In the first meeting we met in my office. I asked Kenny and Cliff to fill out a pre-project survey.1 I also went over a sermon prep covenant that explained the sermon prep group purpose, the time we would meet, how long we would work on each sermon, and provided contact information in case they were unable to meet.2
The covenant explained that we would spend approximately 30 minutes discussing what we are planning to preach in three Sundays, 30 minutes discussing what we are planning to preach in two Sundays, and 60 minutes discussing our upcoming sermon. I allowed more time for the current week’s sermon in order for each member to preach their sermon and receive feedback.
1 See appendix 2.
2 See appendix 1.
Sermons in Three Weeks
After having them fill out the pre-project survey and explaining the covenant, we started by looking at what we were planning to preach in three Sundays, which at this meeting would be Sunday, November 15, 2020. Cliff was preaching a sermon series through Ephesians. He preached on Ephesians 6:18-21. His sermon was on prayer since this passage is Paul asking for prayer and encouraging the Ephesians to pray for him and each other.
Kenny was preaching using the Revised Common Lectionary as his guide. On November 15 the lectionary has Psalm 90 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. At this point he did not know what the main point of his sermon would be.
I was currently working through a sermon series emphasizing worship. All of our adult and youth Sunday school classes were studying the same theme. We were using the book Sing! How Worship Transforms Your Life, Your Church, and Your Family by Keith and Kristyn Getty. Each week I preached on the theme of the chapter that all our discipleship groups were reading that week. The theme of my sermon was “Sing with the Local Church.” I did not have much more prepared than that.
Sermons in Two Weeks
We moved on to our November 8 sermons. Cliff was preaching on Ephesians 6:10-17 on the armor of God. He planned to preach on spiritual warfare. In his study he saw Satan’s primary goal was “turning you from God and his primary attack zone is unity in the church.” He planned to explain that spiritual warfare is usually not normal
everyday problems like one’s car breaking down, because that does not turn someone from God. Spiritual warfare encompasses things that may be common but are distracting from God’s mission.
Kenny intended to preach, as suggested by the lectionary, on Joshua 14:1-3, 14-25, but he wanted like to give a “fly over of the Babylonian exile.” He wanted this sermon to relate to his congregation’s feelings after the presidential election and
demonstrate how God can use leaders, good and bad, for his glory. We discussed how Joshua would fit in that aim considering the book of Joshua occurs prior to the
Babylonian exile. He said he would think through that this week.
My November 8 sermon was titled “Sing with Your Family.” I did not have a passage yet, but we discussed the importance of parents and even extended family in the Bible to model worship for their kids and grandkids. This helped me consider what the main theme of this sermon should be.
Sermons for Upcoming Sunday
We moved on to our November 1 sermons. Due to the newness of meeting and getting to know each other, we did not preach our sermons but simply discussed them.
Cliff was preaching on Ephesians 5:22-6:9 about Paul’s instructions to the household.
Kenny was preaching an All Saints Day sermon on Revelations 7:9-17. He planned to have people read out the names of all 20 people in his church who have died this past year and light candles for each name. He planned to talk about the influence they had on the church.
In his sermon explanation it seemed he was going to more glorify people than Christ. We talked about how Revelations 7:9-17 can actually honor the saints but emphasize how the saints point to Christ and not to themselves, which seems to be the danger of his sermon.
He said that was helpful.
I was preaching on Lamentations 3 with the sermon title being “Singing with Heart and Mind.” Lamentations 3:22-23 is the Scripture reference for the hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness and teaches the church how singing can affect hearts and minds, and how hearts and minds can affect singing. Reading all of Lamentations 3 would take about five minutes, which I thought might be too long. Cliff suggested I summarize the first half in a few seconds, which would save me time but not neglect that section. We discussed how important lament was in Old Testament worship and how we need to teach our congregations to lament. Kenny said, “I think it’s ok to lament, it’s ok not to feel God,”
with which Cliff agreed and added, “but it’s not ok to forsake God. Lamenting allows us
to be honest with God, even mad at God, but not to forsake God.” This was helpful to me and I made a note in my sermon notes.
Meeting 2: Thursday, November 5, 2020