Preaching to Insignificant Specks? Maybe. Maybe Not.
Recently a news headline by journalist Mike Wehner of BGR caught my attention: “This Hubble photo will make you feel so insignificant.”
As a fan of all things celestial, I wondered what the author meant.
The image is extraordinary. I’ll let NASA tell you about it:
“This packed image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases the galaxy cluster ACO S 295, as well as a jostling crowd of background galaxies and foreground stars. Galaxies of all shapes and sizes populate this image, ranging from stately spirals to fuzzy ellipticals.”
NASA estimates that our Milky Way Galaxy holds 100-400 billion stars.
The Hubble image shows countless galaxies. Wehner suggests that this image is a quick reality-check on just how infinitesimally small, how insignificant, how unnoticeable we are.
Maybe.
Or, maybe that image offers a different reality check.
Maybe that image reveals how extraordinary it is that we exist.
In that vast emptiness of space, among an infinite number of galaxies, stars, and planets, we are here!
I expect that there is life on other planets yet to be discovered, but we don’t know that for certain yet.
What we do know is that God doesn’t see us as small, or insignificant, or unnoticeable.
God sees us as we circle an average star at the outer edge of an average galaxy that is in no way positioned in the center of the universe.
And yet, we are at the center of God’s concern.
Wow.
One Event. Two Stories.
Wehner and I did the same thing: we looked at the same photo.
Based on the catchy headline, the meaning Wehner gives it is that humanity is less significant than he previously thought.
As a result, this new understanding of our lowliness might lead him (if he were a preacher) to preach a sermon about humanity’s need for a bit more humility.
Would he be wrong? Hardly. As a species, people tend to get pretty big for their britches.
On the other hand, the meaning I give to that photo is that we are more significant than I thought, not less.
This new understanding might prompt me to preach a sermon that leads people to marvel that God pays so much attention to us, that of all the objects (and creatures?) in the universe, we are made in God’s image! Wow, again!
Would I be wrong? I don’t think so. A little more appreciation for the divinely marvelous critters we are could go a long way toward loving our neighbors better.
One event from one photo gets interpreted by two people.
Those two people experience a shift in understanding.
The new understanding becomes part of their backstory.
Their backstory then influences their preaching.
Backstories Interpret Photos, Scripture, and Experience
“Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers….He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, ‘You are the Son of God! But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.
“The crowd came together again, so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’ And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons’” (Mark 3:7-11, 19b-21).
Jesus healed many, but there are multiple meanings given to that action.
Some saw Jesus as the Son of God
Some as a demon
His family saw him as ill and in need of urgent help.
How could so many interpret the same events so differently?
Their backstories: what they knew in that moment—born of experience, education, tradition, and faith.
Those who were healed by Jesus knew the miracle that had just occurred. They were ill, now they weren’t.
Based on what they knew, what other interpretation could there be but that such a thing came from God?
The learned who knew how to recognize devilry when they saw it, who were afraid of a power beyond their control, a power that could heal—or destroy at will—knew it could come for them next!
Based on what they knew, what other interpretation could they derive but that such a thing came from a demon?
And still others, those who grew up with Jesus, the mother who raised him, the brothers who grew up alongside him, the ones who knew his heart and mind and how he became who he was, feared for Jesus himself.
They didn’t understand what had happened to their beloved son and brother.
Based on what they knew, what other interpretation could there be but that their beloved family member was in serious trouble and needed their help?
If each of these groups were to preach, their sermons would be very different from each other.
The healed would preach trust in God—and run to Jesus. (Ding-ding-ding-ding!)
The learned would preach trust in God—and run from Jesus. (It was a lot to take in in a short period of time; their reaction is understandable.)
The family would preach trust in God—and run to Jesus to save him from himself. (Well-intentioned—and, well, bless their hearts.)
Our backstories are preaching.
The characters’ backstories can’t help but play a major role in the ways they interpret events to shape their understanding.
That’s what it means to be human.
Stuff happens.
We interpret what happens, give it meaning, and shift our perspectives and actions accordingly.
When preparing sermons, then, we can ask:
What happened?
How did the characters react?
How did they interpret and give meaning to the event?
What in their backstories would have influenced that interpretation?
How did they react as a result of their interpretation?
And as the preacher, we continue on:
How do I interpret the events?
What in my backstory influences that interpretation?
What other interpretations are there?
The Backstory Preaching Mentorship
Your backstory profoundly influences your preaching.
Which means you are preaching your backstory whether you’re aware of it or not.
But are you preaching a backstory that’s congruent with running toward Jesus, away from Jesus—or trying to save Jesus from himself?
The Mentorship helps you become aware of and apply your backstory in service of the love of Christ for a significant, noticeable, cherished humanity.
So yes, I hope you apply for the Mentorship.
But how do you interpret that statement?
What in your backstory influences that interpretation?
And what’s my backstory to make that statement?
Six classes in a row, 100% of our participants recommend it for their colleagues.