Yesterday I suggested that you schedule some planning time to identify some major directions in your preaching schedule.
Today, I would suggest that about two weeks ahead of a particular sermon, you take a coffee break. (I[‘m big on coffee but choose your own version of taking a break.) Take the Scriptures chosen, a notepad, and go to a Starbucks, MacDonalds, etc, get your drink and choose a table. You are not yet at the spot where you need to come up with a sermon on these Scriptures, so it is time to play a little with them. Read the Scripture, maybe a couple of times, then setting it aside, simply write for at least 15 minutes in a stream of conscious fashion. Let the Scriptures work on you. If God wanted to speak to you using that Scripture, what might God be saying? Then move on to another page. If God wanted to speak to specific people or situations in your congregation, what might be the message? Again, you are not writing a sermon at this time, so you can get specific in ways that you might not in your polished sermon. Your thoughts don’t have to be consistent, either. If a cynical thought comes along, go ahead and put it down. If some wild fantasy emerges, note it as well. Occasionally some illustration pops into your mind. Don’t flesh it out in detail. Simply note it and move on.
What you are doing is allowing the Spirit to work on you. When you come to the Monday morning of the actual sermon week (Or Tuesday if you are wise enough to take Monday off), you will find that you have some creative material that has already been working on you. Then it is time to pull out the commentaries, etc. and let them work in tension with what you have already been thinking.
More tomorrow.
