by Barney Wells, DMin
Director, The Fred Craddock Center for Preaching Excellence

Last week, we looked at the value of planning your preaching. Over the next several blog posts, we will look at a logical sequence of actions for crafting a sermon. For some, this may simply be a reminder and confirmation of an already familiar process. For others, it may be a new approach.

So you have decided on a text from which to preach—now what? Read. Read the text you have chosen. Read that text repeatedly in whatever version you prefer. Then read it in some other versions, noting what if anything changed that would affect the meaning of the passage. Did the verb tenses change, or did nouns change from singular to plural? If different terms are used, are they synonyms or do they have different meanings. Then read the biblical context. How does your passage fit in the broader context of the book? Check out the cross-references to see how your passage is connected to other portions of scripture. Of course, if you have the language skills, translate the passage yourself.

Determine the genre of your passage. Is it a letter? Is it a poem? Is it a narrative? Is it a parable? Apocalyptic? Prophecy? Is it a parable or a poem in a prophecy in a narrative? Determining the genre is a key part of understanding the meaning. A report on the evening news and an editorial cartoon can both speak of the same event and even convey a related message, but in very different forms. Determining the genre can help shape the sermon. A narrative passage might be best presented in a narrative sermon, while one of Paul’s letters might be best presented deductively. Genre doesn’t determine your sermon form, but it can certainly suggest it.

Now comes the hard part—live with the text for a few days or weeks (that’s why you need to start early). Memorize it and mull it over in your mind while you’re driving, sitting in a waiting room, mowing the yard, wherever you don’t need your brain for something else. Questions will come to your mind. Connections will suggest themselves. At this stage, don’t go looking at commentaries or other people’s sermons. That will come later. For now, just ponder on the passage and on any related passages you discovered in the cross-references. Live with your text and let it soak in. Then—well, we’ll talk about that next week.