21 May 2025

There is no doubt in my mind that there is no other job in the world which demands the worker to be so creative not just for a week or a month or even a year but throughout a forty year career than the humble parish minister.

Everything the minister does requires creativity even if it’s  just  a word of thanks. In one of my charges, I had three sermons every week, a children’s address for the Sunday service, a programme for the Youth Fellowship, sometimes a secondary school assembly and every week a visit to the Primary for class or assembly.

Whilst the Anglican rector or the Roman Catholic priest has some of these things, they do not have to write fresh prayers and because the worship is centred on the Sacrament, there is not the same pressure to produce a sermon of quality and originality.

Reading, studying and reflecting on life in the parish and the world are essential sources of ideas. But how can you guarantee that you will have an idea when it comes to writing the sermon or the address? The minister requires confidence that ideas  will come and faith in the God who has equipped him for such a calling.

CS Lewis famously wrote an article for the Junior Section of the Radio Times  in answer to the editor’s question on how he came to write, ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. Apparently, the Narnia stories all began with pictures in his head.

‘The Lion began with a picture of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood.’ he wrote. The picture had been in his head since he was sixteen. At forty, he decided to write a story about it. Sadly, parish ministers do not have the luxury of a twenty-four year gestation period! You see what I mean!