Self-Care Of The Preacher
Preaching
The Preacher's Edge
We were driving down Interstate 80 somewhere between the Sierra pass and Oakland, California. We overtook a big eighteen wheeler low boy truck with a very large earth moving machine it was transporting. A large sign on the rear of the low boy warned us "wide load."
After we proceeded about a half mile past the low boy we came upon a Chevrolet Impala that obviously was the lead car for the convoy. It also had big signs on it, "wide load." In addition, on the back bumper, was an aerial that went extraordinarily high into the air. Inside in the driver's seat was a man who was talking on a CB radio. Evidently he was driving along that freeway testing the underpasses to see if clearance was enough for the low boy transporting the earth moving machine. If the aerial would hit the overpass, it would set off an alarm in the Chevrolet and the driver would radio back to the driver of the truck. He would tell the driver to get his load centered in the middle of the freeway so that there would be clearance for what he was carrying.
I'd like to propose for you in this chapter some clearances we need to check out and suggest some indications that you as a preacher could be a bit off center and may not be fully benefiting from the edge you need to get centered again. It's probably an indication that the world has closed in on you and your ministry and heaven might be a little out of sight. We all have those times in our ministry when preaching becomes almost a drudgery and if the following symptoms are yours, let the alarm go off and consider the remedies that can get you centered again on your way of proclamation of the gospel. There's no doubt about it, if we keep ourselves centered in the preaching task we can move mountains.
When we begin to put off getting started in preparing the sermon, it is one of the strong signals that we have allowed ourselves to become off center in our preaching. In the parish ministry it's always easy to rationalize that we have more pressing things to do in any day. At the same time, we may be feeling an anxiety and a sort of nagging in the belly which becomes a silent dread as we know Sunday is approaching and need to have a sermon prepared. Still, we put off starting work on it.
The alarm ought to go off and the lead car ought to be radioing back to the driver of the eighteen wheeler when we start to use the church's liturgy and other worship exercises to fill the preaching time. In many denominations' books of worship there are often the long version and the short version of whatever we do. If we put everything into the liturgy and worship service that's in that book, we can narrow down the preaching time to just a few minutes. That's tempting when we've lost a bit of our confidence that what we have to say is important. At the same time, if this is going on in our lives it probably will be communicated to the congregation that the sermon is no longer the climax or highlight of worship and it is just rather incidental that we have to preach at all.
Changing the name of the sermon to a homily or a message or even a sermonette is another signal that we might be off center on our preaching journey. I know one Lutheran Bishop who claims that when it's called a sermonette it probably means it's given short shrift. If this is the case, the antenna will probably be striking the top of the overpass and we'll be getting the message that something needs to be done to get centered on the preaching highway again.
When all humor and playfulness disappears from the content of our sermons it probably means preparation has become too much of a drudgery. Our Lord told wonderful human stories with an edge to them and we want always to do the same. If we begin to take on a holy tone or what we might call a "stained-glass voice," it's indicative that we have drifted from the center of our task.
One young lad growing up on a farm had just caught a rat and killed it and was bringing it in by the tail to show his mother. She was seated in the parlor of the farmhouse visiting with the pastor. The little boy came to the door of the parlor, not seeing the preacher, and exclaimed: "Mother, mother, I just caught this rat by the tail and then I stamped on it with my feet and...." Then noticing that the preacher was there and listening, he added in a holy tone,"... God called it home!"
A sure sign that we have gotten off center on our preaching trip is heavy use of illustrations from sermon illustration books. Our sermon is stuffed full with stories about Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln, and Joan of Arc. If whole paragraphs are lifted from the Interpreter's Bible, William Barclay's Daily Study Bible, and various sermon services we've subscribed to, it's an indication that we need to make some real adjustments.
This ought to cause the alarm to sound too: when we begin to believe we can get by with old sermons or we can write sermons which can be used any time and any place and which are so general they'll do the task without any specifics. There's a wonderful story about Saint Paul preaching at Troas with a young man sitting in the window listening. The scripture claims Paul went on and on until the young man fell asleep and fell out of the window. While it's comforting to know that even Saint Paul bored people with the length and content of his preaching, we must preach in a style that is so relevant and exciting and close to the ground that it will be extremely interesting to those who hear.
Reading the gospel out loud for the first time in the actual worship service is another low clearance sign. The same can be said for delivering the sermon. If we are walking into the pulpit and giving it aloud for the first time when our parishioners are there to hear it, there's something basically wrong about our motivation and method of sermon preparation and delivery.
The danger lights ought to flash on the lead car if our sermon content omits speaking to the preacher and simply addresses "you people" in what it has to say about the gospel. If the sermon is not calling for changes in the preacher's life as well as the lives of the congregation, it needs to be re-examined and centered again.
It's a sure indication that there is a low overpass ahead when we start inviting all the visiting preachers we can. There are many ways we can duck the responsibility of preaching, like pulpit
exchanges with other clergy, representatives of church institutions and agencies, and youth Sundays. Of course, we want to do some of these things but it is tempting to fill our pulpit with other people so that we don't have the responsibility of preparing and delivering the sermon. If that's happening to you, read on.
There are some preachers, in fact, who arrange to go to as many conferences and meetings of the church as possible and time it so they are gone on the weekend and someone else must do the preaching. This is an indication something's wrong. When we preachers use too many audio-visuals in place of the sermon, or cancel services often because of conditions like cold, snow, ice, and other "acts of God," it's a good indication that we need to make some real adjustments just like the driver of the eighteen wheeler in order to bring on the equipment that can move mountains right from the pulpit.
There's probably low clearance and danger indicated if we start to develop toward the end of the week some physical symptoms such as diarrhea, depression, sleeplessness, irritability, pain somewhere in our body, headaches, asthma attacks, trouble with colds, sinuses, and sore throats which affect the delivery of the sermon. These might be psychological as well as physical. We need to keep a close check on them, as they may indicate a certain dread that we need to overcome about our preaching.
When sermonizing becomes increasingly abstract and deals with issues without reference to our faith or seems rather belabored and dull, it's probably another indication that something is off center.
All the above signals which our preaching "antenna" might pick up can be brought about by other and more legitimate reasons, but putting several together probably indicates that we have a problem which needs to be addressed.
I'm hoping that by reading the following suggestion from a lead car, we might hear the driver announce in CB lingo: "Put the pedal to the metal, good buddy, and let her go to double nickel."
To help with getting your preaching task centered again and providing new excitement and motivation for sermon preparation and delivery, I would like to suggest the following possibilities:
1. Consider establishing a system of preaching partners who will help you prepare the sermon. I have explained this in much more detail later in this book. It is a wonderful way to establish a solid partnership with the laity of the congregation, encourage good sermon listeners, and make it outright fun to prepare the sermon.
2. Take good note of your own spiritual health. It is extremely important that we preachers preach out of an overflow of our own spiritual experience. This means that we need to intentionally develop a daily routine to maintain our spirituality.
3. Physical health is also important. Preachers are athletes in the pulpit. We ought to appear healthy and robust, enthusiastic and inspired as we deliver the sermon. Have an annual physical check-up and know that your health is in peak condition so that you might preach well. Just as the athlete must train for playing the game, so the preacher must be in the same good physical condition to do the preaching.
4. In order that our health be the best possible so that the sermon is delivered as effectively as possible, schedule time for relaxation, time to play, time for good physical exercise. It could be that a stationary bicycle, jogging, running, walking and isometrics are just what's called for to improve our physical condition in the pulpit.
5. We have to have enough leisure time to muse and question and observe life around us.
6. As recommended in chapter 17, #8 in this book, there is just no substitute for keeping a good homiletical journal in which we note things that we observe, question, and muse over. Stories which you hear that have a punch can be noted with the punchline. Catchy phrases that you hear and can use in preaching may be written down. Articles from the local newspaper and stories from television and advertisements are always good. A couple of examples might be in order: the day I dictated this chapter I read in the Kingston, Jamaica, newspaper an article about a "side-man" who works on each public bus. There was a picture of one on the top of the bus putting luggage in place from its passengers. Evidently the sideman is responsible for the outside of the bus, people hanging out of the windows and doors, and whatever luggage there might be. He takes care of the passengers. I had noted earlier in my journal about a side-man who stands close to and supports a soloist in a band. Now we might put those two together and come up with a wonderful metaphor that can serve as a vehicle for a sermon.
The very metaphor that I have extended about the lead car and the eighteen wheeler transporting earth moving machinery was observed and noted in my homiletical journal several years ago, waiting for just the right time to use it.
Another example of an entry in a homiletical journal comes from watching a D-Day special on CBS featuring Dan Rather and Norman Schwarzkopf. Schwarzkopf told how the paratroopers who were dropped at night behind the enemy lines were given little metal crickets to use in identifying each other in the dark so they could discover whether the person they heard in the dark was friend or enemy. Just think how that could be used in a close to the ground sermon some day!
7. There is also a great deal of strength, motivation, and inspiration for preaching in fellowship with other preachers. If there is a study group in your community on the pericopes, do your best to be a part of it. If there isn't one, perhaps you can be the person to start one.
8. There is a national organization called the Academy of Preachers. It is organized out of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia with chapters at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; St. Paul, Minnesota; Berkeley, California; and Florida. This group is determined to see that the art of preaching is not lost and the respect for preaching and preacher is reclaimed. They want to recover the sermon as God's effective tool and learn from each other in doing so. It is their goal to develop a sense of self-worth as well as the craft of sermon construction and delivery. They also promise to pray for each other.
Well, there we were on Interstate 80. First overtaking a large eighteen wheeler on which an earth moving machine was mounted, we passed a Chevy Impala with warning lights and signs of "wide load." That aerial extended into the air to test out the height of the overpasses. The driver of the Impala radioed back the warnings and admonition to the eighteen wheeler to get centered. Perhaps we have given some indications that you might be drifting a bit off center and need to be pulled back where the clearance is best, the gospel is proclaimed, and mountains are moved because of it. It is my hope that this book will be one of the instruments through which you can celebrate a centeredness to your task and reclaim the preacher's edge. Saint Paul, in giving advice to young Timothy on his ministry, said, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).
After we proceeded about a half mile past the low boy we came upon a Chevrolet Impala that obviously was the lead car for the convoy. It also had big signs on it, "wide load." In addition, on the back bumper, was an aerial that went extraordinarily high into the air. Inside in the driver's seat was a man who was talking on a CB radio. Evidently he was driving along that freeway testing the underpasses to see if clearance was enough for the low boy transporting the earth moving machine. If the aerial would hit the overpass, it would set off an alarm in the Chevrolet and the driver would radio back to the driver of the truck. He would tell the driver to get his load centered in the middle of the freeway so that there would be clearance for what he was carrying.
I'd like to propose for you in this chapter some clearances we need to check out and suggest some indications that you as a preacher could be a bit off center and may not be fully benefiting from the edge you need to get centered again. It's probably an indication that the world has closed in on you and your ministry and heaven might be a little out of sight. We all have those times in our ministry when preaching becomes almost a drudgery and if the following symptoms are yours, let the alarm go off and consider the remedies that can get you centered again on your way of proclamation of the gospel. There's no doubt about it, if we keep ourselves centered in the preaching task we can move mountains.
When we begin to put off getting started in preparing the sermon, it is one of the strong signals that we have allowed ourselves to become off center in our preaching. In the parish ministry it's always easy to rationalize that we have more pressing things to do in any day. At the same time, we may be feeling an anxiety and a sort of nagging in the belly which becomes a silent dread as we know Sunday is approaching and need to have a sermon prepared. Still, we put off starting work on it.
The alarm ought to go off and the lead car ought to be radioing back to the driver of the eighteen wheeler when we start to use the church's liturgy and other worship exercises to fill the preaching time. In many denominations' books of worship there are often the long version and the short version of whatever we do. If we put everything into the liturgy and worship service that's in that book, we can narrow down the preaching time to just a few minutes. That's tempting when we've lost a bit of our confidence that what we have to say is important. At the same time, if this is going on in our lives it probably will be communicated to the congregation that the sermon is no longer the climax or highlight of worship and it is just rather incidental that we have to preach at all.
Changing the name of the sermon to a homily or a message or even a sermonette is another signal that we might be off center on our preaching journey. I know one Lutheran Bishop who claims that when it's called a sermonette it probably means it's given short shrift. If this is the case, the antenna will probably be striking the top of the overpass and we'll be getting the message that something needs to be done to get centered on the preaching highway again.
When all humor and playfulness disappears from the content of our sermons it probably means preparation has become too much of a drudgery. Our Lord told wonderful human stories with an edge to them and we want always to do the same. If we begin to take on a holy tone or what we might call a "stained-glass voice," it's indicative that we have drifted from the center of our task.
One young lad growing up on a farm had just caught a rat and killed it and was bringing it in by the tail to show his mother. She was seated in the parlor of the farmhouse visiting with the pastor. The little boy came to the door of the parlor, not seeing the preacher, and exclaimed: "Mother, mother, I just caught this rat by the tail and then I stamped on it with my feet and...." Then noticing that the preacher was there and listening, he added in a holy tone,"... God called it home!"
A sure sign that we have gotten off center on our preaching trip is heavy use of illustrations from sermon illustration books. Our sermon is stuffed full with stories about Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln, and Joan of Arc. If whole paragraphs are lifted from the Interpreter's Bible, William Barclay's Daily Study Bible, and various sermon services we've subscribed to, it's an indication that we need to make some real adjustments.
This ought to cause the alarm to sound too: when we begin to believe we can get by with old sermons or we can write sermons which can be used any time and any place and which are so general they'll do the task without any specifics. There's a wonderful story about Saint Paul preaching at Troas with a young man sitting in the window listening. The scripture claims Paul went on and on until the young man fell asleep and fell out of the window. While it's comforting to know that even Saint Paul bored people with the length and content of his preaching, we must preach in a style that is so relevant and exciting and close to the ground that it will be extremely interesting to those who hear.
Reading the gospel out loud for the first time in the actual worship service is another low clearance sign. The same can be said for delivering the sermon. If we are walking into the pulpit and giving it aloud for the first time when our parishioners are there to hear it, there's something basically wrong about our motivation and method of sermon preparation and delivery.
The danger lights ought to flash on the lead car if our sermon content omits speaking to the preacher and simply addresses "you people" in what it has to say about the gospel. If the sermon is not calling for changes in the preacher's life as well as the lives of the congregation, it needs to be re-examined and centered again.
It's a sure indication that there is a low overpass ahead when we start inviting all the visiting preachers we can. There are many ways we can duck the responsibility of preaching, like pulpit
exchanges with other clergy, representatives of church institutions and agencies, and youth Sundays. Of course, we want to do some of these things but it is tempting to fill our pulpit with other people so that we don't have the responsibility of preparing and delivering the sermon. If that's happening to you, read on.
There are some preachers, in fact, who arrange to go to as many conferences and meetings of the church as possible and time it so they are gone on the weekend and someone else must do the preaching. This is an indication something's wrong. When we preachers use too many audio-visuals in place of the sermon, or cancel services often because of conditions like cold, snow, ice, and other "acts of God," it's a good indication that we need to make some real adjustments just like the driver of the eighteen wheeler in order to bring on the equipment that can move mountains right from the pulpit.
There's probably low clearance and danger indicated if we start to develop toward the end of the week some physical symptoms such as diarrhea, depression, sleeplessness, irritability, pain somewhere in our body, headaches, asthma attacks, trouble with colds, sinuses, and sore throats which affect the delivery of the sermon. These might be psychological as well as physical. We need to keep a close check on them, as they may indicate a certain dread that we need to overcome about our preaching.
When sermonizing becomes increasingly abstract and deals with issues without reference to our faith or seems rather belabored and dull, it's probably another indication that something is off center.
All the above signals which our preaching "antenna" might pick up can be brought about by other and more legitimate reasons, but putting several together probably indicates that we have a problem which needs to be addressed.
I'm hoping that by reading the following suggestion from a lead car, we might hear the driver announce in CB lingo: "Put the pedal to the metal, good buddy, and let her go to double nickel."
To help with getting your preaching task centered again and providing new excitement and motivation for sermon preparation and delivery, I would like to suggest the following possibilities:
1. Consider establishing a system of preaching partners who will help you prepare the sermon. I have explained this in much more detail later in this book. It is a wonderful way to establish a solid partnership with the laity of the congregation, encourage good sermon listeners, and make it outright fun to prepare the sermon.
2. Take good note of your own spiritual health. It is extremely important that we preachers preach out of an overflow of our own spiritual experience. This means that we need to intentionally develop a daily routine to maintain our spirituality.
3. Physical health is also important. Preachers are athletes in the pulpit. We ought to appear healthy and robust, enthusiastic and inspired as we deliver the sermon. Have an annual physical check-up and know that your health is in peak condition so that you might preach well. Just as the athlete must train for playing the game, so the preacher must be in the same good physical condition to do the preaching.
4. In order that our health be the best possible so that the sermon is delivered as effectively as possible, schedule time for relaxation, time to play, time for good physical exercise. It could be that a stationary bicycle, jogging, running, walking and isometrics are just what's called for to improve our physical condition in the pulpit.
5. We have to have enough leisure time to muse and question and observe life around us.
6. As recommended in chapter 17, #8 in this book, there is just no substitute for keeping a good homiletical journal in which we note things that we observe, question, and muse over. Stories which you hear that have a punch can be noted with the punchline. Catchy phrases that you hear and can use in preaching may be written down. Articles from the local newspaper and stories from television and advertisements are always good. A couple of examples might be in order: the day I dictated this chapter I read in the Kingston, Jamaica, newspaper an article about a "side-man" who works on each public bus. There was a picture of one on the top of the bus putting luggage in place from its passengers. Evidently the sideman is responsible for the outside of the bus, people hanging out of the windows and doors, and whatever luggage there might be. He takes care of the passengers. I had noted earlier in my journal about a side-man who stands close to and supports a soloist in a band. Now we might put those two together and come up with a wonderful metaphor that can serve as a vehicle for a sermon.
The very metaphor that I have extended about the lead car and the eighteen wheeler transporting earth moving machinery was observed and noted in my homiletical journal several years ago, waiting for just the right time to use it.
Another example of an entry in a homiletical journal comes from watching a D-Day special on CBS featuring Dan Rather and Norman Schwarzkopf. Schwarzkopf told how the paratroopers who were dropped at night behind the enemy lines were given little metal crickets to use in identifying each other in the dark so they could discover whether the person they heard in the dark was friend or enemy. Just think how that could be used in a close to the ground sermon some day!
7. There is also a great deal of strength, motivation, and inspiration for preaching in fellowship with other preachers. If there is a study group in your community on the pericopes, do your best to be a part of it. If there isn't one, perhaps you can be the person to start one.
8. There is a national organization called the Academy of Preachers. It is organized out of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia with chapters at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; St. Paul, Minnesota; Berkeley, California; and Florida. This group is determined to see that the art of preaching is not lost and the respect for preaching and preacher is reclaimed. They want to recover the sermon as God's effective tool and learn from each other in doing so. It is their goal to develop a sense of self-worth as well as the craft of sermon construction and delivery. They also promise to pray for each other.
Well, there we were on Interstate 80. First overtaking a large eighteen wheeler on which an earth moving machine was mounted, we passed a Chevy Impala with warning lights and signs of "wide load." That aerial extended into the air to test out the height of the overpasses. The driver of the Impala radioed back the warnings and admonition to the eighteen wheeler to get centered. Perhaps we have given some indications that you might be drifting a bit off center and need to be pulled back where the clearance is best, the gospel is proclaimed, and mountains are moved because of it. It is my hope that this book will be one of the instruments through which you can celebrate a centeredness to your task and reclaim the preacher's edge. Saint Paul, in giving advice to young Timothy on his ministry, said, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).
