you never know who you are preaching to

As a preacher and communicator, I am a big proponent of knowing who you are speaking to.  As John Stott reminded us, we who preach live in “two worlds” — the world of the Bible and our own world.  Fred Craddock taught us that good preaching flows out of a preacher who knows his God and his people.

Therefore, I try to craft my messages with my audience in mind.  I think through different life situations and scenarios.  Before I head for the stage, I usually look around and remind myself who is in the room.

But I never know everybody.  This was brought home to me once again this past Sunday.

After our first service, a young lady and her mother stopped to thank me for the service.  As they spoke, the young lady began crying — and I mean really crying.  Like sobbing.  The mother apologized and then said this (and I’ll paraphrase): “This is our first time here.  Her two year-old son just died this past Friday.”

I immediately moved the three of us off to the side, to a place where we could speak without being interrupted.  We spoke for about ten minutes.  Those ten minutes reoriented the rest of my morning.  Needless to say, they added a whole new dimension to the next service.

Later that night I received an email from the young mom.  Part of it read, “The Onward message and music moved me in such a way to help me in my grieving.”

I must confess: as I prepped that message, having a grieving mom who just lost her two year-old son in audience was not on my mind.  It will be next time, and not that it will happen every time I preach (I sure hope not!).  But it was a sobering reminder that I never fully know who I am speaking to on any given weekend.

May it be a reminder to you as well.  Whenever we step into the pulpit we represent God and his message to panoply of people who come from a variety of backgrounds, carrying different hopes and hurts.

My prayer is that God will use each of us to serve his purpose, in his time, in his way.