Mayes Procedure for Sermon Writing

Folks have asked me for this, so here it is! I use this mainly to generate content (rhetorical inventio). For other procedures that I admire, see this and this.

Procedure for Sermon Writing

Find old sermons and notes in physical files and computer.

Make note sheet with the readings on them (or Notes document on computer).

Read the readings in NKJV or ESV.

Discuss the sermon text with others, especially laypeople, to see what questions they have of the text. Be sure to research and address these.

Review exegetical computer documents, filed by book of Bible.

[For saints’ days, consult both historical (e.g. Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche or Catholic Encyclopedia) and legendary sources (Jacobus de Voragine, Golden Legend).]

Compare main Bible versions: NKJV or ESV, KJV, Vulgate, Lutherbibel.

Read sermon text in original language. (Add to “Textual Notes”.)

Check Index Rerum for topics. (This is my personal master index of my past research. See this for one way to make an index for yourself. My Index Rerum is organized alphabetically by topic, however.)

Look up the passage in Book of Concord.

Read a commentary, or look up the passage in dogmatics, if necessary. If there is time, read one ancient commentary and one classic Lutheran commentary. 

Outline the sermon.

Find illustrations for each point.

Find practical uses (can use “Evangelischer Wegweiser” in Gerhard’s Schola Pietatis at the beginning, or Das Weimarische Bibelwerk). For more on practical uses, see this. The uses are:

• Teaching
• Admonishing
• Warning
• Consoling

Look for antithesis. (What would be the opposite of this teaching, consolation, command, example, virtue, or vice? How has this been misunderstood?)

Find the cross in this pericope, or bring it in from one of the other texts of the day. Don’t force it in, but if the cross of atonement isn’t there, remind the hearers who our God is, about His will to save mankind through the cross of Christ, and who they are.

Answer the question: “Why is this important for the hearers to hear?”

Write (but write the introduction last). 1400 words for a short Sunday sermon (2000 words max), 1000 words for a short chapel sermon (1400 words max).

Practice.

Categories of Illustration

Use illustrations from the common experience of your hearers. Keep illustrations short: no more than one sentence, and less than a sentence is best.

• Combat
• Lawsuit
• Physician/medicine
• Family/servitude
• Government
• Market/commerce
• Nature/farming
• Food and drink
• Body
• Building/architecture/construction
• Crime/police
• Love
• Machinery/electricity/technology
• School/education
• Gifts