Shame on those preachers and congregations who think the Word of God is just plain oatmeal (and I mean “plain” – no brown sugar, no cinnamon, no raisins or bananas – just “plain”). Shame on those preachers and congregations who say to the seeker: “This is just plain oat meal. You’ll eat it, and you’ll like it, because you’re not getting anything else.” And shame on those preachers and congregations who assume that the Word of God is just plain oatmeal, and try to compensate with a lot of additives. Who say to the seeker: “I know this is just plain oatmeal, but if we clap our hands enough, and I add in lots of dancing bullet points and trained elephants maybe you won’t notice.”I know that the two congregations mentioned above, sitting across town from each other, might be inclined to smirk in the direction of their sister congregation, and feel a sense of superiority. “We are the true believers, we serve up plain oatmeal” one congregation might think. “We truly care for the lost because we put jellybeans in our plain oatmeal,” the second congregation might assert.
The Word of God is not dull!
Shame on those who make it dull.
Shame on those who assume it is dull and try to compensate for its dullness.
Let me elaborate.
Perhaps I’m completely misguided, but I see two congregations who are both serving up oatmeal – are both proceeding from the same assumption – that the Word of God is essentially dull and arcane. Their reactions to this assumption are different, but the assumption is the same. The Word of God is milk (I Peter 2.2), meat (Hebrews 5.11-14), living water (John 4.14), and bread (John 6.32), not oatmeal. The Word of God is alive and active – continually performing microsurgery on our thoughts and intentions (Hebrews 4.12). The Word of God is the very creative force of God (John 1.3). The Word of God is embodied in the Son of God (John 1.1,14).
Perhaps I’m naïve, but I always thought it was the Word of God which was completely adequate for all human need (II Timothy 3.16-17), and that It needs neither apology nor compensation. I have always believed that as a minister of the Gospel, my job was to open the Book and get out of its way. It isn’t my job to shove it down someone’s throat, or to obscure it with tap-dancing, and green-screen technology.
Some preachers may think it is their duty to drone on for forty-five minutes and more. Some congregations may think it is a mark of righteousness to sit there and take it – like it is some kind of group aural flagellation. Some Preachers may think that they take the stage as a hybrid of Dr. Phil, Jay Leno, and Doug Henning. Some Congregations would not be satisfied with anything less than this Cirque du Sunday.
Not this preacher. Not this congregation.
The Word of God is Alive and Sufficient. It is all we need. We believe that. Let us never forget it.
…For you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable but imperishable – through the living and abiding Word of God. I Peter 1.23
