I can't write good sermons (at least currently)

Today, while walking the back-streets of a leafy Northern-Sydney suburb, I considered my options for keeping "ministry sharp."

Currently, I haven't pitched a tent in either eventually-going-back-into-ministry or not-going-back-into-vocational-ministry camp, but I've been doing a few things to keep my mind engaged.

Aside from engaging in the bible reading plan I wrote about in my last post, I've also worked my way through a theology textbook and am currently writing notes on an ethics book.

But, could I spend some time writing sermons like I used to do?

In short, I don't think I could.

At least, not good sermons.

Why?

Because sermons aren't designed to happen in a vacuum.

The crafting and delivering of a sermon are pastoral activities.
They need personal context.
They require community.
They need faces to think of and actual problems to wrestle with.

If I sat down and wrote my thoughts about a passage, it might closer reflect a commentary - in a similar fashion to the way I personally studied the bible for a number of years - but it wouldn't be a true sermon.