Preparing to Preach

Preparing to Preach

I’d like to share an excerpt (below) from a sprightly piece called Perpetual Preparation by Kenton Anderson, online at http://www.preaching.org. There are lots of other fine insights on his webpage, suggesting approaches to the homily.  By the way, the proposed Homily Resources for the month of December 2016 will be online on our ACP website by next Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent. (You can check them on the Calendar, on our mainpage.) As was said at our ACP meeting last Wednesday in the Hodson Bay Hotel, members are most welcome to read our Homily Resources ahead of time, and then send me some alternative material that I can add to, or indeed substitute for, what I’ve already prepared for use.

Many sincere thanks to those who will do so!
Fr. Pat Rogers (rogers @  mountargus.ie)

Preachers never truly quit preaching, or thinking about their preaching. There is always another sermon to preach just around the corner and there is always something happening that will remind us. We never turn the preacher switch off. Some snipet of a song reminds of something from our next week’s sermon text. A seemingly unrelated conversation with a friend turns our thinking in a helpful direction as we think about our exposition. We’re always ‘on.’

My approach to preaching is a trained way of appropriating life. I have had some of my best sermon ideas come to me while lying on a beach while on vacation, or while picking through the stalls at a farmer’s market. This is not because I am unhealthy or because I am not properly engaged in the practices of rest and sabbath. It is because I am at rest that I am well prepared to hear something profound from God.

Preaching, then, is more than just the precision of particular texts and pericopes. It is bigger than that. Preaching does not live within the pages of a commentary. You have to let your sermon out into the world so it can breathe. Only then will the sermon be fully filled with the inspired breath of God.

I am not saying that as preachers we must always be looking for someone to preach at, or that we derive our sense of identity or worth from the preaching that we do. I am actually calling for a healthier view of preaching altogether.

Preaching is the privilege of sharing life from the perspective of the gospel. It is about constantly and consistently listening for the voice of the Spirit and hearing that voice everywhere and in everything. It is about learning how to process the stuff of life from the prospective of God’s Word, and understanding how all we see and find can be expressed or addressed from a godly perspective.