Sermon Writing

This is basically a confession from my sermon for October 5th, a reflection on writing sermons...

It’s like this: if I’m not reading God’s word, I don’t want to preach. I hate it. I absolutely hate it. I don’t want to get up there and talk in front of people. I’m scared that I’m going to embarrass myself. I’m scared that I’m not going to be any good. But in nearly all of my sermons, as I’m preparing, there comes a point where as I’m reading God’s word, as I’m putting things together, a spark ignites and the fire gets going and all of a sudden my attitude changes…I go from dreading having to preach to having something that I can’t wait to share with anyone who will listen. If you ask Anna, she’ll tell you that some weeks I’ll tell her all about the sermon even before Sunday because I’m just so excited about God is saying to me!