My night-time reading these evenings is taking longer than planned, not because I fall asleep too early–as is often the case–but due to the nature of the book. It deals with a favorite period of history, one I’m well read on and which occupies a couple of shelves of my home library. The book is, well, frankly–it’s boring.

The author of this volume–and I consciously decided not to name it here–has made the assumption that anyone who buys his book has a built-in interest in that period and a foundational knowledge of its context and background. Therefore, he decided not to do the hard work other writers would have done in order to give it a human interest. No fascinating facts, no interesting tales, and, oddest of all, almost no conflict.

Plowing (trudging, toiling, laboring!) through this book, I could not help thinking of similar assumptions some of us preachers make as we prepare sermons for our Sunday services. Three assumptions in particular loom largest:

–“If I’m interested in this subject, the congregation will be, also.”

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We’ve seen that scene in movies a hundred times. A defenseless young woman is alone in a house where some unseen monster is loose, and what does she do but venture alone down darkened halls and into scary rooms. Invariably, she opens the door to the basement–which always looks like a dungeon–and steps into our deepest fears.

We want to cry out to her, “Don’t go there! This is not a good place to be!”

Sometimes, in real life, we feel like shouting the same counsel to friends who are venturing into unsafe places, particularly at vulnerable times.

In the case of an individual with a job to do, a most dangerous time is when he/she is feeling under-motivated.

When a friend confided that he was feeling under-challenged and unfulfilled in his job, I went into my fatherly mode and said, “You’re earning a paycheck that pays the mortgage, puts groceries on the table and provides for your family. That’s challenge and fulfillment enough for any man.”

Twenty-four hours later, a minister friend e-mailed a prayer request concerning his work. He’s having the kind of relationship difficulties we all encounter from time to time on large church staffs. I told him of my earlier conversation and suggested that might apply to his situation also.

People who study such things tell us that the demand for “fulfillment” and “challenge” in the workplace are relatively modern phenomena. Until the last generation or two, when we suddenly began to feel a sense of entitlement concerning all things, people went to work to do a job and earn a paycheck. Whether they felt satisfied, fulfilled, challenged, or motivated never entered the conversation. No employer saw it as his duty to help workers achieve their full potential. They were doing a job.

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