Tricks to Preaching

At a Super Bowl party someone asked me, "How do you prepare to preach?"

I think they wanted to know if I had any secrets. Well I don't. Here's my process.

I wait until the week before to prepare the sermon. I know I don't have to but I also feel like trying to do it a few weeks in advance....is
1) cheating the clergy are doing it week to week and
2) too sterile for my tastes. I want to be working with it up until delivery in the hopes that I will let the Holy Spirit speak to me on the topic.

So I start by reading the lectionary. Then I spend some time (typically 24-36 hours) just thinking about it/praying about it. While I'm in the car or waiting for someone to show up for a meeting. When I'm brushing my teeth in the morning or cooking dinner for the Resurrection House.

About mid week I've determined a theme and/or an idea I want to explore. Then I dive into a commentary (or commentaries depending). I spend time reading about what others have to say and where their studies have brought them. They typically provide some historical information and/or they can provide some further insight into the theme I'm trying to teach on.

As the end of the week gets here I actually sit down and type out a draft of the sermon/homily. I don't know if I can call my preaching time a sermon:
1) Because clergy give sermons and I'm not clergy
2) I tend to preach short. I hit an idea try to create a few points

After I've got a draft down I try to put it down and take a little break from it. I come back to it and re-read it and see if it makes sense. (Sometimes I think faster than I type and sometimes I just can't articulate an idea clearly. Both of these things do not need to happen when I'm in the pulpit.)

Then I spend some time thinking about delivery. Trying to memorize some sections so I can look away from what I've typed and look at the people. I think about pacing and flow. I move points around so that there is a process. I make sure that I've included some examples that help illustrate my point (i.e. music, scene from a popular movie, something from a book, current event, etc.)

At this point I'm ready to deliver. And yet EVERY time I get up there I end up saying something that I didn't write down. I don't just stick to the script. If in a moment I'm moved to say something "off book" I do. I try to (even at the pulpit) make space for the Holy Spirit. I use what I've written but I try not to let it box me in.

On Sunday afternoon I try to think of things I could've done better. I think about my pacing and delivery and I consider if I could've gotten my viewpoint across better. I've never had the guts to have myself recorded and REALLY examine myself but one day I probably will. I also like to look online at this point and see some other points of views. Every time I consider doing this earlier but I realize that if I do I may try to preach what the Gospel is saying to them and not what it's saying to me. I realize that can be dangerous so I steer clear.

And that's it. Anyone can do it. It requires preparation, planning, reading and research. Oh and getting in front of a group of people and trying to not let their opinion (whether good or bad) completely cloud the message you are trying to give to them.