You've heard the stories about preachers who prepare their sermons well in advance. They take an annual study retreat for several days and map out sermon titles and outlines for the coming year. They return home with Manila file folders neatly labeled by date, title, and sermon text. This system allows them the freedom to spend the entire year collecting tidbits and stories, which they copy onto letter-size paper to fit neatly into the folders.

Prior to each liturgical season, these creatures of mammoth homiletic responsibility enter a second stage of study. They examine the coming Sundays and reflect on how each worship service will flow. Then they send memos to the church musicians, suggesting themes for the morning anthems.

Finally, a full week before it is preached, the finished sermon is in publishable form. This allows the preacher a full seven days to commit the manuscript to memory and make a scant pulpit outline-just in case the need arises, which it seldom does.

At 10 P.M. on Saturday ...