January 2010
Wow. I don't know how I was doing anything with MT last January.
Last January, I was ending the first half of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) at a hospital in New York City. I have posted nothing since because of the pace I was working at and the kind of work I was doing.
So here I am a year later with one unit of CPE which means that I can work as a chaplain. But I am not doing a whole lot because I have a busted knee. Next month I am going to have the knee replaced. I won't be baby sitting with my granddaughter for six weeks.
However, I am preaching in church once a cycle. Now, I have no training in homiletics. What happened is that I led a prayer service including a homily at the hospital and told the Rector about it. Bill came into the city and attended the service.
He took me to lunch afterward and asked if I wanted a critique of my sermon, and then added that he was a tough critic. I answered yes and he gave me his critique, which I didn't find all that tough but very helpful. Then he said that I should get as much opportunity to preach as I could. I was so dumbfounded that I let the moment pass by.
I told my spiritual director about it. She said, well you go back and tell him that you've given a lot of thought to what he said and you'd like to take him up on the opportunity. I did as she told me, and the rest is history.
My first sermon was too long and was really two sermons. Part of my problem is that I feel, as a lay person, who am I to pontificate to other lay people. So when I reached the point in my first sermon that I had to transfer the general theme of what I said to a lesson for the personal lives of those listening, I chickened out and switched to another sermon that was more "uplifting." Part of the reason for this is that I want to be a lay minister, not ordained. I don't want to set myself apart. Thus the conflict. I had the same problem with chaplaincy training. Why should a hospital patient take ministry from me. I thought that I lacked the authority of an ordained minister. My supervisor told me I had to get over that. It's still a problem, but one that I'm determined to overcome.
My second sermon was better. As Bill said, focused, short. But it seemed like a canned sermon to me. But part of that is being a beginner. I have to remember that I won prizes in my Dale Carnegie days. I won prizes as Toastmaster. Once I get the form under my belt, I can free myself to give sermons that actually move people.
Last January, I was ending the first half of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) at a hospital in New York City. I have posted nothing since because of the pace I was working at and the kind of work I was doing.
So here I am a year later with one unit of CPE which means that I can work as a chaplain. But I am not doing a whole lot because I have a busted knee. Next month I am going to have the knee replaced. I won't be baby sitting with my granddaughter for six weeks.
However, I am preaching in church once a cycle. Now, I have no training in homiletics. What happened is that I led a prayer service including a homily at the hospital and told the Rector about it. Bill came into the city and attended the service.
He took me to lunch afterward and asked if I wanted a critique of my sermon, and then added that he was a tough critic. I answered yes and he gave me his critique, which I didn't find all that tough but very helpful. Then he said that I should get as much opportunity to preach as I could. I was so dumbfounded that I let the moment pass by.
I told my spiritual director about it. She said, well you go back and tell him that you've given a lot of thought to what he said and you'd like to take him up on the opportunity. I did as she told me, and the rest is history.
My first sermon was too long and was really two sermons. Part of my problem is that I feel, as a lay person, who am I to pontificate to other lay people. So when I reached the point in my first sermon that I had to transfer the general theme of what I said to a lesson for the personal lives of those listening, I chickened out and switched to another sermon that was more "uplifting." Part of the reason for this is that I want to be a lay minister, not ordained. I don't want to set myself apart. Thus the conflict. I had the same problem with chaplaincy training. Why should a hospital patient take ministry from me. I thought that I lacked the authority of an ordained minister. My supervisor told me I had to get over that. It's still a problem, but one that I'm determined to overcome.
My second sermon was better. As Bill said, focused, short. But it seemed like a canned sermon to me. But part of that is being a beginner. I have to remember that I won prizes in my Dale Carnegie days. I won prizes as Toastmaster. Once I get the form under my belt, I can free myself to give sermons that actually move people.