How Long Does it Take to Write a Sermon – According to Jerry Seinfeld

I’ve been listening to interviews of Jerry Seinfeld in the background at work lately, and he said something that is about the best description of writing a sermon that I’ve ever heard. He was asked how long it takes to write a 75-minute show.

“That’s like asking God how time goes into making an oak tree? I don’t know, I do it every day, I do it all day, I don’t know, it’s a tree. I plant it, it grows, eventually, it’s an oak tree, who the hell cares? It’s all I can do. I don’t know…”

I think that’s how was able to survive working at the Rescue mission for 2 years when I might have to preach a sermon any night that my volunteer for chapel didn’t show up. I think that is how I’m able to be a bi-vocational pastor now. Yes, there is some needed sermon prep time to get ready for the sermon, and YES there is some rest time after the sermon to chill and relax, but otherwise, all of my time, all of life, is sermon prep time.

Which also reminds me of 1 Peter 3:15. Some apologists have stolen that verse to mean that you should always be ready to argue about Jesus, but that’s not what it means. It means always be ready to explain what you are doing from the perspective of Jesus. Let everything you do be an outpouring of your faith in Christ, so that you are always ready to explain that Christ is the fuel of your life.

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, — 1 Pe 3:15