Information Overload

It is Thursday morning and Sunday's coming. I have been reading a lot of old seminary stuff to prepare for this weekend's sermon "Exposing the Lies of the DaVinci Code." It is interesting to note the stuff we learned in school may really be worthwhile someday. I took Greek, but it 16 years at Dallas Bay not one person has ever said, "You did a great job of parsing that Greek verb this morning pastor." I took Hermeneutics too. I'm not sure I even remember what that means. However, the church history class that I slept through, I mean I attended in a relaxed state of mind has become very helpful. This whole DaVinci code stuff could be very confusing if a person didn't have a firm grip on church history. Dan Brown pretends to tell the truth about church councils and the decisions they made but about all he gets right are the dates. There is something sinister in a book that re-tells church history in such a way to question everything we believe. As my undergraduate history teacher would say as he sat crossed legged atop his desk smoking a cigarette, "Every author has an axe to grind." Brown is grinding his axe too. I'm not sure why he is, but as I read the book I saw the sparks flying in my head. So I have reread church history, particularly the first few centuries, out of my old church history textbook. I can't be;believe all the stuff I missed the first time through. Maybe it was because I was looking at the inside of my eyelids. Now I've learned so much my head is about to explode. I have just gotten my notes back from Deanna, my ministry assistant, and their 6 pages long for the first sermon. Whoops, maybe I got carried away. Here's my dilemma, I don't want the congregation to assume the same position Sunday as I did class. You know, somewhere between looking at your watch and counting the fibers in the carpet. So I've got to and trim the fat off Sunday's sermon. There's a lot of good stuff hiding in there. See you Sunday, and just in case, don't drink the decaf.
In His Shadow,
Pastor Ken