Writing sermons is hard (part 2 of many)

Yes, I've now included several sermons as blog entries. (another one on the way soonish)

I'm firmly convinced that a sermon is an oral event. A conversation between God, the text, the preacher, and the congregation. What God says to me may get lost in translation on the way to you, which might be a good or a bad thing. Several times already at St. Thomas, I've experienced God taking what comes out of my mouth and working with it in the air on its way to you. People have commented to me at the end of the service that they've loved what I said about [turnips], when I was talking about [geese]. That's all to God's glory.

But I write sermons, and I do write most of them down as a manuscript, to be heard rather than written. You're aware that spoken English uses different grammar and rhythm than written English. Alliteration loses its power. Repitition, phrasing, become the product of the reader's attention level rather than the preacher's delivery. As a result, most of what I've been told are 'good' sermons look terrible on paper.

I'm also firmly convinced that a sermon is an event for a specific time and place and people. St. Thomas is a crowd of suburban anglo-saxon upper-middle-class Episcopalians. We're not a good cross-section of San Antonio, the United States, or Christianity for that matter. Sermons sent out written hit unknown ears, and I can't even think about writing for *everybody* in God's creation or I get totally paralyzed.