{"id":1274,"date":"2009-03-13T09:05:29","date_gmt":"2009-03-13T17:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2009-07-19T06:28:32","modified_gmt":"2009-07-19T14:28:32","slug":"how-to-listen-to-a-bad-sermon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2009\/03\/13\/how-to-listen-to-a-bad-sermon","title":{"rendered":"How To Listen To A Bad Sermon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listening to a bad sermon is like eating crab legs. It\u2019s a lot more trouble than it should be, but you can still get a lot of meat if you are diligent.<\/p>\n

So how do you do it?<\/p>\n

Here are some tips that I sometimes find helpful, in order of preference. I don\u2019t want to make you too excited: nothing is going to make a bad sermon good. But these might help mitigate your suffering.<\/p>\n

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  1. Be merciful.<\/strong> Preaching consistently good sermons is a lot harder than it seems. Think about your worst day on the job and how you would like your coworkers and customers to respond with compassion and understanding. Now extend that same compassion to the preacher.<\/li>\n
  2. Overlook the stupid stuff.<\/strong> Every once in a while even solid and reliable preachers will say something that\u2019s completely ridiculous \u2014 usually when they venture outside their area of expertise. This is particularly true when preachers begin using stories to illustrate a point they are trying to make. It can really throw you for a loop. Tune it out the same way you tune out that one cousin at family reunions. Even your favorite book has some boring passages, but you judge the book on its highlights. Judge sermons likewise.<\/li>\n
  3. Be randomly inspired.<\/strong> I learned this from Dary Northrop in a seminar: you should bring a notebook to sermons not because of how insightful and magnificent the preacher is going to be, but because the Holy Spirit will spark new and amazing insights in you which are only tangentially related to what is in the speaker\u2019s notes. Few sermons are so bad that there is no goodness in them \u2014 even a three-year-old will say something profound and\/or hilarious if you listen to them long enough. So wait for a clever turn of phrase, an obscure or unexpected Bible reference, or a fact that you were hitherto unaware of and begin writing furiously. Doodle as well. Repeat as necessary.<\/li>\n
  4. Pretend it\u2019s opposites day.<\/strong> don t look now free download<\/a> <\/u>\n
    download the others movie<\/a><\/div>\n

    secret diary of a call girl online<\/a><\/u> Curt Harlow<\/a> <\/p>\n

    download in the valley of elah dvd<\/a><\/p>\n

    had a tradition in his Chi Alpha ministry. Once a year he would preach opposite: \u201cWhy You Should Not Pray\u201d, \u201cWhy God Is Untrustworthy\u201d, etc. He did it deadpan (well \u2014 as deadpan as Harlow ever gets). The first time he did it he was worried his students wouldn\u2019t catch on that he was merely exaggerating and then repeating their own doubts back to them in order to demonstrate how ridiculous their doubts were, but it was a huge success. Even the guests got it. It became an institution. Ever since he told me that story, I gamely pretend that a really bad sermon is merely the results of \u201copposites day\u201d.<\/p><\/li>\n

  5. Improve the sermon.<\/strong>\n