claudine_c

I preached my first sermon ever today — twice. The parish where I am placed has two regular Sunday morning services, the main difference being the absence of hymns in the earlier one. I preached essentially the same sermon at both, and have had mostly positive responses to them.

I hadn’t planned to preach my first sermon ever on Palm Sunday, but that’s how the schedule turned out. In a way, it may be easier for an inexperienced preacher to preach on a major festival, because it’s an event or text that has attracted attention and mental effort. The long stretches of ‘ordinary’ time, just ploughing through less spectacular sections of the Bible from week to week, might be more challenging.

The congregation is used to seeing the vicar speak from notes at the front of the sanctuary, without a lectern, but I used a lectern and a full ‘script’. I would like, by the end of the year, to be able to speak without a lectern. Whenever I’ve spoken behind a lectern, especially one that is not adjustable, I’ve felt trapped behind a barrier between me and the audience; most lecterns are built for people taller than me.

As for the notes vs script debate, I think speaking from notes (or even from memory) is a worthy aim, but I might not reach it this year. I’ve given a few seminar presentations and led tutorials, and in these situations I’ve used notes. However, I feel less confident about my understanding of the Bible and theology and I need a full written text because I can’t rely on my memory.

Parishioners and the vicar responded well to the sermon. They didn’t engage deeply with the theology, but they heard my message and wanted to hear it. I was afraid that it might be too lightweight, but evidently it wasn’t; it’s normal for me to underestimate my own ideas. The main problem was that, while I had the right amount of ‘content’, I sometimes spoke too fast, which is natural for me when I am nervous. In this tradition, a normal sermon is about ten minutes long. My first rehearsal took six minutes, my final one took ten (with essentially the same text), but I probably sped up this morning.

I’m expected to preach at least four more times this year (three more in the parish, one in class). The horrible scary First Sermon Ever is done, and it hasn’t scared me off completely. I know where I need improvement but I think I’ve made a good start.

My supervisor didn't hear me say 'Um'. I didn't wave my hands too wildly. I got the timing right. I made eye contact. I didn't offend anybody with my challenging conclusions. No one shouted 'Bingo!'

Oh, and I got a decent mark.

I would have preferred not to shake so much before getting up to talk, though.

http://claudine-c.livejournal.com/53265.html

My presentation of my master's research is on Thursday. It's not quite a thesis defence; the research report is only (only!?) ten thousand words and has taken just under a year.

I have my 20 slides (20 minutes) and eight pages of notes; I've rehearsed a couple of times; but I have this nagging suspicion that I don't actually have anything new or interesting to say. The most terrible moment will be at the start when all these people will be looking at me and I have to start talking. Then they'll discover that I'm really stupid!

Last week I spoke to a group of people from St Paul’s Cathedral about my visit to India. I was asked to speak for 30-45 minutes. I’d never spoken on my own for that length of time before. When speaking in public, I generally try either of two strategies, both of which have problems:

- Write the whole talk word for word beforehand and read it, forgetting to look at the audience.

- Write a basic outline and notes and get nervous, lose my place and forget what I’m trying to say.

I didn’t have time to write the whole talk this time, so I prepared an outline with a few introductory paragraphs so I would at least be able to start. I brought some photos and encouraged the audience (about a dozen people, none of them strangers) to interrupt whenever I wanted. It worked! I talked without getting stuck; the audience brought up many interesting questions and comments; and I filled up my allotted time perfectly. It helps that I have a lot to say about the subject and 45 minutes is much better than being asked for a “brief summary” of the trip -- most travellers know that a few minutes with distracted friends doesn’t do justice to the experience! I’m much more confident about my speaking abilities now.

Notes from the talk are at http://chionh.org/travel/indiatalk06.html