books and music

Something happened to me this past Sunday that has never happened before. On first Sundays the 2nd-6th grade kids stay with us for the entire worship service. Afterward one of the 5th graders came up to me to tell me that he thought my sermon was really good. And I wasn’t giving him the third degree to see if he was paying attention – he sought me out to tell me (I think I was putting away my guitar at the time).

The sermon was on things that give us a false sense of worth and about finding our true worth in our Father’s love. Recently one of our grad students used Grace Community as a subject for a project on surveys and measurements. In her sample she found that the sermons at Grace (of which the majority are preached by yours truly) had the greatest discrepancy between level of importance and level of satisfaction. In our leadership team we discussed this finding and the consensus was that I refer to other books too much and that people want to hear what the Bible says and how it applies in my life and theirs. So one of the things I’m giving up for Lent is references to books besides the Bible in my sermons. I’m sure that had something to do with why a 5th grader found my sermon meaningful and applicable. (As CS Lewis has said, if you can’t explain it to a 10 year old, you probably don’t understand it. Now what book did he say that in…?)

It’s easy for me to look for my sense of worth in my breadth of knowledge, to try to prove I'm smart or wise by citing a lot of books in my sermons. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying books, but when it takes the place of the Father’s love in my life it’s an idol. Lent is about entering the wilderness with Jesus (Lent is patterned after Jesus’ 40 day fast in Matthew 4, Mark 1 and Luke 4). It’s about getting to the core of who we are without the usual conveniences and comforts with which we tend to fill our lives. During Lent I’m fasting from listening to the stereo while I’m in the car (much to the chagrin of my kids). Sure, I’m missing the latest songs and the latest news, but does knowing those things make me worth more? Meanwhile, the awkwardness of having to be with myself in the car isn’t a bad thing. It’s a good exercise to see what tends to fill my mind while I’m driving and consider why those things are important to me. And I have a chance to listen to God and to do some intercession for others.

I probably won’t get rid of the stereo in my car after Lent (although there are times when I just have to turn it off because I want some solitude). But I’m finding that it’s a good discipline for me to replace book citations in my sermons with reflection on why that particular citation helps me to understand and apply God’s Word. Maybe I’ll start becoming understandable to 4th graders, too. Now how am I going to reach the 3rd graders…?