“One can’t believe impossible things,” said Alice to the White Queen. “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” –From Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
I write this mostly tongue in cheek. But not completely.
It seems to require superhuman strength to keep our latest accomplishments out of our sermons.
That’s what this is about.
If a pastor jogs or works out, he will probably work that into a sermon at least monthly. “As I was jogging yesterday morning, I’d just completed my third mile….”
If a pastor’s child excels in athletics or the band or academics, he will find a way to mention that in a sermon. It’s what a proud dad does. “My wife and I are so proud of Jayson who has just received ‘student of the month’ award for the third time. We were telling our daughter who is working on a Master’s at Johns Hopkins…”
If the pastor once took a course in Greek and can find his way around a Greek lexicon, look for him to mention that in a sermon, “When I was studying Greek” or “My Greek Bible says….” I suspect that if a real Greek scholar ever entered the service and challenged us, we would be petrified.
If a pastor reads through the Bible annually–or has just done it the first time–not saying so in a sermon is asking more than he is able to give. I can hear him say, “As you know, I read through the Bible annually–and have done so for the last 13 years.”
If the pastor is an avid golfer or a die-hard for some university’s football team, expect it to show up in sermons from time to time. He can no more keep that a secret than he can his commitment to Jesus Christ. “Well, I did it! I hit a hole in one last Tuesday.” He waits for the congregation to applaud. Half the people turn to the other half as if to say, “What does that mean?”