This One Should Be Good

Yesterday I was supervising an exam for a woman of our congregation. She had 4 hours to write it and I had agreed that I could supervise because, I could use the time to write my sermon. She said that her husband commented something like "Sunday's sermon should be a really good one if she's got 4 hours to write it!"

I know it was well intended but (as I told her) I remember hearing somewhere that a "good" sermon takes one minute preparation time for every minute that it will be spoken. Fifteen minute sermon = 15 hours prep. You can do the math.

I realize that to take that amount of time would be a luxury - there just isn't that much time in the parish. However, do people think that pastors just sit down and bang off a sermon in an hour? Do you really expect that you'd want to listen to such a sermon? Now, I'm not saying that all my sermons are great but, I do spend quite a bit of time on them. I treat them seriously and with respect and I try hard to make them "listenable." Even if I was to scam someone else's sermon off the net it would take more than an hour to find anything worthwhile. The best time record I can claim for a sermon is 15 minutes of prep. THAT one was a total gift from God - it took me no time t0 prepare and it was an awesome Pentecost sermon.

So, I say, listen up people; your pastor's job is preaching and I hope you are assuming and allowing enough time for him or her to spend with the Word in reflection and prayer because, listening to God is not something that can be done on our time.

NMW