Writing it out

So, if you don't know this already about me, I am also very active in my church.  Several times a year I lead the worship service, which includes preparing and giving a sermon.  Since I started my first Master's degree, I stopped writing out my sermons.  I always know what I'm going to say.  I have some stuff written out, especially if I am quoting something or providing information I want to keep accurate.  But for the most part, nothing is written out.

What happened was that I had a particular sermon to give right after I had finished my very first graduate-level final paper.  The paper was a "modified literature review" that was 12 pages long (including the title page and references), in APA style which I was severely struggling with.  I had written some shorter papers through that first 8-week course as well as graduate-level forum postings.  So to be very honest, I was tired of writing.  And with only a few days between the end of one course and the start of the next, I wanted to not have to write anything again until it was a requirement.

I am currently preparing a sermon to be delivered at two locations on Sunday, January 4, 2015.  So this time around, I am writing it all out.  It has been several months since my last graduate-level paper and a few weeks before the start of my next graduate class journey.  There are also a number of other reasons why I am writing it all out.  But mostly because a sermon is something I share like I talk.  It does not have to be full of APA references or proper grammar (though that second thing helps).  It does not have to sound like a graduate research paper or something with a hypothesis and research questions.  I am not sure how I will feel about writing out my next sermon once classes are going for me again.  But at least for this one, I'm taking the time to write my words to be sure I cover everything I want to cover.