Keep on keeping on

Parker potshots the sermon. Oh, it’s easy to do, especially for Parker. Why? Um, hello? It’s obvious. The preacher is on himself. He masks himself in what first sounds like humility but the undercurrent is easy to catch. He’s selling himself. Specifically, he’s selling himself as a good guy.

Then there’s his tangent. This is followed by the second tangent.

Then there’s the repeat of the point for the third time. Or is it the fourth?

Then there’s the place in all the points where there’s a bit of energy. A good sentence falls from the preacher’s mouth that he would like to remember but won’t. And yes, the preacher should have stopped there—right there!—done! But five more minutes pass and how did Parker is thinking about Black Friday, outdoor fire pits for s’mores tonight, and the upcoming football game.

Oh, how’d this happen?

That’s right. Parker checks out. He looks into the face of religiosity, nods now and again but cannot give back a word the pastor is saying behind the pulpit.  

On the way home from the church he honestly doesn’t want to visit again, Parker does what Parker does: he tears that sermon and that preacher dude down, down, down.

Here comes the gulp. We’ve all been Parker.

Okay. Accuracy. Most of us have been like Parker in the softer or perhaps harsher version.

As we move from All Saints Day this past November first, let’s remember a few saints around us today never speak a hard or harsh word about anyone ever, most especially a man or woman of the cloth.

There’s the slight chance that Parker offers feedback to the pastor. “I didn’t get much out of the sermon.”

This is something the pastor never extends but could. “Well, how much did you put into it?”

That’s not an ouch. In a media-saturated world where you, the viewer/critic, can watch anything at any time including other pastors, we men and women of the cloth are aware that we compete for time. What we say has to be as (or more) relevant as it is reverent. We carry a valuable message from the most valuable source, God.

I have attended three bat mitzvahs and one bar mitzvah in my span. 80% of these extremely significant services are conducted in Hebrew. I don’t speak Hebrew. If you thought a sermon droned on and on (and on), imagine what an hour-long religious event is like when you don’t speak the language.

But here’s the thing. The big thing. Even if for whatever reason you are not connecting with what is being shared, God is still there. And now it gets exciting. God is speaking.

I get it. You don’t get it. It’s dry. It’s dull. It’s long. You’re just sitting there. Yawn.

But God is there.

Maybe God isn’t exciting in that exact moment for you (or the one you are with). Maybe God is nearly silent and certainly still.

But God is still there.

A sermon I preached years ago speaks to the silence and the stillness of God. The sermon was called “Ninety degrees.” I invited listeners to not slouch but sit up during the message. To hold a posture of 90 degrees from your hips to your back may be impossible for some and uncomfortable for many, but my point remains clear. Pay attention. Invest. Put forth energy.

Do not tear down. Lift up.

An example of defending not destroying a sermon or the scripture that fuels the sermon comes from the lectionary this past week. Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica. In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17, Paul speaks to a deep and painful divide in the church regarding its teaching on Jesus’ second coming. These early Christians didn’t have the 2,000-year waiting period we have. With history that may have spanned 50 to 100 years at best, they wondered (or perhaps worried) if they’d missed the return of Christ on earth. After all, Jesus Himself said he was coming back. Did those in this early church miss this return? Were they not paying attention, or putting forth the energy?

What Paul says in this text applies to all of us Parkers. In essence, Paul is saying “stay the course.” His advice to the church then is the same advice he gives to all of us. We may or may not be wondering if we’ve missed the second coming of Christ Jesus, but what the apostle says to these followers who think they may have missed it is what the apostle says to us followers today who are dishing the preacher and/or the sermon: keep on keeping on.

It’s easier to go against rather than with, if this is the mindset we wish to carry. We can claim we have missed the sermon and its message for any number of reasons.

Or we can put the energy into it.

Put the energy into it.