I know I don’t have to tell you: there is nothing like the relentlessness of preaching.
Whether we preach weekly or less often, there’s always another Sunday, another funeral, another wedding, another Holy Week circling back around that needs a sermon.
If we’re not careful, the things that bring us joy—our loved ones, our fascination with Scripture, and our connection to God—are in constant danger of being taken for granted.
Left untended, they wither.
How do we want to feel when we look back on our preaching careers?
How do we want our loved ones to feel looking back on them?
Because the choice is ours, here are ten rules to keep us healthy, wealthy in spirit, and wise—for the long haul.
1. Don’t Volunteer your time for sermon prep
If sermon prep doesn’t get done within the work week that you and your congregation agreed to, then you’re volunteering your time to preach.
If you’re OK with that, and your loved ones are OK with that, keep going.
If you aren’t or they aren’t, it’s time to negotiate your contract.
2. Immerse yourself in the sermons of great preachers and how they conduct their sermon prep
Listen to great sermons, and not just those preached by the “big names.”
Listen to some local preachers or colleagues online. Find ones who preach well, and then follow them on Facebook or YouTube.
Not only does this expose you to the sound of great sermons in our ears, but you’ll also be fed by the proclamation of Good News.
Once you’ve identified some compelling preachers, send them an email.
Tell them you’re following them because you appreciate their preaching? Be specific. What do you appreciate about their sermons?
Is there any preacher who wouldn’t like to receive an unexpected message like this?
We can also learn from them all sorts of tips and tricks about their sermon prep process or preaching.
Ask them what works for them and where they struggle. .
3. Covenant with a sermon writing partner or group
Preaching is no more of a solo activity than parish outreach or worship, but we often treat it like it is.
Find some preachers nearby or online to work with. Create a mutual covenant about the scope and length of the covenant. For instance:
Covenant to offer feedback on sermon drafts or preached sermons, shared exegesis, or developing sermon series
If you gather on Zoom or in person, covenant about how much time to spend checking in on personal matters.
Covenant when feedback is due to each other, and how it’s offered (by email? Zoom? in person?)
Covenant about how often you’ll work together before you discern another stint together.
Covenant about how to handle it when someone isn’t living into the covenant
Most importantly, covenant to pray for one another.
4. Stop multi-tasking and take notice
Clear your desk, put a “Do Not Disturb: Sermon Prep in Progress” sign on your door, or go to a quiet place.
Turn off notifications.
Breathe.
Put pen to paper.
Notice what God is saying in the text, what the world is saying through the news, what your listeners are saying to you, each other, and on social media.
Notice what is odd, catches your breath, stirs an emotion, or forms your opinion.
Write details.
Details are preaching gold.
Details bring a sermon to life by lifting up the universal in the particular, creating an emotion, and showing instead of telling.
5. Ask why. About everything.
Ask why about everything.
Because the kingdom of God is both now and not yet, ask why something is as it is now, and why it is not as it could be.
Ask why about the text: Why this place? These people? These reactions? This author? This order of events?
Ask why about the world: Why this place? These people? These reactions? These leaders and followers? These perspectives? These histories behind the events? And of course, Why is it this way? Why do we believe it couldn’t be another way?
Ask why about your congregation: Why this place? These people? These reactions? These leaders and followers? These beliefs? These perspectives? These histories behind the events? And of course, Why is it this way? Why do we believe it couldn’t be another way?
Ask why about the Church. Why do we [X] this way? Why do we believe this? Why do we teach this?
Ask why about yourself: Why do I feel this way? Why do I believe this? Why did I come to this perspective?
The more often we ask why, the more often we’ll be unwilling to accept what is now that is not part of God’s hopes for us, and the more willing we’ll be to work with God until it is.
6. Be willing to write terrible sermons
We will preach awful sermons in our careers.
We will make mistakes about the text and about facts.
We will be insensitive unintentionally.
We will put people to sleep.
When we view terrible sermons as something to be ashamed of, it paralyzes us. We become so concerned about getting everything right that our sermons lack a soul.
But when we see terrible sermons as an inevitable part of our learning process, it normalizes learning for everyone.
When we goof and need to apologize or make corrections, it normalizes being a member of a mature, Christian community.
What do we have to lose?
7. Befriend the inner critic
When we can give our inner critic a name, hold an inner dialogue with them, take them out for lunch or coffee, and ask them to rephrase their criticisms into questions that we can learn from, we’ve won.
The inner critic might never move out of our heads, but eventually they’ll take up less space.
8. Claim the support you need
There isn’t a preacher alive who doesn’t need time for their sermon prep.
It’s not cheating or slacking off or being irresponsible.
It’s time we were asked to spend, by our congregations for our congregations.
It’s OK to ask for the time we need, and then actually use it.
The same goes for the support our preaching needs through continuing education, a budget for guest preachers and books, for regular reading time, and going on spiritual retreats in addition to continuing ed. and vacation.
We want to preach well. Our listeners want us to preach well.
This is what it takes.
9. Journal
One of the greatest gifts offered to all creatives is Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages.
Morning Pages are three, handwritten pages, ideally written within forty-five minutes of rising, before we’ve put the filters on “acceptable thoughts” for the day.
In our Morning Pages we write about anything and everything—from the need to write a grocery list to our unfiltered opinions about politics and policies (national, church, local, wherever) to our dreams to the thing we would most love to have happen.
It’s like rubbing our eyes when we first wake up: we wipe away the crud so we can see clearly for the rest of the day.
10. Stop not connecting with God
Many of us struggle to maintain a strong prayer life, one in which we feel perpetually tethered to God.
We struggle because of the demands of the day, our swirling brains that won’t power down, and our misguided belief that productivity boosts our value.
When we struggle long enough, our connection with God becomes a memory of someone we used to know more than a vibrant relationship in the here and now.
If we want to be connected to God, then we have to stop not connecting to God.
Go for a walk. Draw a picture. Sit in silence. Whatever.
Just do it together, and just the two of you.