November 11, 2010 
You know how everyone shakes the preacher’s hand at the door one the meeting is over? They say something like, “I appreciated what you had to say today,” or maybe just “Good word.”
I have found that people compliment your sermon much more when you tell them things that they already know. People tend to avoid you if you tell them things that stretch their brains too much.
Think about it. When do we get the shouts of “Amen” and “Glory”? Those exclamations often mean something like, “Yes, I knew that and I agree wholeheartedly.”
I think we need a new exclamation that means, “Wow, that is something that I have never considered before. You have challenged me to consider new things.”
How about a new exclamation that means, “I’ve never considered that before. But now that I have I think it’s a bunch of hooooeeeeeee.” That is pronounced (who EEE) synonymous with horse poo. LOL I am sorry man I couldn’t resist. I do love your blog, sort of… I hope you’re laughing. I’m joking. WHo loves you man??? I DO!!!!
BTW: That was me who wrote that, not Pam.
The preacher would like you to say nothing…just live the sermon! That is a lot harder to do!
Good word!
I agree with this assessment. People LOVE to hear what they already know, it’s not just in the church either. The same thing also happens a lot with politics. People go to rallies to hear people they already support talk about the things they already believe. I think it’s human nature to want to be right, so we surround ourselves with other people who believe the same thing as us in order to convince ourselves that we MUST be right (after all, all those other people can’t ALL be wrong…)
Also people expect to only hear “positive” or “uplifting” things in church for some reason. Like when someone has a “word” for someone else it’s always something nice like “God loves you” or “that thing you’re praying for is gonna happen.” But alot of times in the Bible, people would get messages like “God knows what you did and you’re gonna pay” or “You thought it was cool to sleep with that other dude’s wife, but now you’re up the creek…” Could you imagine if preachers started busting out “words” for people in the congregation that went like that? I can sorta imagine, it would be somewhat hilarious, but I think church attendence would be much lower cause nobody would have the nerve to show up if they knew they had something to hide.
Wait, what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, shaking the preacher’s hand. I for one, prefer giving the preacher a hug! And I also prefer to learn new things and be challenged, what’s the point of learning something I already know?
AMEN!
I want to be challenged and I am not afraid to consider whether something I have believed is truth, because I want to learn and grow. I’m not questioning God, just man’s interpretations, which sometimes need reexamination.