Sermon writing is such an intriguing enterprise. I've written about it before on this blog. But last week was a unique experience.

Early in the week I sat down and began my research. Three years ago I had preached on the same text, so looking back at that sermon is a good place to start. That particular sermon was my last at Rolling Hills, so it had a lot that was specific to that context. But, there were some good elements to it. In this sermon I first worked out the theology behind the journey metaphor and it the virtues of adventure and courage that became central elements of my theological thinking, practice, and ministry in subsequent years. So, there were elements to rescue from that sermon.

It was also MLK weekend, so I wanted to discuss him in some way. It ended up that I fit a discussion of MLK into part of the rubric of the old sermon. I wrote a new sermon with some structure suggested by the old one, but with a lot of new content. Got it done relatively early in the week. Sunday morning I ran back through it and tweaked it.

This Sunday I went to church with Mom & Revis to hear Dr. Mack Roark, one of my mentors and favourite preachers. Mack preached on a completely different text and theme, but during the sermon my mind wandered to my own sermon and I realized that it wouldn't work. It wouldn't communicate. It was a well-structured manuscript, but not a sermon.

So, I began with a blank screen about 2 p.m. on Sunday. I've not done that before. Of course some excerpts from the previous draft found its way into the new sermon, but much of the content was new and the structure was completely different. And, yes, this one preached.