I Have No Idea What I’m Going to Preach Tomorrow
25 August, 2007 by Thad
Ok, that’s not exactly true. It’s just that I’m in a peculiar situation. Maybe you’ve been there before. I have been in the text all week, studying, meditating, preparing. And then it suddenly dawned on me that I have two sermons. That is, I have enough content for two sermons. But I’m not sure if I should have two sermons.
Do I break this material into two parts, and already have a leg up on next week? Hmmm. Tempting. Or, do I, as one of my college speech profs used to say, start drowning some kittens (which means cutting out a lot of things I’d like to say for the sake of paring it down).
Interestingly enough, I’m beginning a series on wisdom. Now I need to pray that God would grant me some.
UPDATE: I drowned the kittens.
I’ve been there. Often I can study “too much”–I get so many resources together, that I convolute the whole thing to death. I hate that, and wish that I could just pick something without analyzing ad nauseum.
“Drowning the Kittens” was probably the right move. Reducing the number of directions/points always seems to communicate best for me. As my professor said, “Every sermon ought to have at least one point!”
You could always take pity on the rest of us who have no idea what we’re going to preach, and toss us those extra kitties.
Ha! That last suggestion was funny, Steve. Don’t you know what can happen when you take in a stray animal? They look so cute at first, and then…
But seriously, I think you’re right. I also struggle with making things more complicated than they need to be. But God is gracious, and somehow uses us to get his message through.
I’ll pray that the Lord blesses your ministry there in SC. Thank you for stopping by, and I hope we can benefit from each other’s thoughts again soon.
Lord bless,
Thad