sermons
At the end of 2003 I was appointed as a lay preacher in the Church of England, licensed to preach in my own local church. I still hesitate to say that I 'accepted a call' to preach, because the decision came at the end of such a roller-coaster of emotions that I felt quite dazed by the time I was presented with my licence from the Bishop. Also, it still feels very strange to consider the concepts of Me and Sermon together, and still keep a straight face. It seems unreal and a bit crazy - God does know what he's doing, right? And this, even after I've preached once already! My first outing as a preacher was on Sunday 11th January 2004, at the celebration of the Baptism of Christ, and was very well received <blush>
I've now been preaching for one year, and still well-received and encouraged by the All Hallows family. I get to speak again on my anniversary. After a year I can say that I love preaching, but also that it doesn't seem to have got any easier. I still worry about each sermon as much as the last - maybe that is my 'thorn in the side'. My brother is my editor: he tells me when things make sense or don't, when my explanations turn into witterings, and coaches me through writers' block - usually late the night before I speak. Haven't yet got him into church to hear me preach though - must try harder ;)
I've been preaching for two years and today (22/01/06) I preached my first sermon of 2006. In the autumn of last year I completely lost the plot for a short period of time and thought I might give up the preaching. I'm so glad I didn't, because now I feel like I'm really back on form and feel so much more confident about it. Today's sermon was really well received, so I feel I've started the new year as I mean to go on. I learn so much about myself and God from every sermon I research, write and preach and I love doing it, even though I still get stressed about it. My church family at All Hallows still give me a huge amount of encouragement and love. My brother still gives me much appreciated editorial support, even though I still ride the deadlines late into the night, and he still hasn't come to hear me *sigh* Other friends have started talking about coming to hear me, but still haven't done anything about it. I've reserved a place on a preaching course which will run over 5 weeks in July and I'm really looking forward to it.
I started my preaching course on 4th May 2006. It's a good crowd of students, mostly doing full Readership training. I'm only doing the preaching module. No homework so far, but the end of module assessment is to write a sermon plan on one of half a dozen selected texts.
Finished the training course but opted out of the assessment, which was to actually write and preach a five-minute sermon. I wasn't doing the Reader training so I decided to avoid the additional stress during an already stressful week. Even so, it was a very good course and well delivered. I feel much more confident as a result of doing it. Here's my next sermon:
It turned out that number 25 was my final sermon at All Hallows. I did have one more slot on the rota but had to step down due to house-moving commitments which then, frustratingly, never transpired. But I have to admit, at the time, I appreciated not having to spend the Saturday writing it and having the Sunday off to spend with my husband.
One of our Curates asked if I would continue preaching to which I have no answer yet. It depends on so many 'ifs and buts'. I do hope so. But my first priority is to find a church! Watch this space...
19/11/06: I received an email, by a round-about route from someone who has seen my Water Into Wine sermon (number 19) on SermonCentral.com and asked if he can use it! Wow! Wrote back and said yes, since he has offered to give me credit for the writing. I'm really flattered. Wow!
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