Forty Years of Sermons

This spring I’ve been reading through 40 years of sermons so that I can reduce the number I have been lugging around each place I have moved. After weeks of reading I have reduced two full boxes to less than half of a box.
It has been a trip down memory lane as I have worked through the years. There are of course references to the things that were going on in our nation and the world, things that were big news at the time and probably will only warrant a footnote in most history books. There were also references to family and friends, and places we went as a family. I’ve never included a lot of references to family in sermons, and usually only in a general way, but every once in awhile I will find an incident I had not thought about in 20 years…or more.
I’ve seen how my preaching improved especially, after I had to do it every week. Prior to 1985, I preached maybe 6-10 times a year as an Assistant Minister. Like any skill, we improve with practice so when I became a solo pastor and had to preach every Sunday I became a better preacher.
Reading these sermons has also reinforced many things I have thought about sermons. One of the reasons that most of the sermons aren’t worth saving is not that they weren’t good sermons, but they were good because they were timely. They were addressing a particular church at a particular time in its history and in the history of the world. So they are time specific and don’t necessarily translate 10 years later in a different place. Every once in awhile though I found one that had a timeless quality to it that I could probably preach next Sunday and it would work. I’ve kept the best of those. I’ve also kept some for sentimental reasons because they refer to special times in my life or the lives of those I have loved.
Something I have come to know about preaching through these years is the things I value in my own sermons are not always what speak to others. On the other hand sermons that I have thought were sort of hum drum have struck a deep chord in others. Some Sunday’s someone will say how much a sermon has touched them, and I am frankly puzzled as to why. I’ve come to appreciate that what I say is only half of what goes on in preaching. The other half is in the hearer who brings special hopes or needs on Sunday. Sometimes the words just are the right ones they needed to hear even if they aren’t, to me at least, that special.
I’m glad to be done with my sermon reading but I was also glad to do it. It reminded me of people in these congregations who touched my life. I could see the change that was going on in my own life as I matured. It was comforting to know that my preaching did improve over time. It also reminded me of how many things that were big news at the time, in span of history weren’t all that big. It gave me perspective and at this stage of my life that is something to be valued.

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