Interesting Questions

Over the past few days, I’ve been reading several different blogs. On one of my favorites, there were two questions posed that got me thinking.  One question was “Why do you go to church?”  And the second one was “What is the purpose of the sermon?”

When I answered those questions it started me down a road of thinking that I’ve not ventured before. For much of my Christian life, going to church has been rather automatic. In recent years, as I began to build my own belief system, that question has taken on a certain level of importance. I routinely ask myself why I bother going to church. What’s its value?  What do I get there that I cannot get somewhere else or on my own?  Often, as I strategically take up space in the pew, I find myself drifting in various directions wondering “how the pastor got that from the text?; why can’t the audio folks get the mic volume correct?; why do the folks taking the offering seem so confused when it is something they do every week?” If you were to get me off on Sunday School or Bible Studies, there would be a whole other set of questions.

Now I understand that church is not soley a matter of what’s-in-it-for-me, but anyone who denies that influence is dilusional. We all go to church with certain agendas. It could be social networking, being a part of something “exciting”, status, or in the rare case with the intent of encountering God. The sooner we fess up to those agendas the better off we’ll be. 

In many respects, how we understand the purpose of the “sermon” is also somewhat self-centered. We like to be affirmed, hear God’s word in a comforting manner, or be challenged – but not too challenged – in our daily walk of faith. Many have no idea the hours preachers invest in sermons that fall on deaf ears. And in reality, that should not be unusual. A good sermon is like a good talk show host. a good talk show host is talking to one person and one person only.  Thus, a good preacher (sermon) talks to one person and one person only. That’s why you often hear people say, “I felt like he was talking directly to me.”  However, for many sermons which have succumbed to the exegetical style, with all its benefits, there is a tendency to miss the personal style. It’s true that on many occasions Jesus had to explain his teaching to his disciples. But for the most part the Word should be able to stand on its inherent value without too much bloviating on the part of the preacher.

When I hear a sermon, I want my mind to be challenged. I want my heart to be stirred and I want my faith enlarged becauseof the text not in spite of the text. I don’t necessarily want to hear what commentators say the Word says, I want to hear the Word itself.  A preacher who is a fine exegete is not the end all, I can handle a topical approach from time to time. In fact, it may be necessary in some instances.  As noted, I want my mind to be challenged, my heart stirred and my faith enlarged.

Those questions are interesting questions. Without speaking in platitudes and cliches answering those two questions from the heart might challenge you in ways you had not thought of before. They did me.