Sermon Notes

When I first retired some fourteen years ago, all I could do when I left worship was lament the poor preaching.  It seemed like every preacher was somehow not up to snuff.  This morning I surprised myself.  I was listening to the sermon and without thinking much about it reached in my pocket for a pen and a scrap of paper.  It was not only a good sermon, but I heard something I wanted to be sure to remember.  I learned long ago that any words can be forgotten if trusted to my memory.   

I can remember times when I was preaching and someone would write down a note.  I never figured it to be an addition to an already started grocery list, but someone wanting to remember something I said in a sermon.  The old ego can really play tricks on you if given an opportunity!  But, seriously it happened a few times.   Someone would do what I did this morning and start writing furiously.  As a preacher who was preaching, it was always good to see the note takers in the congregation.  It caused several reactions.  Seeing them caused me to stay with the current point since it was obviously a good one,  On other occasions, it would make me want to preach a little longer since someone was actually awake and  listening.  It made me wonder if I should join the ranks of those preachers who put a sermon outline in the bulletin which, of course, would include plenty of white space just in case someone needed to keep one of my sermon gems.   

As I reflect over those years of preaching, I hope the note takers had better luck then than I did today.  I wrote down several sentences this morning so I would remember certain parts of the sermon, but when I got home today I could not figure out my handwriting.  It was as if I had written it in another language.  Perhaps, it was divine punishment for all those ego trips I took when note takers took note of something I preached years ago.