Sunday 5 June 2011

Tearing up a sermon

I have been preaching for about 35 years but today I did something I have never done before. I tore up my sermon before I had preached it! ( I nearly always tear up my sermons after I have preached them)

I was on holiday last week and dutifully prepared the passage before I went away ,writing it out in full as I have always done ,though I frequently depart from the written script.

When I got back from holiday I got the script out and although it read okay it seemed to lack a great deal of passion and not to convey the truths I very much  wanted to share. Somehow the words didn't seem to live!
I did not get a special message from God but I  went ahead anyway  and just tore up the sermon and decided to preach without any notes at all
I then went back to the passage read it again and again,prayed like crazy throughout the service until the time came to preach.

I had decided  not to tell the church that I had done this as I thought it could be a complete disaster.

However when I got up the words flowed more easily than normal and I certainly had more favourable comments than I had  for a very long time.

I have nearly always read widely around my sermon,and written it down and in my younger days confess to having practiced in front of a mirror! (other people play air guitar, I preached sermons-how sad is that?)
I even went through a stage of going down to the church building early on Sunday mornings in order to rehearse the the sermon I was to deliver at 11am to empty pews .Do other preachers do this or was I the only one?

So preaching, with preparation but without note,s worked for me and hopefully for the church this morning.
I wont always do it but at some point I will do it again!

2 comments:

  1. The sermon this morning was brilliant and God inspired,one comment i had from someone was that you topped Billy Graham this morning!!! i know you are a humble man but thank you from some one who loves hearing you preach but thank you for being brave enough to hear God's nudge and act on it. Pray God blessing on you for this.

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  2. Thanks Jude your very kind comments are really appreciated

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