If the church is merely a place where a nice respectable person stands in front of other nice, respectable people and urges them to be nicer and more respectable, it is leading people down the wrong path.
Okay, so why are we here?
Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Mark Twain
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I would say it’s hard to give specifics until actually led in a direction by the Holy Spirit. It would be nice if we could say, “The secret is…” But we can’t really say that. There’s no secret. Every circumstance calls for different very specific advice (from the Holy Spirit of course). As for myself, I have found that a good place to start is allowing myself to be led by the Holy Spirit. The difficulty in this task is finding the humility to do it every day for 24 hours a day, rather than one hour a week, one day a week, etc.
I also try not to beat myself up with guilt when I fall short. As in the story of the prodigal son, as Christians, eventually, we are all called to become the father to a world that is ready to “come home.” We cannot perform this task if we are left with the “unworthy” feeling. Mark Twain makes a good point. But in my opinion, sermons should also provide a great deal of hospitality to those who might already be feeling “unworthy.”
It could be argued that Twain is making a case for controversy in the church. In the words of Cecil Sherman (one of the most influential Baptist of our time) “Controversy makes headlines; it does not make ministry. Controversy makes for confrontation; the majority of my life has been about reconciliation. And I’d lke to be remembered so.”