Tag Archives: Manuscripting the Sermon

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What We Preach And How We Preach

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Manuscripting your sermon isn’t about being clever.

I am writing this post on a Sunday evening. If you preached today you know that feeling of a sense of accomplishment, plus the usual nagging thoughts of, “It could’ve been better, Lord. I tried my best.”

I am enjoying the slow process of reentering my “normal” life. Like, for instance, getting back to my reading schedule which includes books like Jared E. Alcántara’s, The Practices of Christian Preaching: Essentials for Effective Proclamation.

In his introduction, Jared reminds his readers that what matters most is what we preach and “not just how we preach” (p. 6).

He quotes Augustine:

“There is a danger of forgetting what one has to say while working out a clever way to say it” (p. 6).

As I mentioned not too long ago, I had the privilege of working with two sections of Advanced Homiletics students in PA and MD. Part of their final sermon assignment involves writing a manuscript. They preach without it, but write it to practice what they want to say to their listeners. In almost every case it makes them better preachers since the practice makes them work harder on how they speak to their congregants.

Alcántara reminds us how important it is to develop sermon content based upon solid exegesis of the passage. That’s what we have to say. That’s where our authority comes from.

But there is a place for working on how we say it. Cleverness isn’t the goal but listenability and clarity are. So allow the practice of manuscripting to aid your communication. Just note Augustine’s warning. We can’t work so hard at being clever that we forget what we have to say.

As you begin to think hard about next Sunday strike a balance between careful exegesis (what to say) and engaging orascript (how you say it). Discover the strong foundation and then build on it.

And our Lord will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. I am curious as to what percentage of sermon prep time do you devote to crafting your words (as opposed to the raw exegesis).

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Remember, Our Goal Is Speaking To Our Listeners, Not Writing Sermons

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Consider writing out your sermon manuscript each week, but write it as you would want to say it, and then preach it without notes.

I’m slowly working my way through Carrell’s, Preaching That Matters: Reflective Practices for Transforming Sermons. Her chapter on sermon delivery provides interesting feedback from preachers on their practices.

Only a very small percentage of preachers practice their sermons out loud before preaching. I’m one of the ones who doesn’t.

However, I do practice speaking the sermon from the moment I begin writing the sermon each Monday morning. This is in line with Carrell’s findings:

“the path to increased transformative impact: [is] alter your preparation and delivery so that you honor the orality inherent in preaching.” (p. 142, emphasis added)

Carrell summarizes the “oral style” described by communication theorists, Dance and Zak-Dance. Two are especially noteworthy:

(1) “It makes conscious use of memory. The speaker need to be as free of notes as possible to concentrate on communicating thought to the audience.” (p. 142, emphasis added)

(2) “…speakers work to help the audience feel a part of the speaker’s thoughts and emotional processes.” (p. 143, emphasis added)

So, we write our sermons out like we’re speaking to our listeners. We know our material so well, including our carefully chosen words, that during the sermon we can get our thoughts across clearly and passionately and bring our listeners along minute-by-minute.

And all so that our Lord receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. Students often worry about forgetting what they’re supposed to say if they try preaching without notes. My answer is always the same: Look down at your Bible, take your cue, and keep preaching. You’re the only one who knows the orascript anyway.

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What If You Were Being Charged $0.65 Per Word?

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How much would your sermon manuscript cost?

This past week I had the unfortunate privilege of helping to write my Dad’s obituary. The fine folks at the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, Maine informed me that each word would cost $0.65 and each picture an additional $15.

That information changed the way I wrote the final draft. [Just to let you know, our family agreed that the cost was not a factor in what we decided to include or exclude. However, knowing the cost per word did affect my editing.]

So, what if you wrote out your sermon, word-for-word and then edited it knowing you would be charged $0.65 per word and money was tight? Do you think that final draft would be better or worse because of it?

I think you know what I think. Your sermon would become more concise. You would find that lots of the words in the first draft were unnecessary and unhelpful. The discarded words and phrases would gain you valuable pulpit time, especially those precious minutes near the end.

Some of you know I’m a big fan of manuscripting-with-a-view-toward-preaching-without-notes for lots of reasons. Manuscripting provides an opportunity for me to be more concise. Editing as if I were being charged $0.65 per word gives me a final draft I can confidently “take” to the pulpit.

Most of my students don’t believe me when I extol the virtues of manuscripting. They confess that they usually write out an outline and some key thoughts. Then I usually protest in my evaluations of their final sermons that they could have been more concise! (*smile*)

Before Sunday edit your manuscript as if I were charging you $0.65 per word and may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) in part because of your concise communication of His Word.

Randal

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Never Study Without Typing Out Your Sermon. Ever. Period.

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That’s you writing out your sermon from minute one of your study!

This was supposed to be another, What I’m learning from reading Jonathan Edwards’s early sermons post. It still is in a way.

Kimnach’s general introduction to volume 10 (The Works of Jonathan Edwards) includes a section called, The Making of Sermons. It’s a gold mine for anyone interested in Edwards’s homiletical method. For instance, Edwards changed the way he took notes as he gained preaching experience.

In the early years Edwards’s sermon notebook contained Scripture that might be preach-able. Later “the notebook becomes a workbook, perhaps indicating an increasing devotion to the art of making sermons, but more likely indicating an effort to eliminate the need for a full first draft, separate from the pulpit draft of the sermon” (p. 67).

That means Edwards began writing out his sermons much earlier.

I can’t remember when I started the practice of writing the sermon from the moment I begin my studying on Monday mornings. But it’s one of the best practices I’ve learned over the years.

It means not separating studying for a sermon from the actual writing of the sermon. Sermon studying = sermon scripting.

Try this: copy and paste your preaching portion for Sunday onto a Pages or Word document (for me it’s Psalm 3 in the morning and Psalm 4 in the evening), begin at verse 1 (or whatever your first verse is; of course you’ve confessed your sin if you have wormed your way into the middle of a pericope!), and begin preaching to your congregants.

You don’t need to select one or two; preach to them all just like you’ll be doing on Sunday, Lord willing. You’ll find that you’ll preach some, study some, then preach some more, then study some more, etc. That is, you’ll write down what you’ll say to your folks, visit your favorite helps in Logos or commentary, and write out what you found and want to convey. That rhythm occurs repeatedly for the duration of your sermon preparation.

If you combine this practice of writing your sermon while you study with my ABIT approach to your first hour or two of study, you’ll find your sermon comes together quite nicely.

May our Lord be glorified in the church and in Christ Jesus as you work hard for Him and your flock this week (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal