Pay Attention
Read: Luke 19:47-48
The day we were assigned this sermon, I think everyone’s first reaction was, Oh no, I can’t believe we have to write a sermon. The first words that come to mind when I think of sermons are boring, dull, long and tedious. I know we’re supposed to listen and learn. I also know that sometimes sermons are interesting and even funny when they include jokes. Usually though it seems that during the sermon people are doing one of three things: staring off in the distance, drawing on the bulletin, or sleeping. (Well that’s what I guess I do, and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.) But maybe looks are deceiving.
It occurred to me that staring off into space doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is not listening. In fact I need to defend that because I do it to my mom all the time. I claim that I’m listening – and of course I am!- even though I’m not looking at her. She doesn’t believe me though. It’s probably true for other people too. Some people might be enjoying the stained glass windows. Some people may be thinking about what they are hearing. Some may be just staring off, but I bet they hear a lot more than they realize. I know I do. One time my mom had to go home because my sister forgot her 3rd grade Bible at home. She came back and asked what she had missed in the sermon and surprisingly I was able to fill her in pretty well.
My sister, Faith, draws during the sermon - on the children’s bulletin, on the envelopes, on the stack of plain paper we sometimes bring. I’m always certain she isn’t listening when all of a sudden something is said about faith in the sermon and she sits up strait and starts poking me. I turn to her and say, “What?” And she says, “Did you hear, did you hear, she just said FAITH!” I bet my cousin Christian did the same thing when he was little. I’ve seen other people writing, but they could be jotting down notes, they could be drawing something that goes along with the sermon. I remember drawing fruit when I heard about the fruit of the spirit. I guess even if you’re drawing, you can get something out of the sermon too.
Can you get anything out of the sermon if you’re sleeping? Probably not if that’s what you are really doing. I have seen my aunt many times though up in the choir loft looking like she is asleep. I heard her talking about the sermons one time and how she makes it a habit to listen to them with her eyes closed. She says she can’t pay attention to them otherwise. Either it’s a great cover, or maybe we jump to conclusions about the people around us with closed eyes. It would be kind of hard for me to fall asleep with someone talking into a microphone. (Not to mention a fidgeting little 8-year old sitting next to me).
I was imagining a conversation with Linus from Charlie Brown. He always seems to know quotes from the Bible. How is it possible for a little kid who drags around a blanket to know all that anyway? If I told him how it is sometimes hard to pay attention in church, he would say, “You have to it’s in the Bible”. He actually would be right. It says in Hebrews 2:1, “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” Maybe we all drift a little while we listen. Even when our eyes, hands, and sometimes even thoughts drift a little, maybe we are paying more attention than we give ourselves credit for. God gives us credit for coming to church. Next time I’m sitting in a service I’ll try to think of this scripture and hopefully I wont drift out too far. It might be easier if I had a name like Faith or Christian because then occasionally someone would call my name and get me to pay attention. I’m not sure I would want that to happen though. I’m sure there are better ways.
Kayla Rumpp (from February 27, 2007)
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