Finding meaning in a sermon sometimes requires great patience and an open and willing spirit. I’m always surprised when someone responds to a sermon, “Thank you for what you said today.” I always wonder what they heard? Sometimes we hear, not what the preacher says, but what God knows we need to hear that day!
My understanding of preaching is not a carefully crafted three-point sermon that gives definite answers to questions addressed. My understanding of preaching is a telling/re-telling of a passage of scripture, hoping to free any number of different messages to different listeners. My daughter says she can’t “take notes” on my sermons, or even outline them, but she always gets a message that is helpful!
Herbert Brokering has written this about hearing a sermon, and it’s helpful as well in the writing of the sermon:
“It was a sermon. Not the best but the only one for this day. I could have slept, with some of the others. But I did not. I dared not. I never do. I had to stay ready, waiting and ready for “the sentence.” Ready for the one sentence that was worth it all! I always come to hear all of it for the sake of the one sentence. All the preacher’s preparing and all my listening is for “the sentence.” When it’s spoken, I will hear it. There are thought gaps. Things the preacher leaves out. Space. I fill in the gaps as the sermon moves along. What is not said to us, I say to myself. The preacher doesn’t try to say it all. There are blanks and spaces for me to fill in. I do. The preacher won’t know when “the sentence” is spoken. I will know. It’s when all the words become one word. It’s when all the thoughts become one thought. It’s when the words become the flesh and blood to me. My flesh and blood Lord.”
As I prepare sermons, I find myself repeating phrases within the sermon text. I also use some of the phrases in the prayers for the day, written and spoken. In a sense, I’m choosing “the sentence” or “the word,” but the final choice is always made in the heart of the hearer! I once read that the work of the preacher is to “create a space” for God’s Spirit to enter and do the needed work of grace. How grateful I am to be a part of creating such a space!
Elizabeth
My first year out of college I was living in the little town of Narrows, Virginia, teaching third grade at Narrows Elementary School. I had 40 students, no teacher’s aide, no planning period, and I taught my own Art, Music and PE! By November another teacher was hired and the class size became more manageable. The children were much like those we saw on Walton’s Mountain - barefoot, bib overalls, etc. We went up the mountains in jeeps for home visits, and I remember celebrating the first Earth Day by cleaning up along the stream at the “falls” of the river.
I kept myself encouraged that first year on my own by covering the kitchen wall of my tiny garage apartment with inspiring quotations, mounted on brightly colored paper! This one remains a favorite to this day:
“Look to this day
for it is life,
the very life of life!
In its brief course lie all the verities
and realities of your existence:
the bliss of growth;
the glory of action;
the splendor of achievement.
For yesterday is but a dream,
and tomorrow is only a vision;
But today, well lived,
makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness,
and every tomorrow a vision of hope.”
How important it is to live in the present moment – not lingering in regrets about yesterday, or entertaining worries about tomorrow. “Today I choose to live with gratitude for the LOVE that fills my heart, the PEACE that rests within my spirit, and the voice of HOPE that says…all things are possible.” Choosing how we will live day by day is a CHOICE!
A few days back I came across another bit of encouragement for the kitchen wall of the manse: “Begin each day with a grateful heart.” I once read that gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Giving thanks for the love, peace and hope that fill my life, for a grateful heart, and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing.
Elizabeth
In recent months, I’ve said good-bye to many dear friends in their “nifty nineties.” What a great generation, and how blessed I am to have known and loved them and enjoyed the gift of their friendship!
From time to time, some of them question God’s reason for keeping them here, but they continue to seek God’s plan for these years, and try to find meaning and purpose in life from day to do. Many times my role is simply to remind them of truths they lose sight of from time to time – our times are in God’s hands, God promises to complete the good work begun in each of us and nothing can separate us from the love of God!
Isaiah 46:3-4 is a favorite: “I’ve been carrying you on my back from the day you were born, and I’ll keep carrying you when you’re old. I’ll be there, bearing you when you’re old and gray. I’ve done it and will keep on doing it, carrying you on my back, saving you.” (The Message)
Billy Graham’s book, Nearing Home: Life, Faith and Finishing Well, is a helpful companion for this time on life’s journey. “Someday our life’s journey will be over,” writes Graham. “In a sense we all are nearing home. As we do so, may we not only learn what it means to grow older but, with God’s help, also learn to grow older with grace and find the guidance needed to finish well … I can only hope in my senior state that I am building bridges for those following behind me as I encourage them on the roads they travel. For those of us nearing home, our steps may indeed be slow, but they need not be without purpose.” Graham closes his book with these words: “As I look back, I see how God’s hand guided me. I sense His Spirit with me today, and most comforting is the knowledge that He will not forsake me during this last stretch as I am nearing home.”
In my second year of seminary I met a wonderful lady of 96 years who had begun writing poetry on her 90th birthday. One of her poems ended with these words, “Lord help me to make the most of where I am in time.” That became the prayer of my heart as well, from that point on in my life.
Giving thanks for many dear friends who are “making the most of where they are in time” and “finishing well” … and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing.
Elizabeth