Stumbling unto the Sacred

How to Find Clarity

“I never knew where the sermon was going until I began typing. It was in the writing that I discovered the direction.”

A former pastor, friend, and mentor shared this with me two years into my career in ministry. Up to that point, I had struggled to do sermons the “right way” - which entailed having a clear thesis, three supporting points, and an outline for exactly how the thesis-and-supporting-points would be unpacked in the sermon.

My problem?

I could never figure out what my thesis was before I started writing. Needless to say, creating an outline in support of an unknown thesis felt frustratingly futile.

The ugly, behind-the-scenes truth that I told almost nobody was this: it was not until I’d begun writing it, editing it, and speaking it aloud that I would stumble into the heart of the sermon. Which meant, yes, there were more than a few times where the center of it was not known until the night before.¹

The whole time I felt keenly This is wrong! This is lazy! You should be able to discern the clear point of the sermon two months in advance and then methodically build the architecture like you were taught in seminary!²

Ah, the weight of good ol should…

When my pastor/friend/mentor shared those words with me over coffee, it was like that 100 pound weight began falling off my soul.

You mean we’re free to write our way to the Truth?
Wander toward Wonder?
Stumble unto the Sacred?

(Photo by Tory Hallenburg on Unsplash)

Actually, I’ve come to learn it’s frequently the way of things.

In writing, speaking, and really most endeavors that require our heart’s engagement… the single best way to discover what needs to be communicated or done?

Start. Moving. Forward.

(Photo by Thomas Martinsen on Unsplash)

Put pen to paper.
Speak aloud with another over coffee, coaching or otherwise.
Speak in front of others.
Take the next available step (of faith).

It’s stunning to discover what the heart-and-body already know - and the rational mind can only later catch up to it.

Intuition is the word we sometimes use.
Going with our gut is another expression.
Stepping by faith is a classic way to put it.

In each case, there’s an active pen-to-paper kind of movement that becomes essential for discovering the Heart of the Matter that wants to come through at that particular time in our life.³

What about you?

What is the thing you should be doing?
Or the way you should be doing things?
Does the should ever weigh heavy?
Does should ever stop the forward movement altogether?

And what would it look like to let should fall right off your soul and just start…

writing or
speaking or
moving the ball forward?

Trusting that in the movement itself the longed-for clarity, direction, and core conviction will emerge.

1. Ask any congregation I have served, and they will tell you about the multiple times I arrived to the pulpit on Sunday morning and announced that the sermon title printed in that morning’s bulletin was null and void. I had (again) arrived at the real title (and thus thesis) post-printing.

2. To be sure, the ‘two months in advance’ thing does work for some folks. And it even has worked for me occasionally - so long as I am writing-and-rehearsing the actual sermon, not just thinking, brainstorming, and jotting down interesting ideas.

3. I remember showing up to my first writing class as adult and nearly running out the door when the teacher said, “Here’s the deal. We’re going to write for 10 minutes straight without picking up on pens from the page. That’s the only rule. Just keep writing until the timer goes off. At that point, we’ll read aloud what we wrote.” Talk about vulnerable. But… every single time I did this, I began my sentences with random, wandering thoughts and then - slowly but surely - my pen-and-hand-and-heart would start to discover something quite important wanting (needing) to get out.