I get to preach a series for the next 3 weeks at Riverside.  I am excited.  But, preaching a series holds different challenges.  Tell me to preach on a chapter of the Bible and I think I’m around 12 hours of prep.  Preaching under Zack requires a little more because his style is different, therefore fitting into one of his series’ requires maybe 2 more hours for me.

I am so excited.  But putting my finger on the most exciting part is difficult.  The word preached is the goal, but the series informs the word preached and gives continuity to the series.

if I had to preach this sermon in an hour this is what my outline would look like.

I.  Intro: My Calling to Ministry after facing the reality of Psalm 137

II.  Deconstruct: I don’t think you relate to god the way Psalmists do.  I think you would sense the presence of Jesus easier/quicker if you did.  The reason I don’t think you do is because I do not.

III.  Reconstruct: Rather than 8-15 categories of context, we can have seasonal categories for the Psalms and they will inform our worship, prayer, community, singing, and muttering to our souls.  These match every mood humans are capable of – many of them in darker scenarios (like Psalm 137) than we will ever experience.  Scheme for reading the Psalms (and for this series): Orientation, Disorientation, Re-Orientation.

IV.  Psalm 1: This is where I will need to work.  The Sermon is on Psalm 1, but I want to orientation scheme to free people to pray, read, discuss the Psalms.  So, to do that I need to spend some time…  But, the purpose of the sermon is the exposition of Psalm 1.

V.  So What?  This is often how I think of a conclusion.  So?  So, pray, mutter to your soul (this is a longer translation of the word in Psalm 1 “meditate”), sing, talk in community of the Gospel, of the Gospel in the world, of the Gospel as it relates to your heart and story.

VI.  Jesus: Verse 6.  In all seasons – he is our righteousness.  He hears, we don’t have to move too fast to a New Testament ethic (love thy neighbor, love your enemies) – we can first be honest with God about our orientation, disorientation, and re-orientation.

Thoughts?  Discuss…