Where is it now?

Of course sometimes it’s not so much that it runs way – more that it limps away with its tail between its legs and licks its wounds somewhere beyond the third row of seats! However it went, though, it now has a life of its own. After the hours of preparation and the moments of delivery it is no longer your responsibility.

Some have packed it away with their work things and will examine it in their minds on the train or the bus. Others have lodged it somewhere between the shopping list and the address book and it will fall out at the moment when they least expect it.  Others have buried it deep down – like a bulb planted last year out of sight and out of mind. A harsh frost and a spring rain or two will have to come before it bears fruit.

As preachers we rarely get to hear about much of this, and so it is a treat when we do. Two years ago, a Pastor in the Philippines asked if he could use MP3 recordings of my sermons in his church. I gladly agreed, and he has continued to do so. Yesterday he even wrote and said that they were being broadcast on a local radio station. I find it hard to get my head around that – but I am glad they are being used.

Those of you who have read Stale Bread will have come across the Siberian legend of the “whispering of the stars”. Basically it is the folk belief that words spoken in the depths of Winter freeze as they are spoken and fall to the ground. Many months later, when the Spring comes and brings with  it the thaw…the words can be heard again in the place where they were spoken. Only a legend, I know – but a reminder that the words you preached yesterday may have a far longer life than you expect.