Most pastors I know are not arrogant men. Not that some aren’t, but I’m blessed to know
many, many men who are godly, humble servants of God. And yet, even in that humility, deep in our
hearts, when we step into the pulpit we have a desire to “knock it out of the
park.”
Now, let me explain that.
I’m not saying that our desire is to so “wow” the crowds with our
awesome rhetorical and oratorical skills that they stand and cheer. I’m not suggesting that our motivation is the
excited handshakes after the service. We’re
not called to entertain.
Rather, for me anyway, I want to present God’s Word in such
a way that it’s meaningful; that folks lives are touched; that has real impact.
No, we’re not called to entertain, but I
really don’t want to bore folks to death, either.
I know I have to be cautious. I know the power is in the Word, not the
messenger. I posted a little piece some
time ago about what to do with boring preachers. The real impact is Spirit driven, and can
happen in the most boring of sermons, while the most entertaining talk can fall
spiritually flat. Still, that doesn’t
keep me from wanting to hit those homers.
Of course, any one who is a fan of America’s pastime knows
that while we like to highlight the homer, they aren’t nearly as common as we’d
like. The average hitter may knock out
15-20 a season, with the top dogs clobbering 30 or 40. Sounds like a lot, until you remember how many
games there are in a season, and how many times a batter will come to the plate
in any given game. Work out those stats
and the best hitters in the league will only hit a home run about 7% of the
time.
Carry that over, and I guess I should be happy with homerun
sermons once every other month or so. Doesn’t
mean the others will be horrible. I can
still double or triple from time to time. But the majority will just be your average
single. In fact, a lot of times I might
even strike out.
So what do I do with those “singles,” or worse yet, the “strike
outs.” I’m thinking of this because I
managed to whiff one just last night. Our
daily readings included the book of Obadiah, and feeling bad for the guy
because of years of neglect, I thought I’d pull him from obscurity and shine
the light on him for awhile.
Lots of folks don’t know much about Obadiah. Many might see his little prophecy as being
relatively irrelevant. I jokingly
described this book as
Still, I had high hopes.
I really believe we see some amazing things about the nature and
character of our God in that brief little book. But things just didn’t quite go the way I
wanted. I think I might have even bored
myself at some points. But I kept going,
and went down swinging.
What do we do with those moments. We know God’s Word is powerful. I know the promise of Isaiah 55 which
guarantees that as God’s Word goes out it will not return empty but will
accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. But sometimes…
Maybe I just need to be humbled from time to time. Maybe I need the reminder that I’m no Albert
Pujols. Maybe I’m more like Jose Oquendo
(one of my all time favorite Cardinals. Look him up.)
Maybe it’s not about hitting home runs, but being a team player and
contributing in any way I can. Maybe it’s
too late in the year for baseball illustrations. Maybe I need to stop obsessing
over all this and just get back to my job of proclaiming God’s Word the best I
can.
As I’ve said before, this blog is more for my catharsis than
any expectation that folks are reading. But if you are reading these ramblings, let me
just say this. If you’re a pastor, and
you can relate to this, let me encourage you to keep on swinging. God is faithful even when we’re not at our
very best. Often it’s the little things
that help win a game, not just the big blast.
And if you’re not a pastor, let me urge you to bear with
your pastor when he doesn’t knock it out of the park. As long as he faithfully delivers the Word, God
will honor that. And maybe, once you
wake up after that boring sermon, offer him a little encouragement along the
way.
2 comments:
I see no shame in wanting to hit homeruns. After all, preaching Gods word is, at the core, public speaking. It just so happens to be the most important public speaking one can do. And public speaking 101 suggests we not bore the audience to death, that we make the topic understandable with interest, thought-provocation, and challenge mixed in. Why should we neglect those simply because it is Gods word? Could it be that the Spirit of God uses public speaking 101 principles to cut into hearts?
Good post!
Scott, thanks for these words. They are an encouragement to a guy who's been at this for 28 years now, 15+ in one place! This is one of the ingredients to longevity, I believe. If you're always thinking 'I gotta hit it outta the park' you're going to find yourself very discouraged, very quickly.
Mike (above commenter): I think we should always strive for our best; I'm just not convinced that this will be an out-of-the-park-home-run each Sunday. My wife has served me 1,000s of meals during our 31+ years of marriage, and quick frankly, I can only remember a handful that stand out. However, I know that had she not served the others, I would have shriveled up and died a long time ago.
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