When you prepare a sermon, what’s your “go-to” routine? Are there ways you structure your sermon prep to make it a time you look forward to? A respite from the chaos that often subsumes the rest of the day?
Maybe your routine begins with prayer, exercise, or driving to your favorite coffee shop.
Maybe when you first open the texts you read them carefully. Or maybe listen to them? Or maybe you start with deep breathing to calm your already anxious nerves about what you’re going to say?
Whatever you do first, next, next, and last, you probably have some go-to practices that work for you.
And if you’re like most of the preachers I’ve met, you’re probably tweaking and updating your process to make it ever-more efficient and effective.
To that end, I asked the preachers who are members of Backstory Preaching’s Collective what their best practices are? What have they found effective in getting a meaningful sermon written week after week? And how have they created respite in their sermon prep?
I’ve compiled their answers below, along with a few comments based on what I’ve observed.
We hope their best practices inspire some new ideas to make your sermon prep not only a little easier, faster, and more enjoyable, but better connected to God, too.
Beginnings
At BsP, we practice a “sermon prep routine” to enter sermon prep—a brief series of small steps that tell your mind and body, “It’s time to focus.”
In the same way that some preachers strike a singing bowl at the start of worship—allowing the sound to dwindle gradually and quell the distracted energy of the congregation—so too can you quiet your spirit and signal to yourself that time with God and the texts is commencing.
Ideally, these will be rituals you look forward to. Consider some of the strategies our members use to bring their full heart, mind, and soul to the task at hand:
Silence is key for me - I turn my phone off and close my e-mail windows. I am so easily distracted that I need to minimize them. I often have a cup of coffee or tea at the ready, there’s something about a hot drink that say let’s get down to business for me. -Norma M.
Turn off my phone. Clean my desk surface. Say prayer. All three are critical. -Caroline P.
I enjoy coffee or tea (depending on time of day). I’ll also light a scented candle. Additionally, I might do a brain dump to get all of the other stuff competing for attention out on paper/iPad; this helps me focus more on the prayerful preaching at hand. And, petting or walking my dog always bring me great peace and a smile on my heart. -Eric M.
If I am working in the office or at the house, a cup of tea or two is a given. In my home office, I turn on the small fountain. I don’t play music when I’m writing or reading because I will wonder off into the song. -Rhonda R.
For me, physical space that is quiet and well-lit is a key to finding respite in sermon prep…My desk faces out a large window, so I can look out at birds and squirrels (and neighbors) as I ponder and reflect. -Andrea M.
Absorbing the Texts
At BsP, we rely on lectio divina to guide our sermon prep. This begins, ideally, early in the week with slow readings of scripture. The process continues with exegesis, discussion, and creative exercises to help us approach the readings in new ways. We often encounter new insights as we let the texts and our thoughts idle throughout the week.
Start early. Listen to the passages, copy them by hand, rewrite them in your own words—anything to let your mind sit with them and notice their details. Then give the words space to ruminate.
Here’s what our members had to say about digesting the lessons:
Record the lessons and listen to them as often as possible, especially just before going to sleep. Also I write the Gospel lesson out by hand. Both practices help me get the words into my head and my heart. -Barbara M.
Discussing the text and sermon ideas with others. Whether Monday afternoon with the Facebook live or going to my local Tuesday morning text study. I need to externally process. -Sarah A.
Making time to just sit with the texts and to reflect on the notes I’ve jotted down from text study or other conversations. Slow reading and allowing my mind to wander. Reading the texts early in the week and noticing things or ideas throughout the days that follow and allow them to shape my process and words. -Katelyn R.
Reading the texts and then taking a nap. Sleep on it. -Rob K.
Save time by reducing decision-making: rely on the Sunday-specific resources gathered by BsP. -Lisa C.
Crafting (Hint: get out of the church office)
Once ideas have percolated through the week, it’s time to synthesize them into a single message of Good News. How do you take a jumble of thoughts and condense them into one, coherent idea? And where do you do this?
Here’s what our members had to say:
Over the last year, I've rearranged the rhythms of my typical week so that my writing time is spent in my home office, and away from the distractions and interruptions of the church office. -Andrea M.
When I am noodling on an idea or struggling with phrasing, I head outside. -Rhonda R.
I don’t force the sermon, or what I think may be a critical point. I trust my gut when the page is blank or the image doesn’t come and I walk away from it, trusting that the message will come. -Susan Y.
After reading the text aloud, and/or writing it, following the questions that arise, [I] capture what responses emerge to the grid questions without censorship. -Dorothy P.
It is rare that I'm able to do sermon prep at church, as I always feel as if I have to be "available". I like to work either in my home office where I will light a candle, or at my favorite chair in the living room and I always have water available. These spots are quiet, and have good light. Sometimes, if the weather is fair, I'll head out onto the deck and write with the birds, squirrels, and the Corgi as company. -Laura M.
I protect my time for prep so I get it done by Friday. -Lisa C.
I'm near a seminary library so I've been making Wednesday mornings prep time at the library, ending with 11:45 chapel worship. That feels very luxurious! -Cheryl P.
Revisions
One you’ve put your ideas on paper, it’s time to make sure you have a single, coherent message of Good News that keeps your listeners’ attention and invites transformation. Does it flow? What will make it “sticky”? Is there an illustration or phrase that can be repeated or highlighted for greater effect? Have you overused “church words,” those theological terms that mean everything and nothing all at once?
Check out this fabulous tip by one of BsP’s mentors:
This one is on my revising process for when I’m preaching without a manuscript (though I do it sometimes before I write a manuscript): once I have my grid (part of BsP’s sermon prep process) and the outline of my sermon, I go ahead and preach it to myself while walking around and recording what I say. I then listen to the recording to tweak transitions and sections that could be more clear or have different pacing. If the sermon needs it, I do the process again. -Meredith C.
Compare my sermon against the definition of an effective sermon. -Lisa C.
What about you? What helps you overcome procrastination or distraction or busy-ness to get to work?
What tips would you share?
Let us know in the comments?