Octoberific! 10.3.2024

     For some, the first days of October are exhilarating because of the crisp, Fall air. Others, for reasons I do not—and care not to understand, look forward to indulging in pumpkin spice. For some October means playoff baseball. Other sports fanatics are encouraged as both the NFL and Collegiate Football seasons begin to winnow out the haves from the have nots. 

    And for me? October means Sermon Calendar preparation for the coming year. It may be a personal tradition, but it is a tradition, nonetheless. And if you follow me in this space you have heard about it many times. I will never stop declaring the empowering freedom of knowing every single week what you will preach. There is no need to lose sleep or fret over the task at hand. Preparation and planning provide a birds-eye view of 52 weeks of preaching that enhances weekly study and, with a little discipline will make you a better preacher. 

    It is still early. The month is just started. Yet, in just a few hours this afternoon I was able to map out a big-picture strategy for the year. Now I have 29 days not only to secure resources and plan out individual messages I have a yearly theme that I can pray over beginning right now. 

    A sermon calendar may seem overly nerdy and a little obsessive. And it may be those things. But when I come to the first Sunday of Advent I will know where I’m going and how Christmas season leads directly to Easter, Easter to Pentecost, Pentecost to the rest of the year. 

    I can begin right now to read in the secondary literature for the whole year. I have time to consider books which I may have avoided because they are too long or don’t seem relevant, knowing that I am preparing for a long-term season of study. 

    Last month I wrote about reviewing and taking inventory and different strategies for controlling the flow of information. Some of that information will be resurfaced and pigeon-holed for use in the coming months. Other information will be filtered entirely out or re-filed for another day. I’ve already began going back through my past preaching on the texts chose for the year to ensure I do not unduly repeat myself. I have already found materials used in different setting that I will repurpose and reedit into a series of sermons. 

    While the fall may be terrific for some, and others celebrate Rocktober, for me it is Octoberific. A deep dive now will yield fruit, save time, provide quality control, and keep me focused. It is more important at this stage in my ministry than it has ever been before. Only the experienced are truly tempted to be lazy. 

    For example, when I opened Matthew 1 in Logos Bible Software today, without looking for a specific pericope, I was presented with 126 different documents. There were sentence flow documents and other research, but mostly sermons. Sermons I have written from Matthew. Some might find it tempting to re-preach those old sermons, or at least reuse much of that old material. I find it informative and helpful, but I am committed to preparing fresh sermons from current exegesis. This preliminary work is a help to me, not a substitute for doing the hard work I am called to do. The process of exegesis, outlining, writing, editing, rewriting, and ultimately preaching is a spiritual process—a drama in several acts that should result in better preaching—because the process makes for a better preacher. 

    God has called us to stand for Him every Lords Day, to represent Jesus and to proclaim, “This is what God says!” The only way to do that with integrity is to be listening intently to His resonating voice in the text.  

    Let’s saddle up and do the work He called us to do. Let’s enjoy the company of the Biblical authors and the great cloud of exegetical witnesses that has gone before. Let’s join with our colleagues and commit to not only preparing sermons that will be the heart of worship, but to seasons of preparation which are themselves acts of worship. I am convinced that God will honor that work and that if you stick with it, you, too will find the process Octoberific.