Compelling preaching, efficient prep: Avoid these three common sermon prep traps
Sermon prep is hard enough.
It already takes up a large percentage of our time for ministry.
And yet we may be making it harder and more time-consuming than it needs to be.
It doesn’t have to be this way though!
If you get stuck trying to find something new in the text, or if exegesis takes too much time, or if you struggle to find the one message for your sermon, read on.
This is the second in a series about the places preachers commonly get stuck in their sermon prep process and how to get unstuck.
Last week we talked about the ways you may sabotaging your sermon prep before you ever crack your Bible.
Let’s turn out attention to common common obstacles that steal joy and time during sermon prep.
Trap #1: Assuming there’s Nothing New in the Text
Deep knowledge of Scripture is essential to the task of preaching.
We need to know the historical context, who the author was, their audience, and why these particular words were offered to that audience and why they were preserved and past down for centuries.
Moreover, it’s preferable that we can read the language in which it was originally captured, whether Hebrew or Greek.
However, all that knowledge brings with it a “curse:” the “curse of knowledge!”
That knowledge breeds a sense of familiarity that may stifle the curiosity essential to new insights.
STicking Point: The Curse of Knowledge
The curse of knowledge comes from knowing so much about a topic that we forget what it’s like to start at the beginning: to go back in time and be exposed to the subject the very first time.
It’s like trying to teach a brand new driver how to start and drive a car for the first time. After driving for years, we start the car engine so automatically and thoughtlessly that it’s hard to remember and sequence each exact step for a new driver: adjust mirrors, adjust seat, foot presses brake, hand turns key or presses button, engine vrooms to life, deep breath.
We do the same thing with Scripture passages we’ve read many times before.
We read them and automatically remember familiar themes and sermon messages.
Those memories crowd out our sense of wonder and curiosity, tempting us to believe we already know what it’s about and the limited number of sermon messages it can reveal.
This is why cultivating a “beginner’s mind” for sermon prep is so helpful!
When we pretend we’ve never seen the text ever in our lives, we encounter it as if the words, characters, and stories arrived from an alien planet and we don’t know what any of it means.
There are two ways to cultivate a beginner’s mind and get yourself unstuck from the curse of knowledge.
Instead of wasting time searching for something new about the text, zoom in or zoom out and you’ll be amazed at the number of times you’ll say to yourself “I never noticed that before!”
Getting Unstuck: Zoom In
Zooming in to a text means getting up close and personal with it!
Pay attention to every detail—down to the level of every hair God counts on our heads— and then ask why it is this way.
Notice the sequence of events in the exact order they occur, and why. If the sequence had been in a different order what difference would that have made to the story?
Notice the people who are present in the text and absent from it. Ask why that is. Why them? Why not someone else?
Notice the setting where the text takes place and ask why. Why in that place? Why in that time? What is significant about them that these details were retained?
Notice the way your translation captured this text, especially the punctuation and titles, all of which were determined by editors, not the authors. Why was it translated and titled the way it was? How would moving commas, periods, and question marks, or providing alternative titles provide a different understanding of the text?
Zoom in on every detail of the text to notice the “easter eggs” for preaching hidden in plain sight.
Getting Unstuck: Zoom Out
We can also zoom out from a text to take in the entire completed jigsaw puzzle—our chosen text just one of the many pieces that comprise the whole picture.
1. What are the broad strokes?
What do we learn about who God is in the text? God’s characteristics? God’s hopes and dreams for us and all creation? What does God want revealed so we get to know God more intimately?
How does this text fit in the overall arcs and themes of the book or of scripture as a whole?
What can be learned from examining the author or the author’s intended audience. Who were they? What were there struggles? Which headlines would have shown up on their newspapers’ front page, had they had them. What personal struggles would have been shared over coffee or wine with a close friend?
What about the geography in which the text takes place?
The land shapes humanity as much as humanity shapes the land. The natural geography of desert, sea, river, lake, garden, flora and fauna influence the characters movements and decisions.
Human-made geography of nations and tribes influence characters encounters and choices.
What does the geography teach us about our relationships with each other and God?
There’s also politics to consider.
As much as parishioners may complain that politics ought to stay out of the pulpit, there’s no way to keep politics out of the text.
Whether the politics is of the civil society or the religious one, who had power over whom, who made the rules, and who had to follow those rules shaped entire cultures and inspired people’s prayers of petition, lament, and thanksgiving.
TRAP #2: Falling down Exegesis rabbit holes for too long
Exegesis for many preachers is the best part about sermon prep.
Why?
Because we get the satisfaction of discovery! We love the light bulb moments of learning something new!
sticking point: exegesis becomes procrastination
The downside is that our fascination pulls us on and on in the quest for more discoveries, until we study for so long that our quest morphs into procrastination.
We’re procrastinating because what’s next is a lot harder than studying: we have to decide what to say about what we learned!
To get unstuck, make choices about what to study and research before beginning your exegesis—and stick to them.
Trust that what you discover within those bounds will be sufficient.
Limits actually enhance the creative process.
Getting Unstuck: Choose One Theme
“By choosing one theme, one source, or a time limit—and sticking to it—you can dramatically reduce the time spent in sermon prep without reducing the sermon’s message or impact.”
As you zoom in or out of the text you’ll find something new, something interesting, something unexpected!
What has you the most enthralled?
What is so compelling you just have to learn more about it?
Study that.
Leave the rest.
Getting Unstuck: Choose One Source
Choose one source of study material.
For example, one book, one podcast, or one website.
Mine that source for one to three new insights.
When you find them, stop reading or listening.
Develop your sermon around what you learned.
Getting Unstuck: Choose a Time Limit
Set a timer for the amount of time you can devote to your exegesis.
To push yourself, schedule an appointment for the end of that time so that you have to use your time productively; it’s all the time you’ve got!
Trust the new knowledge you gain is added to the considerable amount you’ve already acquired and together will be enough.
Trust in the Spirit and yourself that you have all you need to discern your sermon’s message.
By choosing one theme, one source, or a time limit—and sticking to it—you can dramatically reduce the time spent in sermon prep without reducing the sermon’s message or impact.
TRAP #3: Expecting your Sermon Message will Arrive in a flash of Brilliance
I’ll be straight—this is the hard part.
A few rare, precious times I received the extraordinary gift from the Spirit to know exactly what the sermon was the first time I read the text.
I’m not sure why the Spirit doesn’t offer that gift more often, but I trust it is for our benefit somehow!
More often, the message reveals itself through the messy, arduous work of writing/talking/thinking our way through.
Sticking Point: Starting with a formless lump of ideas
First, know that you are in good company when it comes to the painful work of whittling, whittling, whittling away the choices—each choice like a curl of wood drifting from knife to floor, until you are left with the one slender but powerful sliver of wood that is your message.
Every artist endures the same process. A potter has a lump of clay. Will it become a vase, a bowl, or a mug? Let’s say, vase. Is it square, round, or triangular? Will it hold a single rose or a vast bouquet? Will it be plainly or elaborately glazed? What color? What shade of that color?
And so on. You get the idea.
Every artist must choose, preachers included, the one message conveyed through their piece.
Start with what you do know about your message, and let it lead you to insights that won’t be found until you’re well into the process. Pick a general direction and get to work. Refinement happens in process.
Getting Unstuck: Word-Whittle
After you’ve zoomed in and out of the text and conducted your exegesis, and have an inkling about the text, you have a choice:
decide what to say and then compose a draft, or
compose a draft and then decide what to say.
Both work, and both allow the sermon’s message to be revealed.
Either way, the goal is to whittle your words or ideas to a single sentence that conveys one clear message of good news.
Here’s how word whittling works to find your message.
Step 1. Write Something
If you prefer to compose a draft first, do so.
Many people write their way through their jumble of thoughts to discover the message and meaning they wish to convey. Like miners excavating rock in search of treasure, they swing their ax one word at a time until the insight flashes through like gold.
Others want a greater sense of direction before setting ink to draft.
If you prefer to find your message before you compose, follow these steps first.
Get a paper and pen or a recording device.
Set and start a timer for five minutes.
Write the following prompt at the top of the page (or somewhere visible as you talk aloud), and then without stopping, respond to the prompt question: “In this sermon, I believe God wants my listeners to hear…because…so that….”
The key is not to stop for those five minutes.
If you’re not sure what to write next, rewrite the prompt as many times as needed until you’re able to fill in one or more of the blanks.
If you can only fill in one of the blanks, stay with it and keep the thoughts flowing.
Step 2: Walk Away
Walk away from your draft or prompt for at least half an hour.
Even better, take a silent, twenty-minute walk without distractions: no music, no podcasts, no pets.
Step 3: Review
Re-read or listen to what you generated and pay attention to what jumps out at you.
Circle or highlight or otherwise note words, phrases, or sentences that resonate—the ones that make you say to yourself “That’s it! That’s what I want to say!”
Step 4: Draft a Run-On Sentence
Take the circled or highlighted words and string them into one, complete sentence, adding subjects, verbs, prepositions, and other words as needed until it feels like what you mean.
At this stage it’s still a draft. It’s OK if it’s one long, run-on sentence.
Let it rest for at least thirty minutes. Turn your attention elsewhere.
Step 5: Word-Whittle
Re-read your run-on sentence.
Does it still sound like what you mean? If not, repeat the process starting with Step 1.
If it does, shave the words assertively, removing one word after another until you have whittled it down to one complete sentence of about 10-15 words.
That one sentence is now your compass, editor, and thesis statement.
If you discovered your sentence by first composing a sermon draft, rewrite the draft with your sentence written at the top of the page.
If you discovered your sentence by answering the prompt, write an outline or notes that will guide your draft.
Avoid the traps!
If your sermon prep is taking longer or is harder than it should be, and you’re stuck on finding new insights in the text, spending too long on exegesis, or can’t find your sermon message, give these ideas a try and see what happens:
Zoom in or zoom out!
Set limits on your exegesis
Word-whittle your way to your sermon message
And if you have suggestions for your colleagues that help you get unstuck, please tell us about it!
Want more advice on avoiding the time-sucking traps of sermon prep?
SERMON CAMP offers practical tools to make prep easier and faster!
All online. August 14-September 22. Two times available.
Based on our popular eCourse Craft an Effective Sermon by Friday, this virtual camp begins with a one-week, accelerated intro to our 5-day process and continues with weekly instruction for five weeks.
Over the course of 6 weeks, you’ll discover how to:
root sermon prep in prayer for greater fulfillment, growth, and insight
prepare a sermon prep environment that supports your preaching
embrace your identity as a beloved child of God first—and preacher second
apply practical tools to exegesis and sermon writing for more efficient preparation
nurture a sermon prep rhythm you can rely on for years—that feeds the rest of your ministry
By the end, you’ll have established a new process that integrates your spirituality and your voice with practical tools to improve your preaching.