Holy Spirit, do your thang

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.

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*Yes, I refer to Holy Spirit as she. And she's amazing.