THE PREACHER'S STUDY
What next? The immediate step is to set down on paper—without any regard at this stage for logical sequence—all the thoughts, suggestions, illustrations which your chosen theme brings clustering into your mind. Do not let the resultant disarray and confusion unduly daunt you! However chaotic that page, go ahead: get everything down. That done, your next undertaking is to reduce the chaos to order. Out of that jumbled mass of material you are to hammer a coherent shape. Now here I would urge you to spare no pains. Clarity, logical progression, natural transitions, closely riveted connections—these are duties you owe to your hearers. The preacher who stints toil at this point, being disinclined for the strenuous mental discipline involved, is laying upon his congregation the onus of a task which is really his, not theirs. He is transferring to them a burden he ought to have taken on himself. Is it surprising that their acceptance of it should, to put it mildly, lack enthusiasm? Never grudge the labour which clear thinking and methodical construction demand. A sermon which has some symmetry about it, built to an orderly plan and showing evidence of carefully chiselled thought, is likely to have far more thrust and grip and attack upon the hearers' minds than any amorphous collection of fine ideas. There is a story of a young minister who, concerned about the apparent failure of his preaching, consulted Dr. Joseph Parker in the vestry of the City Temple. His sermons, he complained, were encountering only apathy. Could Dr. Parker frankly tell him what was
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