Some people suggest that preachers should manuscript their sermons. (By ‘manuscripting’ I mean writing out word for word what they want to say.) One of the suggested benefits of manuscripting is that the sermons could immediately be put on the website in written form. Another is that there would be no question about the length of the sermon. The preacher could practice it and cut and edit until it was exactly the length that circumstances required. I suppose another perceived advantage would be that there could be an economy of words - no redundancy. Also, words could be carefully chosen. Also - no bad grammar would be included in the sermon itself. I suppose that as I explore this subject I’ll come across other “reasons why.” But I don’t believe in it. Why don’t I?

The “sacred desk”

Preaching is not supposed to be a performance…it is supposed to be an event - an event of Divine-human interaction. The sermon is not supposed to be a script…it is supposed to be a sacred “place” where God speaks to those who have ears to hear. One of the old-timers in our church will at times during his prayers refer to the pulpit as “the sacred desk.” We chuckle at times about that. Perhaps we chuckle to our peril. What is that elderly saint expressing? He isn’t really talking about the piece of furniture - the pulpit. His language is expressing his hope for what happens at that pulpit. Something sacred. He wants to feel the voice of God when someone stands there and preaches.

Do I script the voice of God? Can I script it? It somehow seems to me that much of the talk about manuscripting sermons is informed by concerns other than the concern that God speaks. Time constraints. Efficiency in putting sermons on the website. Word crafting so as to polish and shine. But my prayer has been for some time, “Lord, whether I come across as polished and practiced, or as bumbling and stumbling, it doesn’t matter as long as there is a demonstration of the Spirit.” Notice the prayer again. “Lord, whether I come across as…” That’s significant. I, like every preacher, am aware of the temptation to try to appear well to the people, to let the concern for how I come across to them dictate what I say and how I say it. How much of the drive to manuscript is a drive to polish the preacher, not the sermon? I’m not impugning the motives of every one who manuscripts, but I am asking a serious question. I have precious little time during the week to prepare for preaching. I need to use it in preparation for God speaking, not in adjusting the suit and tie I’m wearing.

The dynamic of preaching

A major factor in my thinking has to do with the dynamic of preaching. When I stand behind the pulpit and look at the people, it is them to whom I am talking. And they are there, in the same room, at the same time, as I am. We are there together. It is a space-time event. It is not like writing a book. When I write a book, or essay, the ones who will read it aren’t in the room with me. They are somewhere else. I’m alone - writing. They will read it while I’m not with them. That is a completely different dynamic than preaching. Preaching is “live.” Writing is “taped.” Why use a method of communication meant for taping when you are in a live situation?

In preaching I am almost in a conversation. The non-verbals of the people shout back at me their response to what I am saying. In a “live” situation I can interact with their response. That interaction, of course, precludes manuscripting.

I see the dynamic of preaching much the same as the dynamic of my one-on-one discipleship sessions that I regularly have with men. Before the actual sessions, I have prepared. I know what truth I want to communicate. I have prayed and expect God to give me wisdom during the conversation. And He does! He often gives me additional insight into the truths we are discussing even while we are talking. He gives me words to say. As I ponder the person’s question or the error in their answer, God shows me what to say. Just the right answer, or just the right probing question, or just the right explanation, comes to me. While in the midst of a conversation between me and one other man I am oriented towards God - and He answers me and helps. Now, the sermon is not as clearly a conversation as the one-on-one discipleship session but I aim for much the same dynamic. As I preach I want to be oriented in my heart towards God and have Him answer me and give me the right words to say at that moment to those people. Imagine how awkward to script a personal session in my office with one person! To jot notes to guide me? Yes. To even script certain questions or presentations of truth? Yes. But to manuscript the conversation?! No. Even so the sermon. It is less of a conversation than a personal discipleship session, but it is no less of a context in which I need God to give me words for the people into whose faces I am looking. How can I script that?!

Part of the argument to manuscript is that God is just as able to help you in your study as He is in the pulpit. But that misses the point. We’re not talking about God’s ability, we’re talking about the dynamic of a particular kind of event. What the preaching event is to me does not allow me to script it…actually, it doesn’t allow itself to be scripted! It can’t be done.

The preacher’s orientation

The dynamic involves the preacher’s orientation. I’ve already talked about being oriented upward towards God while in the event of either personally discipling someone or preaching to a group. I am, in my heart, looking to God in utter desperation (because He is able and I am not) for the words to say. I call that my upward orientation. But - and this is important - I’m also oriented outward towards those who are in the room. This is part of what I mean that preaching is a space-time event.

Even as I write this a couple of teaching videos some to mind, produced by a very well-known Reformed teacher. They are weird - not because of the content, but because of the “fake audience.” The classroom has all these motionless people sitting there listening to the teacher in the same way I watch the video - detached from the teacher. And the teacher is basically (although he always make a few unsuccessful attempts to pretend it is otherwise) detached from them. He isn’t really teaching them. He is filming a video series…he is actually talking to a future audience he cannot see. You can feel that as you watch him teach. The outward orientation needed for real preaching is absent in these videos.

Unfortunately, it is also absent in many church services in which the preacher has manuscripted his sermon. He isn’t oriented outward, he is oriented downward - downward to his notes on the pulpit. I witnessed that in our church a couple years ago when we had a guest speaker. If we had filmed his preaching and could analyze it like an NFL coach looking at game films, we’d probably come up with statistics showing that he spent more time during the sermon with his head down looking at his notes than with his head up looking at the people. What is that?! He is not oriented towards those to whom he shares the room and the moment. He is oriented towards pieces of paper that he prepared at another place and at another time. He is oriented towards the manuscript. He is strangely absent from the space-time event in which we as his hearers are depending upon him.

But…

Now, I can hear some saying, “But it doesn’t have to be that way. It is possible to be oriented upward (to God) and outward (to the people) while using a manuscripted sermon.” Well, maybe it is. That certainly hasn’t been my experience in trying to use manuscripts. At times in sermon preparation I manuscript portions. If those portions are too long I begin to immediately feel the change in the dynamic in the room as I preach. It’s not a good change.

If I had the opportunity to take a young man from scratch, and mentor him in preaching, I would not go anywhere near manuscripting. I would coach him to seek a Divine-human interaction during the space-time event called, “the sermon.” I believe the Apostle Paul calls that “the demonstration of the Spirit.” I would point the young man to concentrate his limited time and energy on other aspects of preparation - aspects that do not lead necessarily to manuscripting. I would coach him to, in every way, be present in that space-time event, and to be oriented upward and outward. I would encourage him to preach!

“I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” (I Cor. 2:3-5)

Amen!