How To Write A Sermon Under The Gun
Saturday Night Fever And The Inevitability Of Being In A Pinch
Writing sermons on a Saturday night is for dummies.
If this is your normal rhythm, let me say it with all the love I can muster: you’re sabotaging your own brilliance. You aren’t giving yourself the margin to be a genius. Sermons need time to breathe. They need to marinate. They need the kind of slow-cooking that only happens when you start on Monday—or Tuesday at the latest.
And no, I don’t mean you’re sitting at your laptop hammering out Greek word studies on Monday morning. I mean an initial concept is already simmering in your mind. You’re stirring, stewing, reading, praying, daydreaming. It’s in your bloodstream by midweek so that when you sit down to write, it’s not a cold mechanical exercise—it’s overflow.
Because here’s the truth: nobody—and I mean nobody—can write something profound consistently in one session. You might get a zinger once or twice on Saturday night at 11:47 pm, but that’s the exception, not the rule.
Give yourself a chance. Start early. Let your soul catch up to your schedule.
Then again, life happens. In-laws show up unannounced. Kids break legs. Basements flood. Summer holidays wreck your perfect workflow. That’s fine. Grace for the occasional chaos. But if Saturday night sermon prep is your pattern? That’s not life happening to you—that’s you doing life wrong.
So Here’s How to Write a Sermon Under the Gun (And Not Embarrass Yourself):
