Saturday Night Wrestling

I've been at it all week...reading, re-reading and reading again. Thinking, re-thinking and thinking again. Praying, re-praying and praying again. The homiletical wrestling match is now in its seventh day. My partners in this exercise are the texts the Church (in the form of the Revised Common Lectionary) has given me. Lectionary preachers stand in front of the weekly texts and struggle mightily, sometimes hoping against hope to hear a sermon worthy of sharing with the folks who take time out of hectic lives to attend a Sunday liturgy.

I confess. This week's selections are not choosing to give up a sermon without a struggle.

The Old Testament lesson from Micah concludes with a well-known question, "What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?" Is this the week for a good social-Gospel-type sermon? I wonder.

In the Epistle lesson from 1 Corinthians, we hear Paul at his serpentine best, talking about God taking the foolish things of the world (in particular "the cross") to confuse the wise. What would it be like to preach about the cross within the cultural context of middle class suburbia? I wonder about that too.

The Gospel reading assigned for tomorrow affords us the opportunity to listening once again to Matthew's version of the Beatitudes. I wonder how might a sermon might assist us all in engaging such a familiar passage with fresh ears? Or am I already too convinced I know what Jesus is talking about for the Spirit to get a word in edgewise? I don't know. But, I'm pretty sure tomorrow isn't the time to attempt a "fresh interpretation" of this passage. I'm way too stale.

All of this wondering has given me a good case of preacher's block. I'm tongue tied at the moment. The intro is weak. The transitions are rickety. The trajectory is erratic. The conclusion is vapid.

But, as my homiletics professor used to say, "A sermon is never finished, it just comes time to preach." My hope at the moment is to get a sermon started. The night is young. Eight o'clock in the morning will be here before I know it. So now it's time to get back to the wrestling. And if a sermon (of any sort of coherence) fails to appear? Well, it won't be because of a lack of effort!