As summer began, the pastor completed Acts and started preaching on Proverbs. I don’t remember what the topic was, but one Sunday I began to pay attention. The following week, we moved up a few rows. That week’s sermon was on another topic that felt very personal to me. The man sitting nearby who kept loudly proclaiming “Amen” was a little distracting and was the reason I used to move up even closer the following week.
The next week, the pastor talked specifically about alcohol and how it destroys lives and homes. Through the entire sermon, I became very aware that my eyes and ears were wide open. At times, it felt like the pastor was looking at and talking to me and me only.
How could he have known that I had watched alcohol destroys the lives of people around me? How could he have known that I had used alcohol as an escape in my own life? How could he have known that I had a cabinet of liquor at home that I was saving for the next time I didn’t want to feel?
The pastor’s words became very real to me that day. I don’t think I heard or made any connection to God. I knew what he talked about came from the bible and thought I would find every word he said in the bible. I didn’t understand then that a sermon wasn’t just a reading from the bible.
Because I was not familiar with church, I also thought the people standing on the stage were the children’s church leaders. It made sense to me that they gathered there and left when the children’s church was dismissed. Of course, I later learned that was the choir.
No comments:
Post a Comment