Preach Me Something
“Do you think you can go on the field trip with Aaron’s class?” My wife asked me one afternoon. “They are going to the planetarium. I think it would be a good experience for them to have a father go along.”
I answered, “Well, I can’t pass up the opportunity to go to the planetarium with my favorite youngest son.” My son Aaron smiled back at me.
Tuesday came and off we went: one teacher, two parents and 40 fourth graders. It certainly was an enjoyable, educational morning. After lunch we headed back to the bus for our bumpy ride back to the school. As we walked to the bus, a little boy walked up next to me and asked, “Who are you?”
“I’m Aaron’s father,” I replied.
The little boy asked, “ Are you a teacher or something?”
“No,” I answered him, “I am a minister of a church.”
“Oh yeah,” he responded “you’re a preacher.”
“That’s right.” I responded.
“Well then, can you preach me somethin’?”
Right there on the spot he wanted me to as he called it ‘preach him something’. Now CONSIDERthe many hours it takes to prepare a message to preach on a Sunday morning, and he wanted me to ‘preach’ in the time it would take to walk to the bus and board. It was an interesting dilemma and I had never been in that position before, nor had such a request. But then again, people are asking that of Christians all the time. The best and most effective preaching is not on Sunday mornings from the pulpit; it’s Monday through Friday at the office with your co-workers, or the time that you spend with your child, or the interaction you have with your neighbors of those individuals you meet while doing everyday mundane chores. This effective form of preaching does not require any words; it is done through your actions. Every encounter, every interaction with other people, we are preaching to them about who we are as Christians.
What did I say to that little boy? Unfortunately, it was something that was not very profound, I must admit. All the way home on that bumpy bus ride, I kept thinking of things that I should have said. “Oh well Lord,” I prayed. “I hope taking the time to be with the children on this field trip will preach more effectively than my words ever could.”
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
Rev. Wendell Mettey
2/27/1989
Revised 8/28/2013
