Merging is a New Journey - Coming Up with a Title

When I was in college - from my undergraduate to my various masters-level programs, one of the very last things I did when writing a paper was to come up with the title.  Titles were always a struggle for me.  I didn't want to create a title and then feel like I was stuck living up to that title.  It was easier to write the paper first, then when I had everything written, I had a better sense of what the title should be.  What also helped was during the writing process I would also do research so a definite theme would arise which would then lend itself to a title.

Titles are crucial.  They give someone that kind of one-liner that will tell them all about something...whether it is a sermon, a paper, or even a book.  If a book had a boring-sounding title, would you pick it up to buy?  Or if it had a good title and you read it and the book had nothing to do with the title, would you buy more from the same author?  Or would you be frustrated?  When I would write papers, if the title didn't really go with the paper, some professors would make a note of that and I would be disappointed in myself.  But titles are a necessary struggle, at least for me.

Sermon Prep - Including Title Creation

Titles do not just make me slightly stressed when I write papers.  I also experience the same struggle when writing a sermon.  In fact, it is probably worse when writing a sermon because the title needs to be reflected somehow in the words I am saying and usually you have to submit your sermon title ahead of actually writing the sermon.  So - often I create a title and then stress to make sure that whatever I wind up talking about somehow gets back to that title. 

And writing my first sermon in a different place is no different.

In the span of 2 days I went through about 10 different ideas as I read through notes I had gathered and read through the scriptures.  FINALLY last night after a meeting I settled on an idea.  And wrote it down before I forgot it!

It is nice to know that even though some things have changed - there are some things that have not changed at all.  Though there is a new journey, part of that new journey is making the familiar part of it.  Sermon-prep, including coming up with a title, was something I have done a lot.  So I am glad to know that 1 1/2 years after preaching my last sermon to my own congregation...that I can still go through the process and prepare for the next stage in my journey.