Posting my sermon manuscripts on this blog has made me more aware of something that has always been true: The words on the page of my manuscript are not always the words that come out of my mouth.

As with most people, there is some filter in my head, so that the words I think are not always the ones I say on any given day. But when I vary from my written sermon, there’s usually something else going on.

I believe that my preaching professor was right when he taught us that the proclaimed word is the primary version of the sermon. The moment of the preacher speaking to a gathered group of people is holy and particular. So I plan ahead, clearly, but what actually happens may vary as I read the room and pray that morning.

When I’ve preached the same sermon multiple times, it always varies a bit. One of my congregations had three worship services on an average Sunday for a few years, and each service had its own sense of humor. The amount of coffee in my system may also have made a difference. Preaching the same sermon for multiple congregations, as one might do on a busy Sunday, means that each one has its own moment, just as each community has its own personality.

One of the things that I wonder about it how my sermons will be received online. It’s a different thing preaching in a church I don’t know well from preaching in a place full of people whose stories I know. Once they’re released into the wild, as it were, I can’t see how people are reacting, the way I can with people in the room. And you don’t have the chance to talk to me one on one before or after worship. We’re both missing context.

I need a manuscript to preach my best, but not every sermon has to have one. My train of thought runs off its tracks early and often without some guidance in front of me. Many of my colleagues preach well off of notes or without any paper in their hands. God gives gifts as God wants to give gifts. There’s still plenty of preparation behind their sermons, just like there’s still room for improvisation in scripted ones.

In the Lutheran tradition, the content of the sermon is much more important than the way it’s presented. Our confessions (founding documents) have a lot to say about that. We believe that good preaching is one of the ways God saves people. That said, how much of the content the listener gets depends on how well it’s presented.

What do you think? Are sermons as effective on video or in print as they are in person? Is it helpful to be able to read or see them multiple times?