Many people like to joke that a pastor works only an hour a week. We all know that is not true. When a loved one is rushed to the hospital, whom do we call? We want our pastor to know, to pray, and to be by our sides. We also know that our pastor brings leadership to our congregation, spends time with us when we are in need, and prepares for those weekly sermons.

So what do those hours of preparation look like? I never will forget my first sermon. My father was our pastor, and he was going to be out of town on a Sunday in the summer of 1975. He knew that I was going to seminary and asked me to "fill in" on that Sunday. I was delighted until I started to prepare. I didn't know where to start. Dad told me to get alone with the Lord and the Bible with our congregation in mind. On that fateful Sunday, I preached everything I knew from Genesis to Revelation. It took a grand total of nine minutes. Though sermon preparation is a little more complex than I realized, yet I still believe Dad was right. I want to propose that there are three aspects to this prayerful exegesis:

• The first aspect is to understand the biblical witness itself. The Bible is a story of testimonies to the character and purpose of God. A preacher listens for this witness in the argument of the biblical passage. The argument almost always points to God's activity in relation to creation. Creation, including humanity, is at all times in need of God. Understanding how God meets these needs will become the burden of a gospel sermon.
• The second aspect of sermon preparation is cultural exegesis. Preaching is not a Bible study, but proclaiming the Good News to living human beings. What does God do with needs and problems like ours? This is an imaginative time in sermon preparation. How do these ancient problems express themselves in our culture? It is during this phase of preparation that images, examples, and stories are explored to see if they are a fit in redescribing the contemporary world as God's world. This phase of preparation cannot be rushed. It takes time to imagine the world in light of the biblical witness.
• The final aspect of sermon preparation is the strategy phase. How is the witness to God's gracious activity, in light of needs like ours, best presented? This phase of preparation is done with the congregation in mind. How will "my people" best hear the gospel? Sometimes the strategy is the biblical narrative itself, sometimes a logical argument, sometimes confrontational, and sometimes comforting. No matter what strategy is used, it is motivated by our pastor's love and burden for us.

Sermon preparation is a major part of the very busy lives of our pastors. May God and all of us give them the time they need to get alone with Him and the Bible, with us in mind.

Steve Green is professor of theology at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma.

Please note: All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of original publication but may have since changed.