start writing.
I do know about other ways to approach writing tasks because (besides the English classes I've taken over the years) I took a class in teaching writing when I first started teaching. I'm not sure that my writing process is one I would've ever recommended to my students when I was teaching, but it is one that has served me well. And in fact, it continues to serve me fairly well--I get very positive responses to my sermons from lots of people, including my coach. Nonetheless he believes my sermons would be better if I did two things; one involves directly changing my process and the other stretches how I think about things.
I write at the last minute--I write better under pressure, and I am able to edit and revise as I go so short pieces don't need a lot of work when I'm done. This plus a pretty full schedule mean that I write on Saturday mornings--and not just for Sunday--I first preach at 5:00 on Saturday evenings. My coach suggested that I aim at finishing a draft of my sermon by Thursday afternoon. (For two reasons--so I would have time to practice my delivery and so that I might be able to go back and add in stories---see my next paragraph for more on this point.) I'm not opposed to this idea--I find it quite attractive in many ways at least in part becasue such a tight deadline can get me in trouble if an emergency come s up, but I've tried to impose 'artificial' deadlines on myself before and the pressure I seem to need just isn't there. Moreover, I'm not sure WHEN I would have time to write a sermon by Thursday. If I seriously take Monday as a day off, my Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday schedules are really full. I would have to take a hard look at how I organize myself and see if I could rearrange just about everything.
The second issue is more vexing to me because it involves how I think. My coach thinks I should use more examples. I think he's probably correct, and in fact this was an issue when I was teaching well. I've thought about this before, and what I've realized is that when I learn I don't use examples, at least not to the extent some people do. I've always been an excellent note taker, but I rarely put down the examples profs used in my notes. I really noticed this when I started teaching--I am really good at explaining things, but not so good at coming up with concrete examples that are helpful to others. Oh, I got so I could do it, but for whatever reason that's not how I naturally think. So stories and examples don't come to me easily when I'm sermonizing, either. I guess you could characterize my sermons as more expository/exigetical than story-telling.
Anyway. I'm confident from the feedback I get that my sermons are reasonably good, but of course I'd like them to be better. The question I'm coming around to here is this (and I hope academic types as well as sermon writers will jump in if you have ideas/thoughts)--can I really change my writing process just by rescheduling myself? Should I try? How can I get over the need for pressure or impose that pressure ahead of time? And can I change how I think? I know that coming up with examples and stories ought to be simple, but for me it just isn't.
Any ideas?
8 comments:
I'm not sure... I know that I, too, write best under a deadline, and self-imposed deadlines often just don't work. It is hard to force yourself to change the natural rhythm of writing. I have my "prime" writing time (8-11pm) and my own way of doing things. I don't see it changing easily. I think a lot of that has to do with habit and comfort.
That being said, it's probably possible. Is there someone you can meet with on Thursday evenings or Friday mornings that you have to preach your sermon to? Sort of someone to give you feedback and give you a reason to have your work done earlier?
As far as examples go... I have a similar issue. It's hard to come up with concrete stuff. That's why I carry around index cards all the time. I can use them to write down an interesting interaction or something I see, or some example that might be useful in a sermon or reflection at a later date, and I keep a file of them. Then when I need something, I have a physical file to flip through as well as the mental files... I've found it to be incredibly useful.
Hope this helps?
If writing on Thursday requires serious rearrangement...why not reschedule a bunch of Thurs. stuff to Fri and Sat. Thus making those days a bit fuller and harder to procrastinate toward. (I too find that I write best when I don't have the choice of rewriting that same sentence 600 times)....
Examples... no comment... except that I actually DISLIKE too many stories in a sermon. Often they seem to fill time rather than fill my soul.
most interesting and thought-provoking... somewhere when I was teaching writing I ran across the insight that alternating levels of generality and abstraction with the specific and the concrete will produce the sensation of understanding in the mind of a reader/listener. Whether it's real understanding, I'm not sure. But at least the sensation would be welcome!!!
I have a drawn out process also, but I tend to start with journaling, then to technical/academic issues, then to writing.
The journaling, I think, lets me see what bubbles up from the readings without getting bogged down in research (which I can get so far into that I don't ever relate to the scripture).
I too am working on my timing -- I procrastinate and then there's the urgent, must-be-dealt-with-today stuff. What if you did your initial reconnoiter on Saturday a week ahead? Then things could percolate through Wednesday and you could write on Thursday or Friday...
Be gentle with yourself and set some gradual goals -- and forgive yourself when the 'sermon that just won't be born' comes along and you're finishing on Saturday now and then.
And if you discover solutions that work for you, share!
Greetings,
I've never had much success with artificial deadlines either. I'm a fill my head, process, then write guy like you as well. I write on Fridays because Saturday is the only day that both the wife and I usually have off. So, I have a natural deadline that way. Therefore, my suggestion if you want to write earlier in the week, is to create a natural deadline, i.e. you and the kid do something together on Saturday mornings, so that you have to write earlier.
I struggle with the stories thing as well, many because I'm either in my office or at the hospital during the week. I don't get a lot of opportunities for new experiences for stories. Maybe, that is challenge for me to get out of the office more. I'll let you know when that happens. Though I can say this. Growing up the son of a preacher I do not remember a lot of his exegesis, but I do remember the stories he told. So, there is defense for work on adding more stories. Let me know how this works out for you.
God's Peace,
Jason+
I like what Jason says about Sat being a day off with his wife, so he tries to keep it clear, I work the same way, try to keep Sat clear. It's a deadline and it's not artificial. One other thought: could you imagine a specific person that you're preaching to, maybe a high school kid? How would you explain it then? This might help examples and stories come to mind more easily.
rather than completely changing your schedule right now, maybe a beginning is to start collecting stories/illustrations that might be useful sometime? your sermons are good; illustrations are a longer-term goal.
i'm the kind of person who catches messages best via stories, personally. and when i've taught, i've also noticed that the anecdotes that people can relate to capture their attention, too, and get them engaged. [one colleague does movie clips to illustrate points -- her goal is to make professionals understand better what mental illness means to the lives of clients -- but that approach doesn't sound very easily adaptable to the pulpit!]
using stories doesn't mean giving up the way you think, write and prepare -- but stories just might help make the ideas more vivid and closer to life for your audience. there are potential sources everywhere, from your kitchen to the news to what you hear in daily life. you can start slowly, and see how it goes.
I have found myself writing too many sermons on Friday and Saturday and I'm not liking it at all. I need to go back to the text and have an opportunity to edit and writing them that late doesn't give me an opportunity to do that. Having been a writer in a former life, I'm convinced that I am a better editor than writer - so having some time away from the text before I edit is really helpful. Also, I deliver my sermons without notes, so I have to save time on Saturday to practice and learn my sermons. The earlier I have words on the page - even if they turn out to be words I don't use, the more coherent the sermon becomes.
As for stories, a friend of mine who is a fabulous preacher taught me that people are better able to follow an oral event if they are able to form a picture in their mind based on what is being said. If they have a picture, they can capture an idea and that creates a framework for which the point of the sermon can hang. The more vibrant a picture the story creates, the more people can connect to what is being said. I've always thought that was good advice
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