Thread: Suddenly nervous Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
We're in an interregnum, no vicar.

And have had some delays putting together worship rota.

And for the first time ever - about five minutes ago - I'm down to preach at the main service on Easter Morning. With only three weeks to go. And I suddenly feel very nervous about it.

I've done Christmas before two or three times and in a way that's easy because there are a few such obvious things to say. But right now I am a bit queasy.

(This is more a request for prayer than sermon ideas!)

[ 24. March 2014, 18:40: Message edited by: ken ]
 

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Posted by Raptor Eye (# 16649) on :
 


This is what God has called you to. Rely on the Holy Spirit to a) bring you the right words and b) give you strength. All shall be well.
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
We're in an interregnum too. Sending thoughts and good wishes your way. You'll do great.
 

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Posted by Cottontail (# 12234) on :
 
It's not a bad thing, to be nervous. Easter is big. But you've got the gifts you need, and you've got God working with you, and now you've got yourself a whole lot of prayer too. I for one would love to be in that congregation, hearing what you have to say.

There's others here could do it far better than I could, but if you want to run anything by someone, feel free to PM. Not that you'll need to.
 

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Posted by Gildas (# 525) on :
 
My only regret is that I shall be otherwise occupied. Or I would take the opportunity to pop over and hear your sage words.

The first time I preached on Easter Sunday I had to do three services and wrote five sermons! Just treat it as an ordinary Sunday and not your opportunity to share with your flock the definitive understanding of the resurrection. You're an evangelical so you can talk for twenty minutes, if you feel so moved, but there is no reason to add a posthumous volume to the Church Dogmatics.

Good Luck!
 

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Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
We have a tradition of singing the Hallelujah Chorus as the Gospel Acclamation on Easter Sunday, and our recently-retired Bishop always used to start his sermon by saying something like, "the choir has just summed up what I was going to say".

Not that he stopped there, you understand ...

I'm sure you'll be fine - God wouldn't have put you in that position if He didn't mean you to get it right.

Good luck!
 

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Posted by Steve Langton (# 17601) on :
 
The church I'm with is also in an 'interregnum'; and one of the things we've been querying is the use of the word 'interregnum', which literally means 'between kings'.

Our King is Jesus, he hasn't gone away anywhere! To think in terms of a pastoral vacancy being an 'interregnum' both puts the pastor/clergyman on too high a pedestal, and makes too big a deal of being without such a pastor, in a way which isn't good for the morale of the congregation. As witness ken's nervousness....

This issue is becoming quite important in our denomination as apart from anything else, full time paid ministry is increasingly difficult to support; many people are moving towards the concept of ministry by teams of people who also have conventional jobs.
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve Langton:
The church I'm with is also in an 'interregnum'; and one of the things we've been querying is the use of the word 'interregnum', which literally means 'between kings'.

Our King is Jesus, he hasn't gone away anywhere! To think in terms of a pastoral vacancy being an 'interregnum' both puts the pastor/clergyman on too high a pedestal, and makes too big a deal of being without such a pastor, in a way which isn't good for the morale of the congregation. As witness ken's nervousness....

This issue is becoming quite important in our denomination as apart from anything else, full time paid ministry is increasingly difficult to support; many people are moving towards the concept of ministry by teams of people who also have conventional jobs.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Steve Langton:
The church I'm with is also in an 'interregnum'; and one of the things we've been querying is the use of the word 'interregnum', which literally means 'between kings'.

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quote:

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Originally posted by L'organist:
Don't understand why you're preaching: the celebrant should preach - simple.

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quote:

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originally by Jade Constable;
Interregnum is just the technical term (in the Anglican church at least) and nobody is under the impression that clergy are actually kings.

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quote:

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Originally posted by L'organist:
Don't understand why you're preaching: the celebrant should preach - simple.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Steve Langton:

quote:

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originally by Jade Constable;
Interregnum is just the technical term (in the Anglican church at least) and nobody is under the impression that clergy are actually kings.

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I know that; but it's not a very helpful technical term because of its implications. ken in his present situation needs to understand that being in an 'interregnum' doesn't mean his church is in some feeble state about which to be nervous. He needs to know that the risen Jesus is KING and isn't going away, can't go away, and will be with him in his efforts to preach. That is SO-O-O-O the Easter Message!

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It has no implications for anyone else though - I don't think such pedantry is very helpful here. Interregnums can be very uncertain times for churches and it is understandable that Ken has some nervousness about it. If you don't like the term then don't use it, but it is a useful term for many others and not everyone feels the need to make it into a big deal - please respect others' right to use terms they think are helpful, even if they have negative implications for you personally. And I'm sure Ken is aware of the Easter message, and as an evangelical will certainly not be hesitant to preach on the realities of the Resurrection.
 

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Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
And I think that Steve Langton was making an encouraging point- that just because a church has a lack of usual leadership at the moment, it certainly isn't leaderless. Rest serene. In fact such reflection might be a good talking point in a Resurrection sermon for such a congregation.

So stick to your pendantic guns, Steve.
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
People are mostly very understanding during an Interregnum, so if things don't go completely according to plan, there is a lot of support. This week we had a visiting celebrant who got a little lost at one point and called out, 'Could someone please tell me what I am supposed to be doing here?' Not even the usual wags called back, 'And also with you!' Instead, someone helped out and all then proceeded according to plan. It all ended up fine.
 

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Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
[tangent]

quote:

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Originally posted by Chorister:
... Not even the usual wags called back, 'And also with you!' ...

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Visiting preacher (tapping microphone): There's something wrong with the PA system.

Congregation: And also with you.

[/tangent]

ETA: I'm sure your congregation wouldn't be so ungallant.

[ 27. March 2014, 02:49: Message edited by: piglet ]
 

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Posted by QLib (# 43) on :
 

 

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Posted by leo (# 1458) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by L'organist:
Don't understand why you're preaching: the celebrant should preach - simple.

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quote:

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Originally posted by leo:
When there is a vacancy, it is far easier to persuade a retired priest to celebrate than it is to ask him/her to preach as well.

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quote:

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Originally posted by leo:

quote:

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Originally posted by L'organist:
Don't understand why you're preaching: the celebrant should preach - simple.

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When there is a vacancy, it is far easier to persuade a retired priest to celebrate than it is to ask him/her to preach as well.

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Might be true, but irrelevant. We are not short of priests, we have a training curate, a priest in secular employment who is licenced to the parish, and a retired NSM.

Its a positive choice to have a different person preach from whoever is presiding. When we did have an incumbent that is what we usuall did.
 

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Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
I hope our little tangents have distracted you from your nervousness, ken.
 

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Posted by Curious (# 93) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by L'organist:
Don't understand why you're preaching: the celebrant should preach - simple.

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quote:

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Originally posted by L'organist:
Don't understand why you're preaching: the celebrant should preach - simple.

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Says who?
 

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Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
The only time I can remember the celebrant preaching at ours was when the Bishop decided he wanted to do both, but we've got two paid clergy and three non-stipendiaries, so there's rarely a need for the same person to do both.
 

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Posted by Stejjie (# 13941) on :
 
Sorry to drag up this old thread, but I'm in a similar position to ken and it seemed better to use this rather than start a new one.

A couple of weeks ago, I agreed to do an assembly about Easter at our local infant school (which my oldest daughter attends), which will be the first assembly I've ever done, anywhere. And it's suddenly hit me that this is happening tomorrow and a whole bag of nerves have suddenly hit me.

It's not the first time I've had contact with the school in similar ways: they come every year to our carol service, they've done a couple of visits to our church as part of their RE (when we've managed to tempt them away from the parish church ) and I went in last year to do a re-telling of the Easter story with the Year 1s.

But doing a proper assembly feels... different... and nerve-wracking. So if you could spare a prayer for me, tomorrow morning, before 200 5-7 year olds I'd be very grateful!

Oh and ken: I love preaching on Easter Sunday - enjoy it, you'll be fine.
 

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Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Is it a State School or a CofE (either Voluntary Aided or Controlled) one? In my experience what you can usually say and do in each is somewhat different.

IME you can usually assume that Christian speaking will be acceptable in a CofE (VA) school, while in the others you have to take more of a "Christians believe that ..." approach.

In any case you can't "proselytise", But you will know your school anyway. Hope it goes well!
 

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Posted by Stejjie (# 13941) on :
 
Thanks! It's a state school, so the "Christians believe" approach is on my mind. I am looking forward to it, but know I'll be exceedingly nervous tomorrow morning...
 

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Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Gildas:
Just treat it as an ordinary Sunday ...

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Not sure I quite agree with this. (Says someone else who's about to preach his first Easter Sunday). A lot of people go to church on Easter that never or rarely go the rest of the year. Hence, I would treat it as a prime time for an evangelistic sermon. Certainly, that would mean I would affirm your point about avoiding an overly didactic style. But, it would also be different from my usual presumption: that I preach as a person of faith within, to and for a community that shares my faith, in celebration of our common faith and as worship of the God we all adore. Easter Sunday would be one of those times I would imagine my audience as not sharing my faith, allowing for the ones that do to overhear.

Not to up the pressure or anything...
 

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Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :
 
Personally I think that both ken and Stejjie have God-given opportunities for learned dissertations on variant sigla and bar-umlaut alternatives in codices of the Proto-Alexandrian family of deutero-Pauline witnesses, with special attention to the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.

That should give 'em something to think about. Then you won't have to do it next year.

More seriously, , both: it is a wonderful privilege to rumour resurrection in word and action. Go well.
 

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Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Zappa, dear, are you one of those clergymen whose sermons I would really enjoy if only I could understand what the blazes they were on about?



We have one here who's a retired professor of linguistics, and he's brilliant when he gets on to the etymology of a particular word, phrase or passage, even if some of what he says goes way over my head ...
 

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Posted by Stejjie (# 13941) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Zappa:
Personally I think that both ken and Stejjie have God-given opportunities for learned dissertations on variant sigla and bar-umlaut alternatives in codices of the Proto-Alexandrian family of deutero-Pauline witnesses, with special attention to the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.

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quote:

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More seriously, , both: it is a wonderful privilege to rumour resurrection in word and action. Go well.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Moo:

quote:

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Originally posted by leo:
When there is a vacancy, it is far easier to persuade a retired priest to celebrate than it is to ask him/her to preach as well.

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Unless the retired priest loves to preach, in which case he might preach for more than an hour.

Moo

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Only if The End has come and I'm in the Hot Place.
 

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Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Or else he could have converted after retirement to the One True Branch of the Church, where sermons do run for an hour ...
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
My question was inspired by something that happened when I was in college. There was a retired Episcopal priest in the community, and the Episcopal chaplain asked him if he was willing to help at the students' Easter service.

He really wanted help in distributing the elements because in those days only a priest could do it. When he was asked, the retired priest's face lit up, and he said, "I know, you want me to preach the sermon." The chaplain couldn't say no, but he did warn the priest that the sermon was supposed to be only ten minutes long.

It lasted forty-five minutes, and I've never heard anything like it. Afterwards we conjectured that he had written a sermon every week since he retired, and he was giving us a sentence or two from each. We were all in a stupor until he bellowed the word, "Love". That woke us up, but it was very hard not to giggle.

Moo
 

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Posted by leo (# 1458) on :
 
So how did it go, Ken?
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
People are always very nice so I can never be sure how a sermon goes down (perhaps that is a mercy) but some seemed very moved by it.

A few rather odd reactions that I did not expect. One person said I seemed to be "on fire" with what I was saying. I hardly know how to take that. I felt quite calm and very tired. The curate said that part of it reminded him of the Orthodox Kontakion for the Dead. Which was not in my mind at all.

Used old AV for familiar words and more literal translation and "sense of occasion". not NIV like pew Bibles.

Afterwards I was exhausted. Barely made it to end of the church without falling asleep. I had to ask for a lift home even though its only a few hundred yards. Abigail (my daughter) came home with me but I could hardly talk to her. Lay down on couch and slept for four hours. Was OK after that though.
 

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Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Good on you. And well done for using the AV - I wouldn't use anything else, but there are certain passages (the Christmas ones spring to mind, but the Easter Gospel as well) which are so ingrained in one's mind that reading from any other version may as well be running fingernails down a blackboard.

Happy Easter!
 

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Posted by Raptor Eye (# 16649) on :
 
Well done Ken. If God was seen through you in the sermon, hence the 'on fire' remark, that's all anyone can hope for.
 

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Posted by Ags (# 204) on :
 
Glad it went well & hope you've recouped a bit of energy now
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
Well Done, ken.
 

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Posted by leo (# 1458) on :
 
Well done. Next time, we'll send round the Mystery Worshipper!
 

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Posted by Stejjie (# 13941) on :
 
Yes, well done ken!
 

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Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by leo:
... we'll send round the Mystery Worshipper!

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Do you want to scare the poor chap completely witless?
 

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