Let me say up front that I do not have 7 ways to name your sermon. The title is stated this way as a concession to the fact that people like reading articles that offer 10 ways, 5 principles, 7 shortcuts, whatever. That is what this article is about!
Recently on this website I wrote an article which I called “Worship: Doing It the Wrong Way.” It was a one-idea theme, basically that when we go to church to “get something out of it,” we’re doing it all wrong. We ought to go to “give to the Lord the glory due His name” (Psalm 29:1).
As with many other articles we post here, the little essay was promptly picked up by an online sermon service that repackages my writing and forwards it to something like 100,000 of their closest friends. No problem whatsoever with that. And in case anyone wonders, no, no money changes hands. No blogger that I know of makes a dime from articles which these services pick up and send out. That’s not why we do this. Certainly not why this farm boy does it.
What was interesting about that, however, is that in selecting the article and sending it out, the sermon service felt they should rename it in order to make it more attractive to readers. For reasons that I find baffling, they redubbed it “Seven Things We Get Wrong About Worship.”
I went to their site and enjoyed reading a large number of comments from readers. Most were positive, a few were combative, but not a one picked up on the fact that there were not seven things or even five or three things in that article which people get wrong about worship. There was just the one.
By now, I’ve done this enough to know that editors seem to gravitate toward articles that offer bullet points–7 things, 10 easy steps, 5 insights. I suppose it’s a concession to the reading habits of the modern male. Male? Since something like 99 percent of ministers are male, yes, that would be who these headings are directed toward.
Someone says, “I thought men weren’t readers.” Fact: ministers are. They have to be.
Only, they just like 7 points. It’s easier to follow. After all, they do not plan to devote a lot of time to any one article.
So, after giving it some thought, I’ve hit upon some titles for which I’m considering writing articles and posting here on this website in the near future. See what you think.
How many are there? You know the answer to that.