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Sermon panic

Two days ago I shared that I've been having a bit of trouble with my sermon this week.  This is generally my approach: I choose the text and read it a few times; I put in a bit of work reading commentaries; I pray and ask God what he wants me to say about the text; and then I wait.  Some people describe this as letting it all 'percolate'; as an enthusiastic coffee drinker I heartily concur.

Sometimes the waiting goes on far longer than I'm comfortable with, however.

This morning (having still not written the sermon, which is for this Sunday morning), I had a highly entertaining breakfast with some of the other local Baptist ministers, during which we covered a range of topics, which I will not reveal otherwise they won't let me come any more.  Or at least they won't talk about interesting things in front of me.  Just before we all realised we really had to get back and do some proper work, we got on the subject of the journey of faith.  We talked about the tension between the personal conscious faith we have in Christ and the work of God who saves us despite ourselves.  Fascinating stuff.  Personally, I have become more and more convinced in the last few years that it's almost all about God and very little about me and what I bring to the table.  He speaks to me when I'm not even listening; he loves me when I forget about him; he waits patiently for me to realise I'm not all-powerful, so he can be.

A couple of hours later, I was walking somewhere I think, and decided to pray as I walked.  I find concentrating on prayer difficult - it's easier for me to pray when I'm also doing something else.  As I prayed, he finally gave me my sermon idea.  Phew.

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