Fidelia's Sisters: An online publication by, for, and about young clergy women, published by The Young Clergy Women Project.

This tradition continued when I went to seminary and started serving three small rural churches in southern Indiana. I would struggle with a sermon or, even worse, have NO IDEA what I was going to preach on, and so I would go to sleep, and wake up with the entire sermon in my head.  All I had to do was sit and write it. It wasn’t that I hadn’t done the work beforehand. I went to a Presbyterian seminary and was schooled in how to do exegesis. I took Greek, Hebrew, Old Testament and New Testament Exegesis, and basic preaching. I knew how to do the outline, how to make the connections, to check commentaries, to read in other translations, to check the context, to talk with other pastors in my lectionary group, and to journal my own thoughts during the week before I get to that point. I did all of these things … but I believe it is the Holy Spirit residing in my mattress that does the real work.

At first my family didn’t understand how this worked. My immediate family came down to celebrate my first Christmas as a pastor with me. (I am one of 8 children, and everyone came except one sister and her husband … it was a full house!) About mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve I still had not finished my sermon and was busy preparing dinner. My family freaked out, “Tricia, don’t you need to go to your office (in the next room) and write your sermon?” “No,” I’d reply, “I’ll go take a nap in a little while, and it will be fine.” They didn’t get it, and as the day went on it got more urgent for them. So, finally I went and spent some time in my office just to appease them. I fiddled around on the computer for a while, tried to write something; I got nowhere. I decided to take a nap. I lay down on my bed for only about 20 minutes, then got up, ran up the stairs and into my office where I sat and wrote my entire sermon. They never doubted me again, and now it has become the big family joke.

I asked my husband once if he minded having someone else in our bed with us, someone that wakes me up at night (especially on Saturdays) and pokes at me until I have to turn the light on and write down whatever it is that’s in my head. He said, “No. I figure we have a queen size bed, and it’s big enough for the three of us.” Our mattress is old. We inherited it from my in-laws, and it really needs to be replaced. Sometimes I can feel the springs, and sometimes it hurts my back. But I’m afraid that the Holy Spirit likes this particular mattress for some reason; will she follow me to the next one? So for now, I simply buy a new mattress pad to put on top and rest in the knowledge that she is there, helping me share God’s Word with those around me.

Rev. Patricia Watson serves as pastor of Salem United Methodist Church in Keedysville, MD.  She received her M.Div. from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She has 2 cats, Calvin and Wesley, and has been married to her husband Dwight for almost 3 years.