July 20, 2007
the day ahead
An update on moving can be found in the comments. - The Editor
I am moving my office from the lovely sanctum sanctorum upstairs to the more public space downstairs. I need to be in lanes of public traffic in the church. I am missing too much otherwise. The sanctum is a communication blackout zone. But, Lordy, will I miss the sanctum. Walking into it's embrace every morning is a lovely thing. Alas, it was not meant to be. For the time being, I'll keep my books up there and sneak around once a week to work on my sermon. I think I will have to assign myself a weekday for sermon prep. I have allowed myself to get sucked into too much other stuff.
Fellow preacher types, how long on average do you spend on your sermons? And how long are your sermons? I spend 2 hours on a fifteen minute sermon. This is not laudable. But I suspect that it is also very common. Thought? Confessions?
Luther-on-a-Stick is watching you! Hehe, that is very cool. I hope he returns after the move!
Posted by: Laura H. at July 20, 2007 07:04 AMHoly Shit that is a swanky space, for the love of all things semi-holy stay in that space!! I know fellow preachers who have worked for years and dont have a study like that one, myself included!
Time on sermons. About five hours is the maximum. I use the Billy Collins approach to writing, I start writing as soon as possible, take a break, write some more, edit, write some more, edit, write some more edit and even do some last minute changes in the pulpit.
Posted by: Theobilly at July 20, 2007 08:03 AMAn update:
So, I went to the church and with the help of the sexton, we started measuring and planning. The very short of it is that none of the furniture that is upstairs in the lovely large office fits downstairs in the practical/public space. So, scrap Plan A. Now we need a good Plan B.
Can we use the space downstairs for...
1. staff meetings?
2. classes?
3. some of my loafing?
4. associate pastors' space?
We'll see.
Posted by: Tripp at July 20, 2007 09:32 AMDude, KEEP THE OFFICE! How sweet. Hang out downstairs from time to time, but keep that office. Working out of a trailer has really got me to COVET (Oh Lord, forgive me).
As to sermon prep, if you can carve out significant time, do it. Here it is Friday nite and I haven't written word one. I let the week get away from me ONCE AGAIN, so will spend time Saturday sermonizing instead of relaxing with family. That sucks.
Dude keep that office. I'm telling you after a few weeks of folks constantly stopping by, chatting, gossiping, complaining, you'll cherish your private space. Don't think it was just a coincidence that the office furniture will not fit into the more public space!
Posted by: Theobilly at July 21, 2007 08:18 AM