The long and the short of it

One of my friends used to say, ‘Most of us only have one sermon.  Sometimes we begin at the beginning, sometimes in the middle and sometimes at the end.’  I have a feeling that the less time I spend preparing sermons, the more likely I am to revert to preaching that sermon.  And, at least, because I am in a different church most Sundays, it probably retains a modicum of novelty value.  I have a feeling that the really bright people are reading all the time, absorb what they read and are able to use it without apparent effort to enrich and enliven their preaching.  The rest of us seem to end up striking a balance between attempting to read all sorts of stuff, even if not directly relevant, and working hard at getting right what we do.  But then, I hardly ever hear anybody else preaching nowadays …