My ‘day off’ is Friday. By this time in the week, my sermon is usually 90% complete. I’ll apply the finishing touches to my sermon preparation on Saturday morning. Then, I’ll talk through and pray through the sermon on Saturday night and again early on Sunday morning. But I step away from it all on Friday.
Not this week. Yesterday, four needs surfaced which demanded my attention. I got a couple staff members involved in two of them. But as relentless as I am about guarding my time, delegating tasks, and concentrating on the two or three areas where I contribute the most, I could not ignore these four needs. So here I am today, working on my ‘day off.’ What’s a pastor do to?
After twenty years of pastoral ministry, I’ve struck a reasonable balance (I think!) between ‘going with the flow’ and guarding my time. I refuse to be tyrannized by the urgent. But I also know that the rhythm I’ve designed for sermon preparation will frequently be interrupted. Life happens! As a ‘parable of Jesus’ (my friend Dave Hansen’s description of a pastor), I must be sensitive to peoples’ needs when they show up at inopportune times. Because I was diligent in my sermon preparation on Monday through Wednesday, I’m not anxious about Sunday. I’ll wrap up my preparation tomorrow in good shape. My sermon will probably be stronger because of four people with whom I connected deeply in the last couple of days. Then, I’ll report this to a ‘band of brothers’ with whom I meet regularly. They keep me accountable to maintain a healthy schedule.
As I reflect on all of this, it occurs to me that I’m never really finished with sermon preparation until 8:59 a.m. on Sunday anyway!. That’s when I head to the platform to deliver my sermon in our first worship service. Until that point, I’m not done with my sermon preparation even when I ‘finish my sermon’ on Thursday afternoon or Saturday morning. There’s always some last-minute tweaking and adjusting. If you preach regularly, you know what I mean!
I’m curious about the boundaries you set for guarding your sermon preparation time. Which ones are non-negotiable? What qualifies as a crisis or a situation weighty enough for you to make an exception? Even after twenty years of pastoral ministry, I’m still wrestling with these questions!
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 12:32 PM on March 16, 2007
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Steve,
I appreciate your entry here. I like you find that God-given interruptions often enrichen my message. I tend to start thinking about my message on Monday, but am hardly 90% done by Friday. I wish. I guess I just like working closer to the dead line many times. I take Thursday's off and don't answer my phone on those days. I let me congregation know that I use Saturdays to collect my thoughts, so I only answer limited calls - people I am scheduled to connect with.
If an emergency gets to me on Saturday by some means, then I tend to it. But most of the time our congregation is able to respond to any emergencies as ministers of the gospel. Thanks for your post. It has encouraged me to try and get to 50% by Friday. Of course I should say that as a single man, I can run with this schedule. I would probably have to adjust my days if I were married with kids.
Posted by: JR Woodward on March 18, 2007
Steve,
I can identify with your article. I also work on the sermon early in the week and try to be (mostly) done with sermon preparation by Thursday afternoon. Friday is my sabbath day off. I then run a similar process to you on Saturday and Sunday morning. And this schedule works fine - most of the time! Every once in a while, something will come up and I find myself working a Friday. I love my regular day off, though, and work hard not to schedule church-related activities on Fridays.
Posted by: Ray Fowler on March 27, 2007