'Tis the season -- for grinding it out. That's true for pastors, at least. Last week I finished the sermon early for the coming Sunday, December, 16, so that I could get getting started on the sermon for Sunday, December 23. I spent this past Friday (usually a day off) writing most of the first draft of that one. Yesterday I finished it, so that I could get started today on the sermon for Christmas Eve. By the end of the morning I have an idea of what to say, so I can spend this afternoon making homebound communion visits. Tomorrow I'll begin the writing of the Christmas Eve sermon.

Sermon writing and hearing is a process of human energy (or fatigue!) and how the Holy Spirit can move through the words that are spoken. In fact, I am constantly surprised by what the Spirit can do with the words I produce. Sometimes I finish the sermon writing process thinking it's come out pretty well. Other times, I finish something I don't think is much good, and think, "Well, that's the best I can do this week." That was certainly true with the sermon for this past Sunday, December 16. But it happened again: as I spoke a sermon that I didn't think much of, the Spirit was working through the words for several people who surprised me. They told me how important the words had been for them that morning!

Preaching and listening are such a dynamic interplay of the Holy Spirit! We talked about that last night in the prayer study group. One member of the group said that she's often been struck by a sermon, and has eagerly awaited the printed copy -- but then, when she reads it days later, she wonders what was so important about it! The reality is that, when she heard the preacher's words, the Holy Spirit spoke to her at that time and in that place, through the words, and through what she was thinking and experiencing. It turns out, on later reading, that the preacher's words themselves were not timeless or particularly profound! What was happening was what the Spirit was causing to happen in the communication event.

All of this is a source of great grace for me. Even when I finish the several-days-long process of writing a sermon and I am less than satisfied, I can still present it as an offering to God the Holy Spirit. I can pray, "Well, I've done the best I can, and it's not much good. Even so, would you do something with it when the worshipers hear it?"