Stay calm. Find a spot to sit down and work it through.
Pray that God will guide how you prepare and what you will say.
As soon as possible decide on Bible Readings that make sense to you and that connect with life and faith today. Start with the readings set in the Lectionary. Check out The Text this Week
Read the Bible passages and note questions, ideas, and connections with your experience and the experience of the congregation.
Practice the readings out loud, in the church if possible.
Check your interpretations with a commentary and ignore what does not make sense to you.
Decide on a single topic and not more than three points worth making.
Look out for an illustration to help explain the passage in terms of a situation or experience familiar to the congregation.
Decide on a practical application - a point of connection with people's lives, something we might do differently because of what is in the passage.
Write a draft copy.
Put it away.
Pull it out later.
Revise it.
Decide what is the one thing this is really about.
On the day, pray with others leading the worship, go the loo one more time, and forget about your bit until it comes up, then:
read the passage (unless someone else is doing the readings)
tell people the one thing this is really about
share your illustration
explain the ideas and words in the passage you understand (forget what you don't understand)
tell the story of the application and why it appealed to you
sit down
It is not only OK to be yourself, trying to be someone else does not work.
Talk about what you know, not what you don't understand. Speak from your convictions, and from your questions, but give other people the freedom to see it all differently - disagreeing with you is not arguing with God. -
People pick up what you most deeply believe without your saying very much.
Attempting to say too much. One thoughtful point makes a good spiritual meal.
Trying to do it like somebody else who does it all the time. We can all learn from one another, but copying someone else seldom works. A congregation will expect you to be you, to do your best, and to link the readings of the day to ordinary life. Leave the Greek and Hebrew and heavy duty theology to those who have made it their thing. They will draw things out of the Bible you will not, but you will probably be able to connect the Bible to the life of the congregation in ways they may find difficult.
Talking about yourself and apologising. This is not about you.
Using members of your family, or pastoral conversations, as sermon illustrations. If something somebody did or told you offers you a juicy illustration, it may be ok to use the idea, but you do not need to mention their names or say where it came from.
Making assumptions and generalisations that are not actually true if you think about it. Trouble is there are a lot of these and they are hard to avoid. Comments about how well off we are this country may be true at a general level, and yet quite untrue for particular people sitting in the congregation. Saying "Some of us" "Many of us" shows acceptance of those who do not fit the generalisation. The idea that "God has no hands but our hands" is incorrect, but what it is attempting to say ("God wants to use our hands.") is.
Seeing this as an opportunity to straighten everybody out. This is a temptation to avoid. A sense of occasion is a priceless gift. If you have one you will know that sorting people out is unlikely to be your responsibility.
Assuming the gospel has never been preached here before. You are seeking to fit in with what the Holy Spirit has been doing before your arrival and will continue afterwards.
Asking personal questions and then making it worse by not giving people space to process them and take them seriously. As well as being rude it may make people wonder if you have thought about the question yourself. Deep questions take time and a question worth asking may be something people need to reflect on for weeks not seconds.
Assuming that good Christian people agree with your views about what is right and wrong from a Christian point of view. Serious Christians have serious differences about many issues.
Not having the faith that God can use you as you are.
"You have to keep it simple, stick to one thought and then point to what is beyond our understanding, point to the other dimension."
Sister Isa Vermehren, born in 1918, was awarded a prize in 2003 for her appearances on German television.
Relax. Share what you felt good about. Identify one thing you might especially want to do next time.
Broad categories like "liked best" and "next time" with no more than 2-3 points in each usually provides as much affirmation and suggestion as most people can usefully take on board.
Areas of discussion could focus on
Relationship to text (doing exegetical homework, explanation of what is going on in the bible passage, key point)
Relationship to context (connection with congregation, reading the questions likely to be in their minds, illustration, application, not trying to say too much).
John Roxborogh