It is amazing to me that I have now been preaching almost every week for over four years. That means I have delivered close to 200 sermons, and in a very real sense sermon preparation has become the structure of my life. The skeleton of my weekly schedule revolves around textual analysis on Mondays, Historical and Cultural study on Tuesdays, Commentary check-ups and manuscripting on Wednesdays, illustrations and a practice run through on Thursdays.
I enjoy preaching, for what it has done for me as a person. The structure and the discipline required of someone like me who has suffered from serious bouts of stage fright, to prepare a weekly message has been sharpening! But I must confess that I am eagerly anticipating four weeks off from preaching.
I am attending a conference next week, will be gone for a week of vacation and have another weekend off for a family reunion. We all need rest from our works roles, and I am looking forward to a time away from the intense routine of sermon preparation. I am so grateful for a group of elders who are eager to preach in my absence, and a part of me wonders if the church will not also enjoy a few weeks of variety before I come back in refreshed, ready, with guns a blazin’!
