Having read the text for my Sunday morning message this past week, I then did something I have never done before in 38 years of preaching:
I went blind.
This blindness was self-induced. My wife had brought her sleeping mask from home, and I calmly slipped it over my head and down onto my face. When I did, I was immediately plunged into absolute darkness. My message was “What Are You Refusing To See?” and it covered four consequential things that people could see but choose to be blind to.
When I got the mask in place, I managed to successfully grab the handheld microphone I would be using for the message, since I could not use my standard headset while wearing the mask. But then a bit of panic hit me as I reached out to grasp the pulpit and came up with nothing but air. I slowed my breathing, moved my hand back and forth from left to right and managed to find the corner of the pulpit. I got myself centered behind it and began to preach.
Obviously I had to preach from memory. Even with my nearly photographic memory, that was a bit of a frightening thought: What if I lost my place? What if I could not remember what verses I was supposed to be quoting?