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Slaugham Scribbles is a blog written by me, Jonathan Rotheray, and includes notes and observations on sermon preparation, and some stream-of-consciousness ramblings, which I’ve called Scribbles. I’ve recently added the Pastoral Letters I write for the Parish Magazine – these are really a more formal Scribble!
This blog started when I realised I was neglecting my spiritual life – my soulwork. When I preach a lot, I’m always involved in the Word, but in the months when I rarely preach I tend to abandon it.
When I trained as a Reader, we were taught exegesis – how to draw out the meaning of a Bible passage. We were not taught how to preach. I decided early on I wanted to improve my preaching, so I read other people’s sermons, and I read books about preaching and about writing in general.
In this blog I’m trying to address both these issues. I’m aiming to show the development of each sermon, and I hope to prepare one every week, following the themes used in my home church of St Mary’s. The sermons actually preached at St Mary’s are on the church website. Occasionally they will be mine.
One of the recommended practices for writers is to make a point of writing something every day, maybe even just stream of consciousness stuff, to develop your expression and get used to translating thoughts into words. This daily task is my ‘scribble’.