Vol 4 No 22 - What Do You Hear?

During hot summer afternoons such as this one, I am often reminded of childhood days where my mother would tell me something along the lines of 'Boredom is a character defect.'  She tells me to this day that this was one of my grandmother's favorite sayings, and it's been running around my head today as I worked on the preaching calendar for July and August.  In thinking and praying about the various lectionary passages, I came across a number of quite familiar parables and Biblical events that each of us should know very well, and I thought about how 'boring' it might be for you and for me to revisit some of these same, oft-told, oft-studied scriptures.  Then my grandmother comes calling - 'Boredom is a character defect.'

I wonder if maybe, just maybe, my grandmother's words address a far-too-familiar situation for us Christians.  Are we still inspired by the reality of a God who offers us unconditional grace?  Are we still inspired by the reality that 'In the beginning God...'?  Are we still inspired by the reality of John 3:16-17 (go look it up if you don't remember it)?  Are we still inspired by the reality of the Last Supper, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday?  Are we still inspired by 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do'?  Are we still inspired by the awesome reality of Pentecost Sunday?  Are we still inspired by the hope of Christ coming again?

Or, does it really matter to us?  

My hope and prayer for each of us is that we never get in a position to consider any of the Scriptures 'boring' or not in need of discussion and proclamation.  God forbid!  For, if we ever allow ourselves to be in such a place that we do not believe that God's word has something to say to us, the problem is not with the Scripture or with the God who gave us the Scripture.  If we ever allow ourselves to be in such a place that we find the Scriptures to be boring, then the defect rests in us.

Moral of the story: I'm more excited now than I was even this morning to hear what God is going to say to us through the text over the next couple of months.  Consider yourself invited to join with me in this time of listening (again or for the first time) what the Almighty has in store for us.  Heck, bring someone with you.  You never know what will happen.

See you Sunday!

Lamar