Sermon dynamics

As I am writing my first sermon (hopefully finishing tomorrow), I am noticing many little struggles with it. There are the common things with writing in general. What I am noticing the most though is that there are little tricks to balancing the information and the message that I did not previously think about.

One thing I have constanstly talked about with friends and Kessia is sermon quality. I think a favorite past time of college friends was to pick apart what speakers said. The biggest complaint we had was that there was lack of substance. There would be too much fluff and no real information, or background. The another item that we picked on the most was (and is) lack of an application. Probably the last item (not as important in college) was the length of the sermon. Now as I get set to preach I am finding it trick to make all these three quality.

The one I do not want to compromise on is including lots of information and background. I love it when leaders actually help me understand the scripture that we are reading. My favorites bring out all the little background nuggets of gold that help me better understand what it was that I just read. This also helps me get perspective.

I put in all my own insights, then I have now added background information from many sources. This background information has pulled my sermon in so many ways. Not all the insights help in making the point I am making. At what point am I overloading the congregation and muddling up the core message? I can now see why many pastors have people take notes on a little sheet.

With all that extra in there now (might get cut down later) is not taking too much time to get to the point. I feel like I am slowing down too long to tell much of the background. Although I feel without some of this background the passages do not make sense. One of my passages, Samuel, is very short and really makes no sense without understanding some of the background that was going on in the temple and with Hannah. Does this help get to the point of community? And with including all of this am I going to spend 18 minutes on background and 2 on application?

It is very tricky to balance all these thoughts, insights, and messages. I am loving having the challenge though. I would not imagine ever doing this without using three passages either. I guess that is why I will never be a pastor. I can not write a sermon on three passages in a short amount of time! Lets hope it will all come out well...