I preached a sermon last night where I shamelessly canabalized pieces from other sermons and highly modified them. The overall direction was my own, and I certainly added a lot of my own material, but a couple of the key illustrations were not mine. I know that if I were to ask each of the people I "borrowed" from, they would look at me funny and say that the material is not theirs but God's, and that I shouldn't think twice about it. When composing the sermon it felt good to think of it that way. But when I delivered the sermon last night, and when several people came to say "good job", "that one's a keeper", etc, I couldn't help but feel cheap about it. Have any of you that preach/teach run into this issue? If so, how have you dealt with it?
In the spirit of the "open source" preaching I seem to be espousing, here is one of the points I ended with last night. If for some reason you like it, feel free to use it:
Whenever God speaks, something incredible happens. In Genesis, when he said "Let there be light" a planet-sized ball of gas ignited in the night sky and became the light by which we see. Through Jesus Christ, God again has said "let there be light," but he's talking about us! The light on the hill, the salt of the earth.
Homiletics
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Thursday, September 07, 2006
7 Comments:
Did you wear a tie?
On Wednesday night they let you get away with tielessness.
I guess to take the comments in another possible direction, what do you think about the traditional preaching convention itself?
I actually think that it has a place, perhaps not so much every week. There is something special about listening to somebody preach if they have really put effort into preparing and if they are truly preaching from the heart.
I think it's kind of ridiculous though to demand that of the same person every week. I still feel exhausted.
Bryan,
I agree that a church should have more than one mouth peice. Itis not good for the church or the man. It makes the delivery more important than the truth. A minister is better than a preacher. It is helpful to have several weeks to get across a theme, passage or a book, but not 50 weeks.
But what makes your talk effective is the sermon you preach outside the pulpit.
Tim Henderson
I don't normally preach. However I have done so on numerous occasions. And I have borrowed illustrations, but I normally say who I get them from. If I do not know the source, of if I somehow forget to give credit, I have thus far never felt bad for it.
I preach my own sermons. By that I mean that I do not copy others. That is not to say that I do not borrow a few bits here and there if they seem useful. But then I normally preach sermons I don't hear from other places too. That is my way, I guess. And sometimes my sermons prove meaningful and sometimes not. I am not a great preacher.
And you are right about sharing the load etc. I think there should be more than one guy doing it. And I think most guys do not have the knack for regular preaching. However, I think some guys hit home runs like Mark McGuier (or whatever his name is (not a baseball fan (sorry (but I love using multiple perentheses)))). :)
I would not feel bad if I were you. I am sorry that you ever did. I like your closing illustration. And I presume, from what I have learned about you through this medium, that you have a true heart and mind for ministry. I suspect God was honored, and that is what counts. Perhaps the fatigue is partly responsible for your second guessing yourself?
And finally, as for ties...
When I moved to lubbock, my first week here and only just off the truck earlier that day, I preached/lectured a class setting at a church I was not even a member at yet. I knew one person there and she got me an invitation to speak. I was underprepared, for moving all week before etc... And I did not know the way to the church, and it rained a flooding rain that day. My car stalled in the street and I had to get out to push it. When it started again, we got there late and wet. So I preached a bomb in my bare feet with my pants rolled up part way to a bunch of people I then had to make new friends of.
Oh well, at least I offered Jesus. I cannot imagine that it really made a difference in anyone's life. But perhaps someday someone will post that their life was change the night this new guy preached all wet in his bear feet. If you ever run across such a story, it was probably me. (of course if they say the guy was really lame, then it must be someone else :)
Many blessings...
Though it didn't last long (more like moments than days), I did think about preaching once. The thing that kept me from it was exactly what you guys are talking about here. I think I've probably got a few good sermons in me a year, but weekly? I could feel the dryness pulling from the future.
When we first moved up here and went to a Church (sorry, church) of Christ (am I allowed to comment here if I no longer attend a coC?) we had a weekly Bible study at our house, for collegish aged people. It was supposed to be a discussion group, but most of our members didn't have a very thorough knowledge of that book called the Bible. So I ended up talking most of the time. I was determined not to use a book or website as a guide. As the weeks wore on Sunday became an extremely draining day for me as I spent all afternoon pretty much coming up with a sermon for the night. (I was pretty much doing what I had decided I never wanted to.)
I say that to say that that totally burned me out, and I could easily see how it would do the same to others.
So I would say don't feel bad at all about borrowing for your sermons. In some ways your work may be similar to mine as a designer. I keep an eye peeled for good design and elements that others are using, then incorporate it into my own work without completely copying. Maybe you are an alert filter for packaging all that you learn of God during the week and presenting it in your own words to your congregation.
Sorry if this comment is long and disjointed.
thanks for the encouragement brad. thankfully, pulpit preaching is an occasional duty of mine, and i'm pretty satisfied with that.
sorry I missed it Bryan. Do you realize Jesus did most of his teaching in question format - with few "sermons"? Yes - I stole that idea from "The Questions of Jesus" by John Dear - a good read.
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