Preaching Prep

One of the things that I have really enjoyed this summer is mine and Adele's weekly trip to the library to work on our sermons. I am not sure Adele is always happy with me as we prepare sermons very differently. I like to discuss what I have read or stumbled on. She is more contemplative. I like to think out loud and share with those around me. She often likes to climb into her pile of books and emerge hours later, having literally ignored the world around. I read quickly, she is more methodical. We have very different styles of preaching preparation. And I am sure there have been more than one day where she has had the thought, why did I bring Pamela?
One of the things I have discovered in this process of weekly sermon preparation is that I firmly believe sermons must be created in community. Yes, I agree that preachers must do a healthy exegesis of their congregation first, but what about actually writing the sermon with them? Some of the best times this summer have been talking with other preachers who sit by the hour at the library tables and share with me what they are preaching on and why and to whom. We have shared insights, asked hard questions of each other and occasionally prayed for one another. When we struggled with a particular text we would share that struggle. This summer, one man, every Friday asked me what I thought of his introductions to his sermons, that he would read to me. Another shared his fear of being a preacher, a fear we all shared. It has been an interesting journey with these fellow sermon writers and I have really enjoyed learning and working with them so much so that I have come to the conviction that sermons should always be written with a group of people. I know that there will be people that disagree with this. They will argue that a sermon must be prepared by way of a preacher in quiet prayer, continual commentary study and living the sermon first, themself. I do not disagree with any of that, but I have come to see something deeper in the sermon prep that required me to lift my nose out of the books and look around and listen to the others in the room with me.
All of this made me think of the many books by Henri Nouwen that I have read. Henri of course wrote much and believed much about the concept of community. In his book, Creative Ministries Beyond Professionalism In Teaching, Preaching, Counseling, Organizing And Celebrating, he states, while exploring "the relationship between professionalism and spirituality in pastoral ministry. Unlike other professions, ministry is not an eight-to-five job, but primarily a way of life for others to see and understand so that liberation can become a possibility" (Doubleday, 1971, Pp. xxiv + 123). What this all made me think about is that preaching is not a job for me, but a way of life that flows out of my faith in Jesus and my relationship with His other kids. My sermon preparation needs to then be an an act of community as well.
When this summer ends I shall miss my preaching buddies, but I am encouraged to know that community and the Good News of Jesus is still at the heart of what what we preach and how to!