“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.
Having pastored six churches over 42 years and having preached for over 55 years, I know that my fears, my failures, my successes, and my accomplishments all tend to work themselves into what I am preaching.
It seems to require the strength of Samson to keep these things out of our sermons….
–If a pastor jogs or works out, it is impossible for him not to 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 has excelled in athletics or the band or in the classroom, he will find a way to allude to 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 her Master’s at Johns Hopkins…”
–If the pastor once took a course in Greek and can find his way around a Greek lexicon, he will find it impossible not to drop that into the occasional sermon. “When I was studying Greek” or “My Greek Bible says…” I say this to our embarrassment. If a real Greek scholar ever entered the service and challenged us, we would be mortified.
–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. He just has to say so. “As you know, I read through the Bible annually–and have done so for the last 13 years.”