For the past few years at Faith Church, one Sunday per quarter, I take a break from the sermon series, and I have a Current Events sermon. In those sermons, I scour the headlines, and study Scripture to try to help us think Christianly about the headlines. As always, I’ve blogged those sermons here. We’ve talked about war, Covid, politics, artificial intelligence, and even lawn care.
What I have been surprised to learn is how much the headlines are the same…quarter after quarter after quarter. Last quarter, in place of a Current Events sermon, I did a Question and Answer sermon. I invited my congregation to submit questions, and I tried to do the same as I do for Current Events sermons: study the Scripture to help us think Christianity in answering those questions.
This quarter, though, I did not receive any questions. But I still have one left over from last quarter, one that I didn’t have time for in the previous Q & A week. I started working on answering the question, thinking it would be brief, and then I thought I would tackle a current events issue as well. As I typed my answer the question, more and more and more came out. Frankly, entire books and seminary courses are about this.
The question I didn’t answer last quarter? “What do you wish you would’ve known before becoming a pastor?”
It feels very risky to answer that question in a sermon. Why? Join me on the blog next week to find out!
Engaging Scripture 