August 22, 2013  / 16 Elul,  5773

It's the best conversation starter of the year, with slight variations on the theme …

“Are they done?”
“How are they coming along?”
“Have you picked all of your topics?”

I refer to none else than the rabid interest in my holiday sermon progress, which mounts during the late summer
and reaches its crescendo around Labor Day (although, as everyone also likes to interject, there is hardly any
"daylight" between the first Monday of September and the first day of Rosh Hashanah this year). Most of my
congregants are aware that this is a Rabbi's proverbial tax season, when routine tasks, non-essential meetings,
leisure, and even a full night's sleep are set aside for the writing of sermonic messages that will be delivered to
the largest audiences of the year.

I must admit that, over twenty-five years of repeating this cycle, I have felt less anxiety to be on a set schedule
of preparation. Chalk it up to either experience (“a good sermon should never be rushed into production”) or
realization of human nature (“there is nothing like having one's back against the wall to get the preaching
machine going.”). In fact, I have come to appreciate that no two years of sermon inspiration are identical, due
in large part to the fact that most of my sermons stem from experiences and thoughts of the previous year that
are thoroughly unique unto themselves. Some sermon topics grow out of deeply personal moments of growth
(if you were around last Rosh Hashanah, all that I have to say is “fighting for my marriage”) while others are
the result of profound events in the wider world (see my sermon entitled “A Nation Mourns,” which was
delivered on the first day of Rosh Hashanah in 2001, barely a week after the September 11 attacks).

In most years, there is an "Israel sermon," and I am always in a quandary about when to deliver it; some years it
gets the "golden" Kol Nidre spot (biggest crowd of the year, by far), whereas this year it feels right to talk about
Israel on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. There are some years in which I have a serial sequence to my sermon
themes (e.g. the Jewish holidays, as I did in 2011), while in other years I actually follow up on sermons that
were given in a previous year (as I plan to do this year on Kol Nidre night, as a measure of repentance for how I
addressed the Joe Paterno situation last Kol Nidre night). And, although I'd like to think that giving the perfect
sermon is elusive, I actually did deliver The "Perfect" Sermon on Rosh Hashanah in 2010 (in spiritual reflection
of pitcher Armando Galarraga's almost-perfect game that year) and, I must say, it was one of my all-time
favorites.

Finally, my methods of delivery and style are huge considerations. A few years ago, I decided to go from full,
written-out transcripts to more of an outline format, which I transpose onto note cards. This enables me to be a
bit spontaneous, and not appear as if to be reading out loud from a book. Moreover, it frees me to wander
around the bimah while I speak! And then there is the decision about whether to start a sermon with a joke or a
story ... that's usually something that comes at the very end of the manufacturing process.

Well, I would love to continue reminiscing about my sermon exploits, but the honest truth is ... it's time for me
to get back to writing those talks!