3 Graces Overheard

 January 3, 2024

Today’s gratitude prompt is “three graces overheard.” That’s a tough one, unless you’re prone to eavesdropping, but I’ll try.

This morning, I listened while three of my pastor friends prayed. Pastors’ prayers can get pretty predictable, so when one of them speaks of how hard it is to maintain a positive attitude when dealing with so much of the pain and heartache of the people he serves, it truly is a grace overheard, especially since I am retired and see so little of it myself other than in the daily interactions that most of us have.

I read today from Genesis 8:22 and overheard God promising Noah, “As long as the earth endures, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.“ Strangely enough, those who call themselves progressives are often fanatically passionate to promote regression, to keep change from happening. That’s never worked before, and won’t today, but there’s money to be made in trying to hold back the sea. God never said there would be no change; but that the seasons would never cease. Drought and floods, hurricanes and tornadoes—God didn’t promise we would have none, but that on his timetable, not the calendar’s, the seasons would march on, one after the other, “as long as the earth endures.”

I listened to an elderly preacher (that means REALLY old, if I’m calling him elderly) preach on the difference between preaching and teaching, bemoaning his evaluation that too many preachers only teach. The difference, he explained, is that teaching imparts information, but preaching is designed to MOVE people. It was interesting and convicting, although at this stage in my life, such conviction doesn’t do a lot of good. I would state it differently: Preaching moves people suddenly, like the shock wave of a dynamite blast can derail a freight train. Teaching moves people more slowly. The train isn’t blown off the tracks, but moved down them to the desired destination. Each has its place, depending on the goal. If you are trying to win over an antagonistic crowd, you might need the explosive power of the dynamite, but if you’re speaking to the already convinced, a more subtle approach may be appropriate. 

For most of my life, I’ve been a teaching preacher. I’ve listened to and appreciated the “preaching” preacher, and at times, have wished I could be one. But I am who I am, and hopefully, I’ve moved people down the tracks, and not simply blown up the train.