Putting it all together

I get lots of questions about what goes into putting together sermons and other parts of Sunday worship. I thought I might write a little bit about that. I am not going to give you a full run down in one post. Instead, as I work on the service throughout the weeks, I will try to post a little bit about what is going on. I hope you might find this interesting. If not, just keep scrolling!

Monday was a bit of a wash this week, so sermon prep did not begin until today. As we continue through Mark, I working on chapter 7:31-37. The very first thing I try to do it translate. I start with the gospel text and Greek and try (try being the operative word) to get it into English. Sometimes from this process I find something to share with you in the sermon. More often, it just helps me to slow down and read the passage a little more carefully. After you read the same texts a few times, it is pretty easy to assume you already know what it says. When you read it in Greek, you have to go a lot slower and think about it.

I always start with the text in some form or another. Later, I will read what other authors and theologians have written about the text, but I always want to start with just the words and see what word they might speak to me.

Grace and peace to you!

will