Church Voices

Only amnesiacs and casual fans like clip shows. To a legitimate fan a clip show is a slap in the face, because they all know its just a way to fill out a season with an episode that takes very little work, and leaves the viewer wholly unsatisfied. Its just left overs disguised as a new meal.

I had a professor who, in reference to preaching, told my class, “the hard part of my job [as preacher, not professor] is that I preach the same thing every week, I just re-package it”. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. I thought he was referring to it on a grand scale, as in, if you preach long enough sooner or later you’ll be preaching the same passages of scripture. Looking back, I realize he meant it on a micro level, not on a macro level. That every single week he preached the same messaged, re-packaged to look a little bit different. His preaching was, and mine has become, in a nut shell, a clip show.

But, here’s the thing, while recycled television scripts are wholly unsatisfying, recycled gospel preaching is not. At least part of the reason for it is that virtually every joke told by actors on the small screen are nothing more than conventions we’ve seen played out a million times, not just on TV, but in the world at large. When a character has a bad day, in which the world keeps piling indignity on top of inconvenience, on top of discomfort, we relate because whether its played for tragedy or comedy we’ve all been there.

On the other hand, the gospel isn’t played out on a everyday basis. We live in a world in which everything costs something. We live in a world where everyone understand the phrase “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”. We live in a world where old people get ripped off by fake contractors, and supposed princes of Nigeria email me on a daily basis. In every business deal, personal interaction, and with every breath we are reminded this is a world with a quid pro quo ethos at its very core.

And that’s why teachings, sermons, churches, and services should be gospel clip shows. The message that the mercy of God has been made available through faith in the resurrection is alien to this world, and so its one that needs to be heard both by those who have never heard it, as well as by those who have lived it their entire lives.