Well, my preaching nightmare finally came true this past Sunday morning.
I forgot my notes down in my study and didn't realize it until I was started with the Scripture reading just before the message.
I forged ahead, a bit tentatively at first, but it came together, I think.
Afterward I told my small Sunday School class and they said they hadn't noticed. I'm not sure if that's good or bad...
How about my fellow pastor-blogger friends. Have you preached without notes often/ever? The current pastor at the church where I grew up uses no notes pretty much every Sunday am... He says if he can't keep it straight in his head, it's probably too complex for the congregation to absorb.
I might try this again soon, this time intentionally...
I have preached without notes, sort of. I have preached with a one page sheet with my main points and various sub-points/illustrations on it. I don't mind doing it, and am working at doing it more often. I would agree with the pastor you mentioned, but for the fact that my memory sometimes fails me at the most inconvenient times.
ReplyDeleteAt the last banner conference someone asked the speakers about whether a person should use notes, they unanimously said that preachers should strive to get away from notes. I'm not sure if I agree with them, some great preachers have preached with notes and some have preached without notes. I figure notes/manuscripts are fine as long as the person using them is willing to deviate from them if the Spirit so leads.
Yup Ken, no hope for you. I guess there is a little hope for me since I never went completely noteless. ;)
ReplyDeleteI use notes, mostly because I refer to a good number of other biblical texts, and want to place the Bible's inter-connectedness front and center to my congregation. I use a 8.5 x 5.5 insert sized sheet to keep things straight. I find that the less I put on the outline, the better the sermon, and that the Spirit's presence and power are felt.
ReplyDeleteGarrison Keillor has a story of Rev. Lundquist (or whomever) who lost the middles pages of his manuscript, so he just read very slowly. It was hilarious.
I made the horrible mistake of waiting until Sunday morning to print out my sermon this past week. It turned out that the computer had crashed on me; I couldn't get it all back in time to make it to worship so I had to preach it without the text in front of me.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much always write out a manuscript, but most of the time I don't look at it except to make sure that I get any quotes right. I aim to read through the text of the sermon 6-7 times before preaching it so that I get a good feel for the individual words and overall flow of the sermon.
I've also had several occasions of being asked to preach off the cuff. I actually enjoy these moments since I feel freer to engage the congregation with better eye contact, etc.