Hard Butter and Church Services

A recent experience of Bed and Breakfast caused me to think about how those of us who lead or preach at church services prepare. Not for the first time, I found myself struggling to spread butter, apparently fresh from the fridge, onto toast. It refused to spread. What was worse was that my effort resulted in the toast being spoiled. While there was good reason for keeping the butter in the fridge, it was of little use to me at the table. Of course, melted butter would have been of little use also , but if only it had been softened a little by the time I wanted to spread it.

I began to wonder what thought processes had taken place in the kitchen. Did they, I pondered, want me to be impressed with the fact that they kept the butter in the fridge, or that they kept the fridge temperature extra low? Had they considered whether it would be fit for purpose when it arrived on the table? Might they not have thought about it at all? After all, the butter is always kept in the fridge! Was there a ‘Chef knows best’ attitude?

So, let’s compare the church service to breakfast and the sermon to the butter. We might have carefully prepared each item ‘on the plate’ to our own satisfaction. The contents may have been freshly prepared (not as an old friend used to describe second-hand sermons as ‘cold meat with warm gravy!’). We may have arranged the different items carefully and attractively on the plate. We may have cooked them just the way we like them. But, have we carefully considered whether the members of our congregations will find them enjoyable, easy to digest, not too much but just sufficient.

It is all too easy for the chef to know best what makes a good breakfast, and to impose the set menu on the guests. At least I was able to swap black pudding and fried tomatoes for some baked beans. But I would so have liked to have been able to spread that butter on my granary bread.

A few days after my B & B experience I attended a men’s breakfast where my fried egg was not quite fried. Again, it made me think about how much effort we put into preparing a meal for the congregation. Could the hymns have been selected better? Might our prayer have been better if we had shortened it by two minutes? Might the sermon have been improved with a relevant illustration?

The sad fact is that some of us enjoy leading worship and preaching, but risk not thinking through whether what we are serving is what is wanted as well as what is needed. Far too often over my 50 plus years of sitting in churches I have come away uncertain as to the point of the whole service. Was there actually a purpose behind it all or was it merely an exercise to give the minister something to do!

I quite like the advice given to public speakers: “Say what you are going to say, then say it, and then say what you have said”. In other words, have a clear purpose behind what you are doing, and be clear about what outcome you expect.

So, if you are preparing the meal for next Sunday, please make sure that everything is properly cooked, chewable, and digestible. Make sure the butter will actually spread!

I suppose I could have sent the butter or the half-cooked egg back to the kitchen with a polite request that they do something about it. After all it should have been prepared with the customer in mind. Send it back to the kitchen?!! How would I feel if members of the congregation provided some honest feedback? What if someone said, “I learned nothing new today”, or “I got lost halfway through your sermon”, or “I missed the purpose of this morning’s meeting?”!

It is always helpful to get feedback on the reflections in these Prayer & Praise News. The last few have been quite challenging. I probably enjoyed writing them, and I hope they have not left a bitter taste. Writing for an invisible audience is rather different from taking a service or preaching a sermon, but I hope that some found the butter spreadable. Dolet me know please.

Barry - 9 November 2018.