your worst sermon

Have you ever thought about the worst sermon you have heard or delivered?

One of my worst sermons was in response to the early signs of a global financial downturn in the 1980s. I was leading worship in a rural township and in the sermon I pondered the foolishness of finding our goals for life deeply enmeshed with money and investments. Some days and weeks later as the impact of the financial collapse wreaked its havoc I watched people lose their jobs, their life savings and their retirement funds. I felt ashamed at the simplicity and ignorance evidenced in my words of that sermon. I have never forgotten that sermon - although shame would not have me referring to it often.

The shame that hit was about my ignorance and lack of understanding of the situation.

Of course, shame is of little value when it comes to learning and growing. Shame makes us hide and withdraw rather than stepping out. Often our faith communities unwittingly become places of shame when it comes to growing and learning. People often feel ashamed of what they don’t know or understand, and sometimes the culture of a congregation or community can reinforce the valuing of ‘knowing’ rather than ‘learning’. Such communities create a shame culture and inhibit safe spaces for questionning and exploration.

If the gap between what I don’t know and what I would like to know and understand is a gap of shame then I will be less able and willing to expose my ‘not knowing’ and less free to learn. If such a gap between knowing and not knowing is experienced as an ‘opportunity gap’ then I am more likely to step into that space and learn and grow.

We all have a responsibility to make our spaces safe spaces in which to learn, we all have a responsibility to ensure that the spaces we inhabit are not fearful or humiliating spaces where lack of knowledge is frowned upon or a cause of shame.

Hopefully I have learnt my lesson regarding ‘shameful’ sermons - but hey, that’s probably not the case because growing always has those uncomfortable moments when we are challenged to learn more and be more.