That Special Place: The Sanctuary

Visit http://www.crossingthehomileticalbridge.com/

There is just something special, at least for me, about the empty church sanctuary (I know that in the modern age we call it the “Worship Center”). I enjoy walking and praying alone in the stillness of this day lit place of safety. This room, which seems to resonate with the ambiance of previous awe-inspiring worship services, serves as a place of reminder and reflection in several respects.

People tend to be predictable. Although they may show some openness to innovation and change, for the most part people love standing right in the center of their personal comfort zones. What I mean, at least in the case of church, is that church people tend to sit in the same chairs or pews each Sunday. This is true of the staid, traditional church as well as the more casual, blended or contemporary church. As I love to tell my students, “people is people.” I make use of this reality in sermon preparation.

Each week I find a time to walk alone in the sanctuary with a legal pad in my hand. Because people tend to sit in the same place from week to week I can remember them by name and experience as I stroll by their seats. This gives me the opportunity to do a little pastoral reflecting upon things they may have told me, pains they have endured, joys experienced, or anything else that is significant in their lives. As I whisper a prayer for them and reflect upon the week’s selected text, the Holy Spirit begins that wonderful process of illumination. The Lord graciously begins to reveal the relevance of the text and its meaningful application for this particular family and church.

From row to row and chair to chair the process of illumination tends to magnify. My mind and heart begin to race as certain implications of the selected text gradually are revealed. So not to forget, I jot each of these thoughts, ideas, and concepts down on the legal pad. Each thought or idea has a significance that I could not have discovered in a commentary, book, preaching resource, or on the internet. It is a far more personal and pastoral approach, in my estimation, because I actually am engaging my flock instead of engaging reading or internet materials. Please understand that I believe there is a place for commentaries and other helpful resources. But there simply is no greater place to begin to see and understand the implications, relevance, and application of the selected biblical text than in a place where I can think solely of the church members. I also see the implications for my own life. Therefore it becomes a moving devotional time for me. The Holy Spirit looms large in this special and significant time of sermon preparation.

Most of the time I walk back into my study and begin to type many of these thoughts and ideas into the message. Some of the thoughts have no place in the actual sermon. They were given by the Holy Spirit in order that I might pray for a situation or consider how I might minister to a family in need. Some of these thoughts do indeed make their way into the message. Sharing this illuminated and biblically charged information with the congregation the following Sunday is an awesome joy. I know that the message is God’s Spirit-anointed message because I broke away from the study and walked in that special place called the “Sanctuary.”