Don't worry. You will not have to put up with preacher navel gazing here at ADU week by week. But occasionally I shall indulge myself. My sermon this morning on the readings discussed in yesterday's post went across quite well. Some comments were kind. But one person as they left the service thanked me for my "interesting sermon."
On reflection I realise that "interesting" in such a context is full of possibilities (most of which are not encouraging for the preacher). You can probably think of more possible meanings. Here are the ones I have thought of:
"I completely disagreed with what you said but am too polite to say so."
"What a pot-pouri of a sermon. So many things to think about. I have no idea what main message you were trying to get across."
"I have been a Christian for many years and thought I understood our orthodox faith very well, but I have never heard any Christian teaching like what you put forward. You're probably a heretic, but I had better check with the vicar before I write to the bishop."
"I do not normally go to church and have no idea what the purpose of sermons is, but what you said was as interesting as any talk I hear at Rotary these days."
"Basically all the sermons I have heard lately have been extremely boring, so it was quite a surprise this morning to find that I actually listened to some of what you said."
"I had not realised the full depths of obscure details in the Bible but I have had my eyes opened, thanks to you!"
3 comments:
Maybe preachers should be supplied with a guide similar to the following to help interpret sermon responses.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/55551980/Anglo-EU-Translation-Guide
I didn't catch the accent of the worshipper who used the word "interesting"!
Well done Stephen G, I've just read Peters post and was about to reply to give him exactly the same guide!
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