Every so often, you hear a sermon that really shakes you up.
It helps you see your life through a different lens, and perhaps motivates you to do something you’ve never done before.
And then there are the yawners.
You know what I mean. The priest gets up there and seems to drone on and on, and you see a few heads nodding here and there, while other folks surreptitiously check their watches.
So what to do? Well, some congregations get all fired up about dull sermons, and create a committee to complain.
Some people even leave their congregation in search of more incisive, cutting-edge reflections.
But what if we just forgave the person who’s delivering a dud? After all, crafting sermons is not a pastor’s only job.
Some clergy show great compassion at the bedside of the dying, and are gifted at knowing what to say when a family loses a beloved child.
Some are highly skilled at counseling young couples considering marriage, or helping married couples unsnarl difficulties in getting along.
As a Catholic, I’m well aware that the heart of Mass is not the sermon, but the Eucharist. Still, I’ll admit I also relish a moving message from the pulpit, and often grumble when I don’t get one.
In truth, though, it’s unfair to judge a minister’s worth based on the words spoken at the podium each week.
Yes, it’s wonderful when Reverend So-and-So delivers a real home-run, but church isn’t about entertainment. It isn’t about surfing for the best channel, and then sitting back with a snack to enjoy the show.
Southern writer Flannery O’Connor addressed this topic in a letter in “The Habit of Being.” There she pointed out to a friend that any child could “pick out the faults in a sermon on his way home from church every Sunday.”
She went on to say, however, that it would be impossible for that same child to understand the “hidden love that makes a man, in spite of his intellectual limitations…give up his life to the service of God’s people, however bumblingly he may go about it.”
The clergy work long hours for very little pay. They are called away in the middle of the night to hospitals, hospices and homes. They can be re-assigned with little notice to a new parish every few years, and must scramble to re-adjust.
When a good sermon comes around, it is like a jewel, something to be cherished and admired. And when dull ones are churned out, it’s tempting to feel cheated.
Instead, we should remember to pray for the person delivering them.
We might also thank God for folks who are still willing to give up so much to earn so little—and to serve so many.
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Lorraine's latest books include "The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O'Connor's Spiritual Journey," and a mystery, "Death of a Liturgist," both published by St. Benedict Press. Her email address is lorrainevmurray@yahoo.com
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