a bad sermon

Dad use to say this to me quite often: practice makes perfect. Now I think I’ve come to realize something about this pithy statement.

It’s not that practice makes you perfect; it’s more like mistakes correct your ability to accomplish the same task much better later down the road.

One thing I’m learning is that it’s probably to the Church’s benefit that pastors don’t hit home runs on their sermons every week. And here’s why: Leaders need humility. While I want to say that people who have the opportunity to preach are able to really let God have the credit for doing something good I know we as mere humans relish in the praise too. I don’t care how humble you might think you are when it comes to praise. Everyone in some way tangibly begins to personally receive the credit.

So while I truly hate the feeling of incorrectly teaching a text I still know it’s important to refine myself through failure. It helps me refocus my intentions. I think a bad sermon or two is exactly what I need from time to time in order for me to realize that I simply have to learn to rely more on God’s text; more on his Spirit; more on my hands and knees meditating and asking God through hard work on  a text how it should really reach people. A bad sermon changes my heart;  reminds me to let it always be about Christ and his desires…

I know preparing sermons is meaningless to the rest of the world but I think the principle is the same: Mistakes should help you improve. Whether it’s trying to learn a new language and you hate the way you sound or figuring out how to get that golf swing down in front of a group of business partners, or the preacher who puts his/her heart out there at the cost of being criticize; don’t be afraid to make the mistake. The willingness to make the error simply means you’ll know how to do it better the next time around.

Learning how to humble myself before the Lord; how to grow from missing the mark.