IN DEFENSE...

This post is going to be in defense of the audience at church.  How many sermons have you been in attendance at where the speaker/preacher goes on a bit or a LOT, or jokes about how people aren't listening or about how they should be happy to be there when he goes over, or how they are sleeping, texting, talking, etc during the sermon and how bad that is??  Well, I have a few things to say on the matter...(I feel a little like that kooky lady on Saturday Night Live that used to prattle on about a subject only to find out she had it a little wrong) (but, hang on a minute!!) :) (cuz I think the apple falls on both sides a little)

Recently I was in attendance at a church service where we had a visiting preacher.  He was a missionary.  He began his "sermon" by joking about how he was going to speak for 3 1/2 hours...and how if ANYONE got up and started to leave he was going to stop and ask them publicly why they were leaving...he sort of joked about it for a little bit. OK, I KNEW he was joking (Well, I THINK he was joking)...but it made me a little nervous about getting up and leaving for ANY reason; whether it was to go to the bathroom or get a drink, or find a pen...Yep, I'm one of those who have always felt I had to do what the person in authority was telling me to do...STILL...on occasion.  And, NO, he didn't go on for 3 1/2 hours, but I was a little nervous that he would go on for awhile...Was I a bad audience person because I didn't feel like sitting still for 3 1/2 hours and listening to his sermon?...hmmm...

SO, fast forward to another Sunday.  On THIS particular day we happened to have another visiting preacher; a young "ish" man going to our local preacher's school...I had some company with me...it was Mother's Day.  The sermon begins and everything is fine...it goes on...and still we are ok...it gets a little confusing...a little repetition (understand...he's learning)...ok...still with him...and then it begins to go long...long...long...my little person with us was getting fussy...needing to eat...my mother is home alone with my very ill father and is waiting for a call...I'm getting to the point where I'm concerned about things in life that need my immediate or soon attention...and still he goes on...the tension was mounting in me...I could FEEL the pressure of the day smothering me...needing me to do something...until I feel captured...and in need of escape...so, what crazy thing do I do...I mouth the words "Hurry Up"...OH NO!!!  What did I just DO???  What made it worse was the preacher was looking at me at JUST THAT MOMENT!!  Ouch!!  I felt horrified that I had done that...horrified that he SAW it...and THEN...he stopped...and said "I'm sorry, I just saw someone in the audience just mouth the words "hurry up" and it threw me off"...and then he went on with his sermon...I felt SO embarrassed...so bad...but STILL so under pressure to take care of my family and company with their immediate needs.  After the sermon was over we hopped up and were on our way out so the baby could eat and we could call my mother...and I felt someone grab my arm...Yep, it was the preacher who stopped me...He said "That was very discouraging"...and I apologized...I went on to explain that my father is dying, the baby needed to eat and my mom was alone on Mother's Day waiting for a call and I just snapped...I told him I was so sorry...something I had planned to do as soon as I took care of my little baby company and my mom...as soon as I could find him...but, he was there, so I did it then...and then we ran on out...

These events got me to thinking about things...YES, it was SO RUDE of me to have mouthed the words "Hurry Up" to a learning preacher...SO RUDE!!...It was...well, I can't say it enough...SO RUDE!!...however...I've been wondering since then about the times we have been chastised in church for not wanting to sit there for EVER to hear a long sermon...about the times we have been embarrassed in public for this or that (remember the post about the preacher answering my phone during a sermon?).  Does it make me a bad christian...does it make me love God less...?  I say no!!  It makes me a person living in the world with life happening, and death happening, and babies who don't know any better needing food...it makes me HUMAN...yes, I'm going to say it...HUMAN!  Just like the preachers who have a job to do to preach the word and help us along the path to understanding...I have a job to do in life.

I have read that the normal attention span of an adult is 20 minutes.  OK...I've read reports from studies that teach a presenter to build their programs in 20 minute increments.  Give the audience a break, change the activity...IF you want your audience to stay with you. I am a school teacher and I remember classes on just this subject.  For kids it is shorter...like 10 minutes...but the point is the same...change it up if you want to keep your audience's attention.  That is a study...a fact of life...part of the HUMAN condition.

The early church often met in homes and it could be a long event...BUT, it was scattered with singing, praying, eating...and hearing the word.  It was the way it was done then...partly as people walked a bit to get there I would assume...partly because of the times...eating together...activities around the hearing of the word...Even Jesus fed the 5,000 as they were hungry...OK...that is what they did...it is an example...AND, in the church we attend...we sing, we pray...we sometimes eat together...and there is a sermon that typically doesn't run long...so we are doing that...

I know you've noticed that I haven't included scripture in this commentary.  I could...ok, here's one...I Peter 1:22 "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart"  Does that mean I don't love my brethren if I can't sit still for a couple of hours and listen, or that I don't love my brother who is preaching longer than my attention span?  NO...It doesn't mean he doesn't love me when he goes long either...I just think there should be a respect for our HUMAN condition...on both sides...and be careful when we expect one or the other to comply.  God made us free...it should be ok either way...OK, a weak point I admit, but a point none the less.

I just have a problem with being a captive audience.  I KNOW I could just get up and leave...and I should have that day the preacher went long and my family needed me...but I was also raised not to seem disrespectful...and for me that seems a little disrespectful...so I was sort of caught in the middle of my own feelings.  WHEW!

I love God, I DO, I pray constantly, I study to show myself approved, I work for my Heavenly Father in ways where my left hand doesn't know what my right hand is doing Matthew 6:3-4.  I do not forsake the assembly, I love my brethren.  I just can't sit still for long periods of time without loosing my focus...THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME WRONG OR BAD...it doesn't make anyone WRONG OR BAD.

So, in defense of the audience...we are HUMAN...we LOVE GOD or we wouldn't be there...WE JUST HAVE SCHEDULES and LIVES and RESPONSIBILITIES that encompass our duties as Christians and are part of living a Godly life.  When the church service is scheduled to last from THIS TIME to THAT TIME...we gladly put it in there...but DON'T make us captive audiences and expect that we will glean every intent you had with the spirit you want every time!

PS...I could have written a BUNCH more...included a LOT of references and proof text...but, this was going LONG, and I don't believe in captive audiences...tee hee...

GOD BLESS us EVERYONE!!