Proclaimer Blog
Preparing under pressure
This morning I’m trying to prepare a sermon (to a deadline, as most sermons are). I’m doing so in the context of just hearing about a devastating pastoral situation of some close friends. I’m gutted and find it really hard to apply myself. That’s not uncommon. Thankfully, these kinds of situations are relatively rare. There are joys as well as sorrows. Nevertheless, we often find ourselves having to prepare a message for the godly congregation whilst being burdened by the ungodliness of others.
This is not the same thing as a Messiah complex. Thinking we can fix the world is a bad path for a pastor to take. But there is something about pastoring that keeps us from professionalising. We feel the pains and sins of those we minister to – just as the Apostle Paul did. And so it should be. Pity the congregation whose pastor is so compartmentalized that he is able to switch off from them completely. Some shepherd!
What to do? The sermon has to get done. The people have to be ministered to. I need to be in prayer for the particular situation, and possibly even spend some time trying to help. The answer is always the same – to throw ourselves on the mercy of God. I’ll probably do that over a long walk, praying and reflecting and asking God to remind me that I pastor not just two errant sheep, but a few others too who need to hear the word of God this Sunday.
I spent some of yesterday with a dear pastor who has really been through it the last few years: trouble like you wouldn’t believe. His testimony stirred me up. “The Lord has kept me from bitterness.” Looking in from the outside, this seems humanly impossible, such has been the situation. But we preachers find that the Lord sustains and equips for the ministry the Lord gives. Which means that I prepare my sermon casing myself wholly on him.
Which, by the way, is the means of preparing every sermon.