Old Sermons (Or Someone Else's!)

This past weekend, I found myself stepping in at the last minute for my senior pastor, who has been sidelined with pneumonia. Thursday he had decided there just was no way he'd be up to preach, and so he asked me to. A lot of people suggested I just pull an old sermon out of my file.

Now for most pastors, this is a really good idea. Honestly, doing that no doubt aids the quality of a sermon called for at the last minute. My problem is, I just don't preach that way. I can't really imagine totally taking a sermon and using it. That said, I DO rework old themes. In fact, my first sermon at Calvary was based on a sermon I preached during a seminary internship (I thought it had been really awesome till I went back and looked at it and realized I've changed how I preach since then). The thing is, I often find it much harder to rework an old sermon well than to just write a new one. So...that's what I did Saturday. I just picked on of the lectionary texts and did the best I could. It was, at any rate, more interesting for me than to just pull something and memorize it.

Today, looking through the Pew Forum religion news page, I came across this article addressing the plethora of sermon sites out there:
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2009/07/online_pastoral_inspiration_in.html

And I must say, I agree with the people quoted in the story. Taking someone else's sermon? I mean, liking an illustration and adapting it is one thing (and I'm still paranoid that my history professors from college will hunt me down for not citing, so I keep track of where I get stuff from). But taking an entire sermon? I mean even if that wasn't sketchy, it just seems really poor homiletic practice.

I was taught that a sermon should flow from the identity and personality of the preacher. That's why, for example, I don't worry too much about a sort of flow-of-consciousness sermon on my part. I mean, I want it to have structure and a direction, but that's how I think. It's how I am. I would find it harder to read someone else's sermon than to just wing it, honestly.

Then again, I'm not a manuscript preacher. I suppose this works much better if you are. But still, I mean, I LOVE preaching. It's so cool. You talk, and people listen. Or at least pretend to. And it's a big responsibility. It's definitely one of my favorite parts of ministry. Of course for some pastors, it's not. And perhaps that's why they just take someone's sermon. Still, that's just sketchy...

Off to use the internet for good, not evil (or at least not plagiarism...)