I can't help it; I need a plan.

Preaching Sunday by Sunday and not looking ahead drives me crazy.  Anxiety builds.  Guilt sets in.  And suddenly I am doing long-range sermon planning.

Today, I was compelled to nail down the plans for the rest of this year.  I am doing the Old Testament passages from the lectionary so I will be in Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy for the rest of the year.  I had to make a few adjustments to my plan because of vacation time.  But now I have it.  Planned.  I know what I am preaching for the rest of the year.  Feels good.

In fact, it felt so good that I couldn't resist planning next year's sermons.  That's right, I have them planned (text and title) for 2009 as well.  Is that compulsive, or what?

But it is easier than it sounds.  Since I use the lectionary, it's more a matter of deciding if I am using the Gospel lesson, the Old Testament lesson or the epistle lesson.  I seldom preach from the Psalm. 

Next year's Lectionary focuses on the Gospel of Mark.  But it skips around all over the place, which also drives me crazy.  So I broke down all the lectionary texts from Mark, placed them in order, and that's the plan.  I will preach from Mark (consecutively, except for Palm Sunday and Easter) straight through 2009.

I know where I am going.  I have a plan!  I don't have to fret and worry every Sunday about what I am preaching next, because there it is in black and white.

Ahhh, I will sleep well tonight.

I've been reading "The Artist's Way of Preaching" by Charles Denison, and he suggests a system of planning as far as 3 years ahead, sort of. He preaches from the lectionary too, and since the texts are known in advance and it's on a 3 yr cycle he spends a week each year setting up a filing system for each Sunday with the lectionary readings. Then whenever he comes across something, a photo, news clipping, story - that fits with one of the upcoming texts, he drops it in the file. When it comes time to pull out the file to prepare his sermon, he's got some material to work with (in addition to the scripture). Don't know how far in advance he decides what he's preaching on - that must help too.