Oh well...

Yesterday during Sunday worship things were humming, I was feeling the Spirit and life was good. Then, in the middle of an illustration about a frog and boiling water, I noticed that as I moved to the conclusion one of the science teachers in the congregation was shaking his head in loving disagreement. "So," says I, "Scott... am I to gather that a frog WON'T remain in a pan of water that is gradually heated until it is boiled to death?"

Smiling but with all seriousness he said, "No... eventually the frog will jump out!" Now, for those preachers out there, you will recall this illustration about the insidious and gradual effects of cultural corruption, right? I first heard it from George Barna and it has been in circulation for decades. But my science-guy was insistent so... I just tossed away all my preaching notes (literally) and said, "Ok, let me see..." And started to think up another illustration to make my point.

The folks in worship roared - and waited. Eventually I came up with something related to the escalating violence in so-called entertainment that drove my point home. (My grandmother used to fear that I was being corrupted and desensitized by watching "The Man from UNCLE" - a very tongue-in-cheek parody of the popular James Bond movies of the 60s. Her point was, "It starts off very gently, but before you know it this acceptance of shooting leads to an acceptance of other kinds of violence. Sadly, she was right both culturally and personally.)

After worship was over and I got home, there were two notes from recent guests to our church telling me how much they loved the conversation, laughter, honesty, music and ability to accept our humanity that they've been experiencing in worship. One went so far as to say, "When you threw away your notes and laughed at yourself today... well, man that said more than the whole sermon!" Made me think of the old Fleetwood Mac song. "Oh Well..."

It was a good day inspite of my efforts, yes? And when I got to the church office today I found out our silent auction raised almost $2K for Greg Mortenson's ministry of building schools for girls in Afghanistan. That means: 2 full time teachers for a year, 5 sewing machines and school supplies for 25 childre for a full year!

PS: just for good measure - and full disclosure - my science-buddy sent me this link to keep me honest! What a blessing he is... check it out: http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/frogboil.asp