A Wonderful Mystery
We all know that worship is all about experiencing the mystery of God's holiness and presence in our life. We all know that worship is all about celebrating the mystery as we come together at the Lord's Table. But I particularly enjoyed worship this past Sunday because of another mystery - one a little less divine.
I start every Lord's Day at 6:00am. I rise. I go to the church. I pray. I prepare. I make sure the powerpoint is all ready. I make sure the DVD is all queued up. I print out and preach my sermon. This Sunday was just like every other Sunday, and so I left everything neatly in place about 7:30 to go home, shower, walk the dog, and come back to worship.
Worship went great. We opened with "Praise to the Lord the Almighty" (one of my favorite hymns). I greeted the congregation, welcomed them, Psalm 17 called us to worship, and I read the invocation of my pile of neat, white papers stacked neatly atop the pulpit.
I went to my seat and the song leader came up and lead the praise sequence. I went and delivered the children's sermon. Chuck read the Epistle Lesson. Joe sang the Christ Tomlin arangement of "Amazing Grace - My Chains Are Gone," and it was my turn to preach.
When I arrived in the pulpit, my sermon was gone! Where did it go? It was not there. Did I forget to bring it up this morning? I know it was here because I prayed the invocation from the pages. What do I do? I've preached without a manuscript before, but I've always prepared for it. Do I stop and go looking for it? That would be too disruptive. I guess I'll have to wing it from memory. So I preached, and did very well if I do say so myself, but always wondering where the sermon went - confused the whole time about this great mystery.
When the sermon was over Danny (the song leader) came back to the pulpit and lead the responsive sequence, I prayed, we collected our gifts and I went back to the pulpit for announcements, sending and blessing. My eyes must have been wide as saucers. Right where I always leave my sermon was my sermon - Neatly stacked on the right half of the pulpit, just like always. What's going on here? How can this be? Now I am really stupified. It is simply amazing. And once again the mystery proved to be the highlight of my worship!
posted by EF + at 7:00 AM
2 Comments:
I've been really thinking about losing the manuscript lately. I still want to write one every week, just I think it might be better if I preached without it. A week ago, about half way through my sermon I left the pulpit and my manuscript for an illustration and never went back to it. Mandy said it felt like I actually believed what I was preaching when I wasn't using my manuscript. Then this last week I used my manuscript the whole time and it went miserable. I have a three week break from preaching coming up here soon, maybe I'll make the change when I get back.
I have two issues with not using one:
1) I am not disciplined enough to write and rewrite a manuscript and then not use it. If I know I am not using it, I tend to just outline some thoughts and the preaching really suffers.
2) I am not disciplined enough to stay on track without a manuscript. I ramble and chase rabbit trails and make unnecessary jokes and illustrations and turn a perfectly good 15 minute sermon into a perfectly dreadful 30 minute sermon.
Otherwise, I would agree. I just need more personal discipline. I think that comes with time and experience. I have been trying lately to shorten my sermons and it is amazing how difficult it is to find a new "groove" after 2 years of preaching.
Thanks for the input. You are always appreciated!
ef
Post a Comment
<< Home