3 Spiritual Disciplines for Sermon Prep
Are you a pastor struggling week in and out to creatively say something true? Are you feeling stuck and uninspired about the text?
Anna Carter Florence said recently that she feels like a marriage counselor sometimes. She pushes pastors and teachers to fall in love with the text again. For marriage counseling to be successful, it takes some discipline. A marriage counselor will give you some strategies to reignite the passion and spark in your relationship, but they will take work and consistency.
Sermon preparation, like spiritual formation, needs a spiritual framework. Spiritual formation is not a result of disciplines done well, but they are the vehicle that God uses to form us. Sermon disciplines are no different. When you feel stuck it might be time to try some new disciplines. Here are three sermon disciplines that have ignited creativity and a fresh passion for the text in me and others.
1. Take the Text for a walk. Pastors typically prep the sermon in their office or kitchen table every week. Reading the text in the same location with the same posture every time. Try this instead. Write the text on an index card and put it in your pocket. Pull it out and read it in the grocery store, at the park, sitting in a parking lot, and with other folks. Ask people you are with to read it out loud and what it means to them. Listen to the text in places you would not typically read it. Let it wander around in your world.
2. Dream about it. Connecting scripture to our context is one of the most challenging aspects of crafting a sermon. Creating a page where you connect the text to everything you can dream of helps start that process. Identify the central image of the text. Grab a blank sheet of paper and write it in the middle. Now, write every random thought that the image provokes in you around that central image and make connections. The first two can be challenging but will start flowing after you break the ice. Write down connections in the arts, politics, culture, etc. Any connection you can think of needs to be on the page. You will not use all of them, but that is okay. Use the best one.
3. Re-say it. In my first preaching class, our teacher made us paraphrase a Psalm in our own words. It was challenging, but it changed how that text affected me. This habit is a staple in my routine. Remaining true to the text and saying it in my own words highlights the spots that I believe are important and focuses my attention on parts I may be overlooking.
The call to preach is a sacred weight that can be difficult to bear. A passion for God’s word and people encountering the Holy Spirit in hearing it is the spark that makes the burden easy. If you find that spark weaker and weaker, it is time to fall in love with scripture again. These habits can help.
What habit would you add?