Thank God 2020 is now part of history!
I felt the relief of it palpably as the clock rolled over at midnight.
On New Year’s Eve I confess I even checked with friends in earlier time zones asking them to confirm that 2020 really was done and we weren’t getting caught up in some bizarre “2020 Groundhog Day” loop!
Now that 2020 is actually over, are you feeling full of renewed energy, ready to preach in 2021?
As the pandemic rages on, grows, and spreads?
As U.S. presidential power is transferred, but the “peaceful” part is not in the bag?
As racial injustices continue to claim lives and corrupt systems supposed to be fair to all?
No?
Me neither.
In fact, one thing I heard over and over again from preachers last year was how exhausting they found preaching last year.
They asked questions like:
How they could they keep offering words of hope when they had little of it for themselves.
How they could find a new message of courage when their own hearts were faint.
Where they would find the energy to meet sermon deadlines again and again when they were already operating on fumes.
To be staring in the face of 2021 with the same preaching demands probably feels a lot more daunting than we expected when we accepted God’s call to this vocation.
When we accepted the call most of us found joy, solace, and enthusiasm in God’s word.
The idea of sharing Good News Sunday after Sunday, while fearsome in its responsibility, was a challenge we anticipated with excitement.
And now?
For many, that rosy blush has worn off the bloom, and the petals are curling and brown at the edges.
2021 feels like it’s going to be a really long year.
That might be true, but if we walk into the pulpit stressed, tired, and wondering what we were thinking when we said yes to God’s proposal that we become preachers, our listeners will pick up on it.
I’m not suggesting a magical cure to our emotional fatigue; we are still human enduring a super-sized catastrophe.
However, I am suggesting when we are grounded in why we preach, it will reenergize our vocation and our listeners will pick up on that too.
Four-Week Series to Renew Your Preaching Joy
To counteract our preaching “blues” I’ve created a four-week series to help us all rediscover and relish the craft of preaching again.
Each week will offer a reflection and experiences, exercises, or tools for you to engage and apply.
Week One (Below): “For the Love of Preaching: Scripture is More than a Tool for the Job”
The source of all joy, hope, and believing is revealed in Scripture. Delight in it all over again.
Week Two: “For the Love of Preaching: We Get to Preach”
Who else is asked to spend time with God? And many of us even get paid for it!
Week Three: “For the Love of Preaching: Sermon Prep, Pandemic Style”
When deadlines are fixed but the world isn’t, how’s a preacher supposed to get sermons prepared without losing their minds? Tips, tricks, and hacks.
Week Four: “For the Love of Preaching: All Work and No Play Makes Preaching a Chore”
Sermon prep is hard work to be sure, but if it’s only work and no play, where’s the fun in that?
If you’d like to take part in this series click on the link below to sign up.
You’ll receive three, ten-minute exercises a week intended to be enjoyed through the week at your own pace.
This week, let’s rediscover Scripture as more than a tool.
Week 1: Scripture is More than a Tool
When I was in nursing school and learned to read an EKG strip I was in awe.
Those squiggles were no longer just lines on graph paper.
Each dip, spike, curve, and straight line meant something.
They indicated whether a person’s heart was stable, beating on time and in proper rhythm, pumping vital oxygen throughout the body, keeping someone alive.
Or they meant something else was happening.
Something that could be benign, could portend a catastrophe, or could signal an emergency that would have me calling a “code” to bring an entire team in to save someone’s life.
But after working on a surgical intensive care unit for a while, an EKG strip no longer held me in thrall.
It was just one tool among many I used daily in service of someone’s well-being.
For preachers, Scripture is our #1 tool.
When we’re in seminary it’s easy to get excited about its inner mysteries. I still remember how surprised I felt to learn that Luke-Acts was one book! How cool was that!
But after we’ve been preaching for a while and the texts become more and more familiar, and as we weary of the relentless deadlines, it’s easy to let Scripture’s magnificence slide into being just a tool for the job.
A necessary, important, and holy tool, but a tool just the same.
A tool used to release us from the panic of “What am I going to say?”
Scripture can become a means to an end, rather than the font and source of our being.
This first week, then, I want to remind you of what happens when you discover Scripture as that source again.
I want to invite you to enjoy scripture just for its own sake.
Let God come to you, whisper to you, and assuage your aching, weary heart.
There are three reflections for you to rest in this week:
As the Deer Longs for the Waterbrooks. You’ll have the chance to sit in front of a water brook, reflect on your thirst, and allow God to assuage it.
Holy Influence. Scripture characters have a powerful influence on us. This reflection will give you a chance to tell them yourself.
Bible Story Remix. Two different ways to retell a favorite bible story giving it your own twist.
Combined, these three reflections will help you remember that God sees you, knows what you’re enduring, and has the resources waiting and available to hold, guard, and heal.