Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Churched

Home
Evangelical
September 16th, 2001

September 16th, 2001

Last updated on: September 14, 2018 at 10:58 am by Matt Pearson

September 16th, 2001 2018-09-12T22:26:39-05:00 Matt Pearson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Sunday, September 16th, 2001. A day I would love to have back.

Five days after the tragic of events of what is now called “9-11.”

I was just over four months into my first pastorate. I was preaching through the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. The scheduled text for that week was “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7).

The church was full. Packed. People standing in the back. On a normal Sunday, we averaged 75 or so. On this day, there were at least twice that.

People came needing answers.

People came needing comfort.

People came needing to hear about a big God.

People came needing to know there was a Savior who loved them, though it didn’t feel like it.

People were hungry and thirsty for the reality of a strong, loving, empathetic, and majestic God.

Yours truly, however, stayed with his plan. I preached on how we need to show mercy. I preached about what mercy was/is; how we get it and how we show it. I yelled for 30 minutes about how we just need a little more mercy in our lives.

They left and went home. Probably more defeated than when they came.

Only half came back the following Sunday. . .

I don’t blame ’em.

The people who came to Friendship Baptist Church that day needed mercy from their preacher; not talked to about how they needed more of it.

Do we all need a good sermon on mercy? Sure.

Is Matthew 5:7 a great text? Of course.

Is preaching through the Beatitudes a good thing? You bet.

Should I have stayed on schedule to get through the “next” Beatitude? No way.

I completely ignored the thoughts and feelings and emotions and needs of what all of America was going through. I kept my head in the sand and proceeded to do “my thing” according to “my” schedule. What I should have done is punted. Punted the Beatitudes for a week or so, and opened up to Psalm 23 or 46 or 63 or 84 or 103.

Preacher, there will be times when you need to go off script. There are circumstances that demand us to pause and help our people get a big and real vision of the greatness of God. There are Sundays and seasons our people need to know that we are tapped into what they are dealing with. Don’t do what I did on Sunday, September 16th, 2001.

I pray there will never be a need to address such a tragedy again. But if there is, I pray I love my people enough to help them see and behold and trust and love and run to the great and mighty God of the Scriptures.

General Challenge

Previous Post

September 11, 2018

The Most Important Part of a Great Sermon

Next Post

September 18, 2018 Hamburger Helper vs. Filet Mignon

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Biblical Reflections Devotions Fridays are For Illustrations General Challenge General Preaching Resources Letters to West Franklin Preparing to Preach Table Talk Questions The Preaching Event Top Ten Quotes Uncategorized West Franklin West Franklin Talks

Select a Month March 2023 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 September 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Above all else, guard your ____, for everything you do flows from it.

Select your answer to see how you score.

Heart Words Actions Mind