Friday, March 05, 2010

Two Types of Sermons?

I do a three mile fast-paced hike nearly everyday. It's a good workout, and what I like most about it is - I can think while I walk. I never did much of that in all my years of running. All I thought about was getting done. Now the problem is remembering all the things I think about while walking. I try to write them down in my journal as soon as I walk back into the house. Last week, I figured out all the main points for my sermon on Sunday while walking. Fortunately, it was a very familiar passage and an easy one to meditate on. It was nice to just reflect on it awhile instead of just needing to come up with something to put on paper.
Yesterday I was thinking about preaching. Not a specific sermon, just the whole process of sharing a message from God's Word. I've always used - not so much a formula, as they are - rules to follow. My goal is to be simple, logical, and biblical. I want to take scriptural teachings and make them easy to understand, and rationally worth accepting.
Yesterday I found myself deciding that there really are only two types of sermons: sermons that make you think and sermons that make you stink. Thinking sermons cause you to - well, think, reflect, examine, and do some soul searching. Stinking sermons help you see your sin and challenge you to do something about it because all sin stinks to God - even if we think our "little, insignificant, socially acceptable" sins smell okay. They both include levels of encouragement, convicting, teaching, and enlightenment, but the goal is to either bring about change or generate the thinking that will bring about spiritual growth.
Of course, you have to think to know there's a stink, and if you stink it should make you think about how not to stink. And sometimes the sermons stink, so you don't think, and that creates more stink, so I think it's best to think before you stink and it's always best to help others think about their stink as you think about your own. What do you think?
I think I'll go for a walk.

1 comment:

Deborah said...

Those last four sentences are so funny. I can just hear you saying that.