The Pew and the Pulpit

Paul tells Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season. Notice the patience implied: 'with complete patience and teaching.' Preaching is not the dropping of a clever line on Sunday. It is a long, patient work of teaching — the slow shepherding of souls through Scripture, week by week, year by year.

The preacher who courts applause will not last. The preacher who courts faithfulness will. The audience that wants to be entertained will leave when something flashier comes along. The congregation that wants to be formed will stay, will grow, will become a people.

Pray for the preachers in your life. Their work is harder than it looks. They are speaking into rooms full of stories you do not know — the marriage on the brink, the diagnosis last week, the addiction not yet confessed, the child who has wandered. Make their mouths honest. Make their listeners hungry. Both gifts come from the same Lord.

The pattern is older than we are. The grace is older than the pattern. We come to it not as students at the head of the class but as children at the foot of a long table, where the meal has been ready for a while and the chair has always been waiting for us. Sit. Receive what has already been given. The day will be longer than you think, and the bread will be enough.