a difficult task + a beautiful calling

Pastors often speak of the amount of time that goes into the preparation and composition of a particular sermon, as well as when that work is performed. For me, you can count on every five minutes relating to between three and four hours of work during the week. This means that, for my usual fifteen minute sermon, usually nine to twelve hours work to construct the final product.

Yet, each preacher eventually encounters a week where sermon development demands more. More time. More study. More research. More editing. More and more. A few times, I've spent more than twenty hours carving out a sermon from a block of stone I didn't know needed honing. These are often unpredictable moments in time where the Holy Spirit dives in, challenges our own beliefs about God, and opens up new horizons on where God is at work in the world. 

Preaching is a difficult task, precisely because of how much God is involved. As a student, I knew that, if necessary, I could start a paper the day before it was due, complete it in the eleventh hour, and live with a product that, while decent, surely wasn't my best work. With sermons, however, there's always a nagging voice at the forefront of my mind that calls me to consider the text, to consider the congregation, to consider the context in which we live, and ask what it is that God is saying in the midst of that collision. 

At the same time, preaching is a beautiful calling precisely because of how much god is involved. No matter how much time a week I spend wrestling, I spend it wrestling with God, God's Word, God's people, and God's world. Though this is hard to see in the midst of the production process, God remains active and at work as we seek to say something significant in the name of Jesus. Even more than that, we seek to speak the fullness of Jesus' presence into the lives of the congregation, to sacramentally present God through the sermon to people who need to meet the Lord. 

If you're a preacher, when you're hard pressed to find God in the midst of yet another commentary, remember that God is still somehow involved in the process. The difficulty doesn't negate the beauty. If you've never preached before, talk with your pastor sometime about their process. We each approach it differently, and struggle with different aspects at different times. 

Preaching is a vital part of the life of the church, one where we hear the Word of God in human words. Perhaps it is right that we should struggle with it, for the new life God offers requires a birthing process as well. Just don't let the struggle overshadow the beauty of the calling.