Interactive Sermon

Attention Groupies .8

A note specifically for those involved in my reading/discussion group of the best-seller The Shack: This coming Sunday be prepared for a conversation over Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen.A note specifically for those involved in my reading/discussion group of the best-seller The Shack: This coming Sunday be prepared for a conversation over Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen.

We covered chapters thirteen and fourteen last weekend.  From chapter thirteen we pondered the statement, "Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors."  We discussed how that had been proven true in many of our experiences.  We also spoke about the line, "Faith does not grow in a house of certainty."  It, too, had rung true in our varied journeys.

Chapter fourteen is my personal favorite section of the book--the discussion of verbs and nouns.  We discussed the implications of verbs being neutered into nouns and how that shows up in our own lives.  We also discussed that the statement that God doesn't have any expectations or disappointment with us was likely one of the real theological stumbling blocks for folks regarding the book.

What do you think?

What's On My Mind?

A mind is a terrible thing to baste. Ribs, however...

Habakkuk ~ Bible study recollections have been stirring in my mind this week.  With Habakkuk it's been the whole "I've heard about your fame, I've heard about your deeds--renew them in my day" plea.  I studied through this book a couple summers ago and really came away changed in the way I pray.  Enjoying chewing on it again.

John 3 ~ What was Nicodemus' motive for coming to Jesus?  It's been thought provoking for me this week to ponder the answer to that question.  What do you think?

Live From New York ~ My friend Jason lent me a book about the history of Saturday Night Live.  Interesting behind the scenes interviews.  Some surprises.  Some not.  Entertaining.

Yard Work ~ The snow has thawed.  I bought a new rake.  I'm one of those guys who didn't finish my fall clean-up before the snow came and covered it all up.  So now that you can see it...  Here's the thing, thought: Psyhcologically, when you haven't been able to see your yard for several months, and then you can, there is a draw to get out and do some work.  Give me a couple of weeks and the landscaping lethargy will return.  So, I'm getting while the getting is good!

Ford F-100 ~ Thinking about all that I want to do to the old truck--but can't afford.  Still, very satisfying to daydream. 

A Preacher On Preaching

I'm often asked about preaching.  Some ask about the mechanics of preparing and delivering a sermon.  Others ask about the experiences of preaching regularly before a congregation.  Still others ask personal questions--my opinion on preaching styles, sermon content, or my personal preferences in hearing other preachers.  I've decided to offer up some answers in a series of posts. 

How do you come up with sermons?

It started with an ideal.

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, when I started preaching I heard that Charles Spurgeon read a biblical text 300 times before he preached on it.  I determined that if it worked for the Prince of Preachers it would be a part of my game plan.  I set out to read the text over and over.  You can imagine how that went. "Was that 250?  No, wait, uh 248... 249... oh crud!  The last number I actually remember was 159... maybe I should go back and start over there."

There were weeks where I knew I couldn't get 300 if my life depended on it.  A really busy schedule and I might drop my goal to 250 or even 200 perhaps.  There were weeks when the wheels fell off completely and I'd literally be on my way to the church Sunday morning reading the text across my lap as cars swerved to avoid me.

Then (and shamefully, this is true) there were times when my daughters--toddlers in those years--would toddle into my den and disrupt my reading.  I'd become so irritable that I'd scold them and Shari for having let them interrupt my "important work."  Somewhere in there I realized I was the ultimate jerk!  I look back on those occasions with such regret.

At the same time, I had a professor at Bible College who made a practice of asking me 'How are things at home?'  He drilled into me that if I was going to be an effective minister of the gospel I needed to get an 'A' at home, and that 'C's' were more than enough at school. 

I came to conclude 300 times may have worked for Spurgeon, but it wasn't going to be my path to the pulpit.

So I decided rather than starting with an ideal, I'd start with a text.

On Sunday afternoon each week I read the text I'm planning to preach the following Sunday.  Easy enough.   On Monday I read it a few more times.  Still easy.  Sunday afternoons and Mondays are my "off" time, so I don't do much with it at all.  Just enjoy the reading and ruminating... and a nap... and maybe a Coke... and maybe a football game or NASCAR race.  Real spiritual you see.

Beginning on Tuesday I get a little more serious.  I read the text a few more times, this time making some observations of the text.  I'll usually pencil a few notes, underline a few words and, of course, highlight all appearances of the word but in the text.  Wednesday and Thursday are much the same, although as I read midweek I begin to outline the passage--how would I attack this in explaining it to someone?  By this point I've read it dozens of times and put together observations, notes and a rough outline.  Late in the week I start to look at things a little more broadly.  I use tools--check definitions of certain words, look up cross references, track thoughts and ideas in various directions from the text, and so on.  By Friday I might actually put the text address into google and see what others have said about it, and I might turn to my own old sermon notes to see what I've said the last time I preached on this text, or turn to some commentaries to see what some of the greats have said--like Spurgeon... I mean, the dude read it 300 times, right?

By Saturday I feel as though I've researched it fully, so I find time to write the message--which as I described earlier, really is a manner of penciling notes into my Bible to prompt my thoughts as I stand before the congregation on Sunday morning.

Throughout the whole process I'm also scanning my memory for stories, analogies, and anecdotes that I can recount hoping to bring clarity to my thinking, and maybe a smile or a moment of levity in our study together.  That's just me.

How many hours do I put into sermon prep?  I don't know.  I don't count.  It's actually pretty much a continual process--my thoughts turn the text over and over through the week, Sunday to Sunday.  How many times do I read the text?  I don't know.  I don't count anymore.  What references and tools do I use?  I don't know.  Differs week in and week out depending on where the Spirit moves me... and what book I trip over... and how many cups of coffee I've consumed.  Do I plagiarize?  I don't know.  I am sure very few thoughts that come into my head are original.  But I don't really read anyone else's take on a text looking for content--I usually have all that on my own.  So if I share an illustration someone else has used, is that plagiarism?  I gather whatever I can to make the text clear FOR ME, figuring if I can be blessed and challenged in thinking about it, maybe I can share that blessing and challenge with others.

One last thought to share on this: Over the years I've spent several seasons preaching through series of sermons, i.e. preaching my way through entire books of the Bible.  I love doing that for several reasons, but one of them has to do with my sermon preparation.  When I know I'm going to preach a series I have always shifted my personal devotional reading to those texts several months before the series begins.  That way I'm reading and ruminating through those texts asking God to illuminate them in and for my life months before I'm asking Him to help me articulate them for others.  It's always a blessing to do that.

So there you have it.  No rabbit in a magic hat.  Just me.  My Bible.  A pencil.  Some highlighted buts.  A cup of coffee... and now I welcome interruptions when my wife or my girls need me.  I hope you'll hear my heart on this: It's more important that I get an 'A' at home than in the pulpit.

Next time, sermon delivery.  The things that cross my mind on Sunday morning may surprise you.

Attention Groupies .7

A note specifically for those involved in my reading/discussion group of the best-seller The Shack: This coming Sunday be prepared for a conversation over Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen.

As expected, chapters eleven and twelve gave us more discussion fodder.  We hit the ground running, discussing honesty.  Was Mack acting lovingly or selfishly in withholding the truth from Nan?  Is it ever in someone's best interest to withhold the truth from them?   We wondered about different scenarios, and questioned our own motives where these scenarios took us.  We also talked about judgment and judging others (and even God) relative to Mack's experience. 

We also discussed the difficulty in the fact that there is evil in the world AND God is in control. 

Lastly, the section of chapter twelve where the label Christian was raised caused us all a great deal of thought provocation.  We discussed what we thought the term meant--and what it has come to mean in our society--and how the discrepancies effect us.

Any other impressions you may have had over the opening sections?  Feel free to drop a comment here or pick it up in conversation with someone in the group.  See you Sunday!  

1 Corinthians 8

Like the last chapter, this one begins now about food sacrificed to idols - signaling once again that Paul is tackling another issue the church at Corinth has asked him about.  Here is an outline of Paul's teachings in this chapter:

v. 1-3  It's noteworthy that Paul says, "about food sacrificed to idols" but begins talking about knowledge and love. Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.

v. 4-6 Paul points out what should be well known: we know that idols are nothing.  Focusing first on the knowledge approach, he demonstrates that we should recognize as followers of Christ that idols are not really gods--they're only inanimate objects people treat as if they're gods.  Note the words so called gods.

v. 7-8 He turns his attention to love, now.  Notice the word but that starts this section, But no everyone knows this. That realization--that not everyone knows this--should mitigate the application of our liberties.  Notice also that Paul says some people are still so accustomed to idols.  He's suggesting that for some, their prior experience has a lingering effect that can easily become a conscience issue.  Verse 8 is a key--whether you eat or refrain, you're not more or less spiritual than anyone else.

v. 9-13  Love should trump knowledge.  Being loving is always more important than being right.  When you sin against your brothers in this way, you sin against Christ.  Let there be no misunderstanding!

Wannabe Geek

Still making every effort to maximize and minimize in my life via technology.  Here are some of my latest ramblings and ruminations in that department.

  Social Media:

Facebook ~ As you know, I've moved almost all of my Facebook interaction through Tweetdeck and Seesmic on my PC and Droid.  I've downloaded Hootsuite for the Droid this week.  I'll let you know if I wind up liking it.  Truth be told, Tweetdeck and Seesmic have done so well for me I might be content.  Where Facebook proper is concerned, I've deleted a few more "friends" who were really acquaintances at best... and they annoyed me by littering the feed with @#$%.  Be gone!

Twitter ~ Ditto.  Tweetdeck and Seesmic = happy, happy, joy, joy!  I dropped a few feeds there too.  I had a couple of people scheduling tweets every thirty seconds--trust me, NO ONE cares to read all that.  You're done! 

I'll say this: if you're serious about maximizing your social media experience while minimizing the time wasted, you really need to make this a commitment.  You drop your guard and it sucks you back in.

Droid:

Astro File Manager ~ Added this program for file management.  I'm populating a few folders now.  My hope is that this is going to allow me to take more data on the go with me, and access it more easily.  I'll let you know how it works in a few days. 

iMusic ~ Song search and sample.  Of course, you know me... first song I sought out and downloaded: Jesus Freak!  I'm all throw-back, now.  I can tell, I'm going to love this ap.

Solo Lite & Guitar Scales ~ I might just learn more than 3 Chords.  Cool aps, both.

So, what technology are you presently enjoying, and what technology is helping you maximize and minimize these days?

A Preacher On Preaching

I'm often asked about preaching.  Some ask about the mechanics of preparing and delivering a sermon.  Others ask about the experiences of preaching regularly before a congregation.  Still others ask personal questions--my opinion on preaching styles, sermon content, or my personal preferences in hearing other preachers.  I've decided to offer up some answers in a series of posts. 

To use projected media or not to use projected media - this is the question.

And my answer: nyet! 

People who know me well know that there are a few things in this world I have absolutely no appetite for--Pepsi, electronic drum sets and sermons accompanied by power-point are knotted up at the very top of my list.  I'll save the Pepsi and the electronic drums rant for another article.  I'll put power-point accompanied preaching in the cross-hairs now.

In my last post in this series I spoke of a personal preference (for not using sermon notes).  I suppose if I'm honest my views on this topic are of a personal preference nature too, but I think I can make a pretty good case for my taste on this.  Let me approach it from a few different vantage points.  First, distractions.

When I became a believer in Christ (1983), P.A. systems were a relatively new thing being added into church sanctuaries.  If you were around back then, you will recall the wonderful Radio Shack technology that graced our churches.  Perhaps a four-channel analog mixer, powered by about 60 watts, with a Radio Shack lapel mic for the preacher, and a matching quality hand-held for the soloist... who sang to a cassette accompaniment track.  Oh boy!  You also remember the feedback.  Lots of it.  Just about every Sunday.  If there wasn't feedback, you remember your preacher sounding like he was in an echo-chamber, or like he was Darth Vader.  Of course, if someone drove by talking on a CB radio, then all sorts of fun could be had:  "Please turn in your copy of the scriptures to... BREAKER ONE-NINE! HOW 'BOUT IT WILD CHILD? YOU OUT THERE?"  In the church I was attending there was a "sound engineer."  If he was a day short of eighty I'd eat my shorts.  He was a radio operator in the Civil War or something like that and knew electronics.  Trouble was he spent most of the service adjusting the lone hair that still swept across his cranium, so... Distractions!  You remember them.

Thankfully most churches have moved into the present in the area of sound equipment--and I haven't heard feedback in church in a couple of decades now.  AMEN!

Power-point=this generation's distraction.

Take an inventory: How many times have you sat through a power-point accompanied talk (in any setting) and had technical glitches become an obstacle to the talk itself?  You know what I'm talking about.  Oops, one slide too far... back it up.  Oops, that slide is out of order.  Oops, I... what's wrong with this remote?  Anybody have a battery?  Let's be honest, too.  There is an art to putting together an engaging visual display.  A static outline of the bullet points are more annoying than they are helpful.  Of course, barking dogs and popping balloons are worse.  (Because I know you're wondering, yes, I did actually see a sermon one time where a barking dog "barked" out the words to the points of the pastor's sermon in a power point display.  I refrained from "laying hands" on the man.  I was tempted.)

Beyond distractions, let me ask you (if you're a preacher), where do you want your people to focus their attention?  I'll answer that question: I want people focused on the Word!  As in, their Bibles.  I don't want them looking at a verse removed from context that emblazons a screen.  I don't want them watching fireworks go off or ocean waves roll in.  I don't want them transfixed as bullet points slither onto the screen from all corners.  I want them looking at the page of their Bible where the verse I'm talking about resides, has context, and comes off the page (out of the paragraph) and into their hearts. 

And taking that thought one step further, I want to help the folks in the congregation become Biblically literate.  I don't want to put Jeremiah 29:11 on a screen in front of them.  I want them to be able to pick up their Bibles and turn to Jeremiah 29:11--and if we do that week-in-and-week-out, pretty soon they'll know their way to books in their Bibles without a table of contents, tabs or a ten minute head start.  I want them to have a feel for the pages of God's revelation to them, and to become proficient in searching and studying it.  When they sit down next to the fire at home (or next to the hospital bed of a loved one), there won't be 3 points of an application illuminated on the wall.

Now to the real personal appraisal, and this is a matter of my taste completely: I can't stand a sermon accompanied by visuals.  I'm so distracted I can't focus.  And, mind you, this is when it all goes 'right.'  Lord help me if one of those technical hiccups occur--the preacher will never get me back.  There's a reason I'm interested in the sermon--It's God's word being communicated.  There's even a reason I'm listening to a given preacher--something has brought me to that particular worship service.  Quit the glitz and deliver the word of God, be comfortable in your own skin (God was comfortable enough with you to have you preaching His word), and talk to me from your heart.

If you want to entertain me, invite me over to your house after church to watch a game on the plasma set.  Have your wife make us some hor-dourves!

Next time, composing the sermon.