Holy Spirit, do your thang
My sermon writing process. OR... I refer to Holy Spirit as "she." And she makes my sermons better.
My sermon-writing process is always the same.
I translate the passage from the original text. I exegete the passage, paying attention to vocabulary, grammar, structure, and context. I highlight the verbs. I read commentaries. I take copious notes.
Then I write a "sh*tty first draft" (phrase courtesy of Anne Lamott).
I always think it's a pretty great first draft. Then I go to sleep, reread it the next day, and realize that, well... it's not so great.
So I usually do some more studying, take some more notes, make some edits. And still... it's not quite right.
Then, it never fails... I go to sleep on Wednesday night, and Holy Spirit wakes me up in the middle of the night - usually right around 2:30 am - and shows me how to fix my sermon.
Finally, I spend time on Saturday rereading through my sermon for tomorrow, letting Holy Spirit make changes she deems necessary so I can preach it on Sunday morning.
I'm grateful for this wild and holy process.
*Yes, I refer to Holy Spirit as she. And she's amazing.