Thursday, April 05, 2007

Getting it right second time round

I need to rewrite and resubmit a sermon on Luke 4:21-30 for my Church of Scotland second placement assignment. My first effort was aimless, full of mushy sentences, and it lacked focus. The illustrations didn't work either, apparently. I've been asked to provide a sermon with one theme aimed at a specific need of the congregation I'm in at the moment. My supervisor has 'been to Princeton many times' so he or she must know exactly the kind of sermon that will work.

I'd love any help, by comment or email. Themes I could develop? Illustrations and stories to drive the points home? What kind of sermon does a person living in Princeton, NJ, need to hear?

Hmm... I thought my first attempt was okay. One mistake I made was choosing to include Luke 4, verses 14 to 20 in my reading and in my exposition - I thought that was just setting the context. Another mistake was assuming that notes used for preaching are the same as a written sermon. This is obviously not the case. My supervisor's comments display how badly notes can be misread or misunderstood.

From what I've been told my sermon went down well in Princeton. Perhaps no candidate minister is accepted in the candidate's own church?

1 comment:

Danny said...

I'm sure your sermon was fine first time around, this is an entirely false exercise writing a sermon for 'assessment' (but I'm not going to rant). What about something on uncomfortable truths... about Jesus, who he is, what he demands of us. Jesus stirs it all up, he changes the world as we know and understand it, he requires us to step out of our comfort zones and for some that is a step too far... particulary for those who think they know Jesus, and what being 'church' is all about...