Tag: interruption

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

A sermon interrupted

Posted on by William Douthwaite
From Gospelimages.com

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Mark 2.

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. (Mark 2:2-4)

This unusual sermon interruption brought back memories of some of my interrupted sermons.

  • My sermons usually began about twenty minutes into the worship service. When someone walked in after I started preaching, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Really? Twenty-five minutes late?”
  • Some sermons were interrupted by the arrival of EMTs to care for a worshiper who passed out during the sermon. In those cases, I would stop and lead the congregation in prayer, resuming my sermon once they had left for the emergency room.
  • A malfunctioning fire alarm panel would punctuate my preaching with a series of beeps. It was both annoying and amusing to see folks scrambling around trying to silence the alert.
  • Except for a few Covid-19 Sundays when I was alone in the sanctuary preaching to a video camera, I could count on hearing sneezing, coughing, nose blowing, and candy being unwrapped.
  • My favorite interruption was one I engineered. When my wife was in Haiti providing medical care after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, I had her call me during the sermon so she could report on her experience. That was the only time my phone rang during a sermon.
  • Before online giving, some folks wrote out their offering checks during the sermon. They tried to be quiet, but I could hear them slowly and carefully tearing the check out of the checkbook.
  • On a stormy day, I often had to compete with rumbling thunder and the sound of a downpour on the sanctuary’s metal roof.
  • Babies liked to make their presence known. I love babies and I love babies in worship. Bring it, little one. I’ve got a lot of volume in reserve.

The sound of people tearing a hole in the roof interrupted Jesus’s preaching. The paralyzed man from above encountered the son of God who came from above. Jesus forgives the man and heals his condition, as powerful a message as his preaching that day.

According to my WordPress statistics, this is my 2,000th blog post! I published my first post October 23, 2008.

Posted in Life, listening, Ministry

“I’m sorry; I have to go.”

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Meeting_Pet_PeevesWhen my office administrator reminded me of an appointment the other day, she added, “We need to arrange an interruption. The last time they were here visiting for ninety minutes!” And so we did.

I’m sure I’m not the first to pre-arrange a meeting ending strategy, but it’s a more recent tool I’ve used to gracefully bring to an end open-ended visits. Early on, I didn’t use this, because I wanted to be available, compassionate, caring and pastoral. With practice, I learned to be all those things, but I also learned that I had my limits.

Some who seek time with me, however, apparently have all the time in the world. A few are lonely and crave human conversation. Others weave a tangled web of woes that seamlessly connect leaving me with no opportunity to interject a thought or conclude the meeting. It reminds me of the stories I have heard from doctors and nurse practitioners of those patients who come in with not one, not five, but dozens of ailments they would like addressed, as if there was no one else in the world, much less crowding the waiting room.

Bottom line: I don’t always have time for that. Solution: schedule an interruption. Before the appointment, I tell my assistant to interrupt me with a legitimate and pressing concern at a particular time. When they do, I have a polite way to bring the time to a close and see my guest on their way. Most recently, I set an alarm on my phone in my pocket. It vibrated at a certain time, signaling to me that it was time to excuse myself to attend to another ministry I had arranged. Worked like a charm.

Here’s the fun part. Now that you the reader know that I do this, you will always be wondering if I have an interruption arranged whenever you stop by to talk to me. Because I’m not telling.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

An awkward interruption

Posted on by William Douthwaite

One of the great things about being a pastor is that you never lack for new experiences. I’ll close out the first month of January with one I had today that was partly humorous, partly embarrassing, and a little sad.

It began as a traditional visit to a member in a local nursing home who was recovering from some surgery and receiving an assortment of therapies. After some introductory conversation about this and that, it was time for the sacrament. Bread and wine were put in place, scripture read, and it was time for the words of institution.

As I am almost exactly halfway through the words, a medical assistant steps into the room and interrupts with a rather personal question for the patient. We didn’t quite hear it the first time, so she repeated it using very descriptive words, got her answer, and disappeared.

While all this is happening, I’m thinking, “Is this happening? Doesn’t she what we’re doing? Do I need start over? How embarrassing is this?” I simply picked up where I left off and Christ’s words transformed a not-so-holy situation into holy ground just like they always do. Afterwards I was reminded that Christ didn’t mind being in a world or among people who didn’t recognize him, respect him, or understand what he was all about. And he still doesn’t mind. His grace still works in humorous, embarrassing, sad, painful, and sinful situations. That’s probably why some call it “amazing.”