PeaceBang

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1. Unrelated: Just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying your blog looking through the archives. Mind if I add you to my blogroll?

   Comment by JP Manzi — September 22, 2007 #

2. I’ve had just the opposite experience, PB. One of the biggest pieces of learning for my ministry has been that most of the time “fine” IS good enough. I could spend huge amounts of time polishing and fiddling with my sermons to make them into deathless prose that will knock the socks off of my congregation. And I have done that a lot (though I haven’t been aware of the Sock Effect).

   But there is so much to do in ministry besides deliver knockout sermons! And I find that I can use polishing a sermon as an excellent excuse not to do something else that needs to be done.

   I love writing, I love polishing, I love preaching. I don’t love carefully reading the agenda for the Membership Committee meeting or preparing my reimbursement request for professional expenses or making the pastoral phone call to the Energy Sink. But these things need to be done too.

   In my case, I’ve had to remind myself that “fine” is good enough and leave it at that, so I can get on to other things.

   Comment by Judy Welles — September 22, 2007 #

3. After nearly thirty years I still never feel that a sermon is “good enough” until weeks and perhaps months afterwards when I go back to it! That is why I moved my sermon writing day to Saturday — because when it was early in the week I could spend more time on it and I always did — without necessarily making it better. The problem with writing sermons is that I can’t put them away long enough to have the distance to be a good critic. The good thing about writing them, is that by Sunday they must be finished, whether I like them or not. Fortunately, when I go back and read them they are usually better rather than worse than I remember.

   Comment by Kate R — September 23, 2007 #

4. Happy Winterfinding! Or Mabon, if you prefer a Celtic holy tide as opposed to a Scandinavian one.

   Autumn Equinox, basically.

   The ol’ year wheel turns again! Watch the nights get longer, the days get cooler…mmmm, me loves this time of year. Are the leaves starting to change where you are?

   Comment by Tracie — September 23, 2007 #

5. @Tracie, YES! They’re gorgeous!
   @Judy: I agree that we shouldn’t shoot for “deathless prose,” but my personal gauge for when I really need to climb back in and re-do a sermon is when I wake up in the middle of the night with the clear cartoon bubble over my head that says, “THAT THING YOU JUST WROTE STINKS.” It’s an unerringly right intuition. I gave up neurotic perfectionism for Lent a long time ago, and good riddance. But sometimes something needs to be re-woked. I don’t avoid other things to do it, but I do make sacrifices. This week it was not watching “Volver” from Netflix. Ah well, that’s what Monday night is for.

   Comment by PeaceBang — September 23, 2007 #

6. And Peacebang, my dear, that is why you shouldn’t take Friday off. Because if you care enough to rewrite your sermon on your day off, it’s really not a day off, now is it?

   Warmly,
   m

   Comment by marcia — September 24, 2007 #

7. Marcia, Fridays off are working great! I love them! I would never re-write my sermon on my day off. Girl, I ain’t that crazy.

   Comment by PeaceBang — September 25, 2007 #

8. Oh good! I’m so relieved. Seriously!

   m

   Comment by marcia — September 25, 2007 #

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