A Long, Lusty Sunday

That got you to read on, didn’t it? Well, we had a similar situation Sunday—great attendance, great topic, and by some accounts, I actually pulled off a pretty good sermon—on lust, no less. It’s already generated a surprising number of thanks & notes of appreciation, including from a young man wanted to know where I got the flirtatious garbage man clip. The video clip of a teenage girl talking about her body-image being eroded by a childhood exposure to porn caused some conversation later that night during the Meet the Pastor; the ‘big boobs’ the girl talked about weren’t words those new Kaw Prairiers had heard in church before. Who knew?

But perhaps the most interesting comment was from a long-churched grandmother who said, “Pastor, of all the sermons on lust I’ve heard, yours today was most plainspoken.”

Phew. I thought she was going to say “longwinded.”

Yeah, as the service report testified, my message on 3 simple verses (Matthew 5:27-29)--Sunday’s installment of Things I wish Jesus Hadn’t Said--was an extra-inning exercise, for sure.

Who knew I had so much passion about lust? Surely folks are used to my passion for biblical languages (thus the 5 minute excursus on the roots of the word for Hell) or my geeky oddness as a teenager (my reflections on gouging out your eye vs. plucking it). But even I was surprised by how much I wanted to offer a hard-hitting, multiple witness-angle about ‘looking at a woman with lust.’

But on the down side, it was a just plain long sermon. So to all of you who invited friends or family, promising them a fast-moving 70 minute service, I really do offer my apologies. Now, hopefully most of us at church yesterday have had enough experience with lust to have been blessed by the Full Monty of a message. But for those who haven’t, or who have it all under control—-or who had a Sunday brunch that I made you late for—-I’m really sorry!

For better or worse, I’m not so personally experienced with the mysteries of the ‘Rapture,’ the topic of next week’s message. (“One will be taken, the other left,” from Matthew 24:40-41). So I promise: You’ll learn a lot, but I won’t keep you in church 'til Jesus comes!