Then I’ll start making my own exegetical remarks based on my reading. From that I’ll start saying, "This word means this. This says this." I’m still looking for the grammatical, historical, theological lines. Once I do that I’ll try to find a heavyweight commentary, something that’s going to make me have to pause, read slowly, rethink what I’ve been reading in the Scriptures to try and match what this person’s response to this text is compared to mine.
I really enjoy when I come across one of those heavyweights that differs with me. It gives me a chance to put what this person says and what I’ve been thinking into dialogue.
Does this word really mean this? Why does he choose this tense of it? I want to try to figure that out. Now I have a dialogue with it, and I’m standing my ground. The commentator is standing his ground. Then I’ll move from that.
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That’s the biggest part of my work—trying to get the exegesis. I want to be true to the biblical passage. On that same day I’ll try to start writing out a thesis:
what did the passage mean, what does it mean? I try to look for the present active indicative statements to start making it live. You can do this—all that kind of stuff. It may change by Thursday, but at least I have a thesis, movements. Also I’m looking at images in the Scripture, saying this is illustrative, should this be explained, on down the line.
The hardest part for me is the application—to move it from the then to the now. How do you make this apply in your life? Because I don’t just want to stand up and say, "You can do this, this and this." I want people to leave here saying, "Yes, that’s what this passage means." I still go through that process. And I try to write out the manuscript or write out the sermon in manuscript form so that I can have a reference if I ever need it again. Then it helps me with exactness of language, coherence of thought and pattern, and I’m just not scattered all over the place.
Preaching: What do you find to be your greatest challenges today as a preacher? West: One in the personal life is time. How do you balance your time between family and church? How do you balance your time to rest and work? To really find that balance—that’s one challenge personally.
I think pastorally one of the challenges is how not to get so bogged down in the urgent that you miss the important. There are so many things that scream and vie for your attention that don’t necessarily need your attention. So how do you make the main thing the main thing? What are the main things? Proclamation and prayer. These are the main things.
One thing that goes lacking that is identifiable on Sunday morning when you stand up is if you didn’t have time to prepare. And much of that preparation comes out of the time that we season our soul in prayer. So those become primary—a devotional life and being still. I think those become the big pastoral challenges.
