Sermon Follow Up
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
9:31 AM
"Nice sermon," Dave said. 
I hadn't had enough conversations with him  o know if this was a sincere compliment or sarcasm.  "Thanks," I said sheepishly.
"How long did it take to write a sermon like that?"
"Two hours."  I said.  
"That's a precise calculation?" 
"Yes, it was the last hour before I fell asleep last night and the first hour after I woke up this morning."
"Is that that how you usually write sermons?"
"No, it's never how I write sermons.  But, I worked on preparing next year's budget all last week.  Plus a full week of programming.  Plus I had stuff all day on Saturday.  I worked about an hour last night before I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore  and then I set my alarm for five and finished about 6:15."  
"So, two hours and fifteen minutes."  
I looked at him wondering why were having this conversation.  The span of fifteen minutes wasn't going to make up for what I felt I hadn't done.  
"There was a lot of poetry and passion in the sermon for two and a half hours of prep.  I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with an adequate amount of time to write."  
"Probably a lot less poetry and passion."
David turned his mouth in a frown.  He had meant it as a compliment and I had managed to deflect it.  Self-deprecation can get old.  
I tried feebly to explain, "My predecessor told me a story once.  A janitor was cleaning around the pulpit one day and noticed the preacher had left his notes in the sanctuary.  The custodian went to collect them and return them.  He saw written out in the margins in the pastor's large handwriting, 'Point weak!  Preach loud!'  Sometimes poetry and passion are compensating for an unfaithful lack of exegesis."  
"What's exegesis?" David asked, now back to research mode.
"It's what preachers do to keep themselves from just spotting off their unchecked opinions."
"Is that the actual definition of exegesis?"
"No, exegesis is what you do with the biblical text.  Sermons shouldn't start with the preacher's opinions . . . Or passions . . Or poetry.  The must be grounded in a faithful treatment of the text.  Exegesis happens when an biblical interpreted seeks to understand  the original meaning of a biblical text--to understand what the biblical author meant when the text was written, when it was written to whom it was written."  
"Oh . . . You're right.  That does seem like a lot less poetry and passion."
"Hopefully poetry and passion makes its way into every sermon.  It's a matter of sequence rather than either/or.  When you have exegesis and no passion, the sermon lacks conviction.  When you have passion and no exegesis, the sermon lacks grounding.  In an ideal world you have both.  With two and a half hours you can have one or the other."  
"And you chose poetry and passion."  
"Yes, and I should have chosen exegesis," I said.  
"Well I suspect you weren't trying to get me to enjoy the sermon, but for what its worth I thoroughly enjoyed it."  