The Hangover: Preacher Style

Are there any other preachers out there who get a “Preaching Hangover” the day after preaching?

I’ve noticed that i regularly get these the day after i preach, particularly if i’ve done the double and preached morning and night. I tend to wake-up the next morning, usually a Monday, with a splitting headache that takes a long time to subside. Alongside this is a fogginess of mind and simply wanting to lie back down and go to sleep.

I can see how they occur. There is much praying and preparation that goes into each sermon that sometimes there is a little tiredness a few hours before speaking. When it comes to the service the adrenaline begins to coarse through the veins and the nerves can be sitting there a while. On a side note i find that my hands go very cold before i preach, i believe this has something to do with the adrenaline. Then, after preaching there is a relief and a low slump that one goes through. After this and it’s all over i then become really hungry and could eat a horse. It’s funny what seems to happen to the body in preaching

In any case, it seems that the best solution for this “hangover” is to simply go about my business as per usual, although i have had to take a Panadol every now and then. Perhaps i should look into other ways of recovery, just like footy players a Powerade and an ice-bath may do the trick!

preaching class begins

I haven’t written on this for a while and thought it might be time to start back again. Perhaps it’ll last a few weeks, perhaps it’ll last longer, i’m not sure. In any case, i’m sure it would help if i actually sat down and put words on a page.

This semester i’m taking preaching class at college. I’m absolutely loving it thus far. Sure, it’s only been two weeks and on one of these weeks i’ve had to preach and be critiqued by the class. But, i can see that the content and practicality of this class will be amazing and very encouraging for ministry. I’ve been to plenty of preaching workshops and conferences over the past few years, there is at least one or two per year offered by someone somewhere (cf. Xpose here in Melbourne). This semester, however, i see as being an integral part of my improvement as a preacher and am seeking to get every ounce of help i can considering the outgoing Principal of the college is leading it.

“Preaching is to open up the inspired text with such faithfulness and sensitivity that God’s voice is heard and God’s people obey him” (John Stott).

the archer & the arrow

I just finished reading “The Archer and the Arrow: Preaching the very words of God” by Phillip Jensen and Paul Grimmond. Phillip Jensen is a very well known Anglican minister in Sydney (and elsewhere) and has over 30 years experience in preaching the Bible. While i haven’t sat under his preaching (except for a youth leaders conference a couple of years back) i know a number of people who have.

This book is sort of a follow-up to The Trellis & The Vine, also produced by Matthias Media, but focuses specifically on preaching. At the start of the year, for the past two years, i have read The Trellis & The Vine as it is a good reminder of the priorities one should have in ministry. It is certainly refreshing to read each year.

I haven’t read a preaching book for a while so The Archer & The Arrow was a good place to start, particularly coming off the back of Trellis. It was a very good book and i rated a 7/10 on my scale. The authors use the illustration of the archer (preacher) using the arrow (sermon) to pierce people’s hearts with the word of God. There are other elements to the arrow, such as the head, the length of the shaft, and also the feathers that help direct the path. It seemed to me to be a good illustration to use and they go into more detail about what these sections mean.

The book was teaching that i had heard before in a number of conferences or at college, surrounding preaching and putting a message together. I thought it was good to be reminded of these things once again and a few wise words from an experienced pastor is always a good thing. I would recommend the book to anyone who is beginning to preach or who needs to be reminded why they are doing what they are doing. The kind of preaching that is favoured, and no doubt is the only right kind of preaching in the author’s eyes, is expository sermons that go through passages and books of the Bible. So, in some sense, it was pretty much down my alley anyway.

lectures to my students (p131)

“It is impossible to hear a man who crawls along at a mile an hour. One word today and one tomorrow is a kind of slow-fire which martyrs could only enjoy. Excessively rapid speaking, tearing and raving into utter rant, is quite inexcusable; it is not, and never can be powerful, except with idiots…”

Jesus on the move…

Today i am preparing for my sermon on Sunday. The passage is from the Gospel of Mark (7:24ff) where Jesus travels into Gentile regions – Gentiles are non-Jews. Many of the commentaries suggest that Jesus disappeared into these regions in order to rest and escape the constant pressure and questioning of the Pharisees. I find this explanation unsatisfactory, it implies that Jesus was soft and couldn’t handle the heat so he had to get out of the kitchen.

Carson downloads

Ridley College have put up the talks that D.A. Carson did when he was here over the last couple of weeks. Go here for all his talks from the Ridley Preaching Conference, the cross-cultural training day, the Christ-Expo talks and his sermon at St Alfred’s on suffering.

The Gospel Coalition have also posted some of his stuff under the resource page.

lectures to my students (p84)