A Summer of David

I’m beginning a sermon series. I’ve never done one before. I’ve been part of sermon serieses (seria?) before—one on difficult questions (Can God really forgive anything?), and one on the ten commandments. (I got Thou Shalt Not Covet, if I remember correctly). But I’ve never sat down and planned out a connected series of sermons before.

However, when I looked at the lectionary for the next few months, to give the musician a heads-up and to give myself a head start on worship planning for the summer, I was struck with how appropriate the series of readings from Samuel is for our congregation right now.

As I think I’ve mentioned, we’re looking for a building of our own, a space of our own. We want to be able to set our own schedule, decorate the walls of our sanctuary with our art, have a place to call home. We’re working with the government of River City for a lease on a government-owned building. It involves some manoeuvring and planning and lots of meetings and discussions, but it’s looking hopeful.

David was trying to establish himself as well. God chose him, a seemingly-insignificant person, to rule the Israelites. He had to prove his strength and ability, he had to show he had not only brawn but brains. David stumbled, but he got up and moved on, with God’s help. There are so many lessons about leadership and congregation-building in David’s story, I can easily preach on those every single week all summer.

My concern is to keep from preaching the same thing every week. I have a theme in mind for each week, but I need to tie them all together in one over-arching idea or concept, without wearing that one idea out. I’m thinking along the lines of “A New Beginning,” or “Starting Over,” or something (brainstorming here). What I’ll be doing is to lay out the series ahead of time—June 18 I’ll focus on Topic A, the 30^th on Topic B, and so on. I’ll try to come up with an idea or metaphor that can carry through the whole series, and be used in a number of different ways, that I can use for continuity through the series (besides the idea of David). I’ll be busy the rest of the day!

Any wisdom out there on pitfalls and pluses for sermon series?