Rebuttal Sermonettes

Rebuttal Sermonettes

For two successive Sundays,

The congregation gathered and met,

To worship and pray to their Creator,

But were lectured with unscheduled sermonettes.

The first Sunday service began smoothly,

With liturgical expectations set,

But a lacking in the prayers of the people

Were difficult for one member to accept.

The assisting pastor at the passing of the peace,

Approached by one who was offended,

A personal sensitivity lurched her in caprice,

To lecture the congregation in a manner open-ended.

“You have offended me,

By what you have not prayed,

For with all of your privileges, you simply cannot see

That your oppression, even in prayer, is justice delayed.”

The second Sunday was pretty much the same,

A sermon on Christian marriage brilliantly explained.

This time it was the senior pastor who was approached,

By a congregant who on the sermon then encroached.

As if the senior pastor had not delivered his proper calling,

The lecture from the congregant appeared somewhat appalling.

There is no doubt that the original sermon was clear,

No expansion, nor lecture did the congregation expect to hear.

Both congregants in their emotional speech,

Doubtless were sincere in their expressed beliefs.

But much more unsettling was worship digression,

The sudden altering of liturgy in a different direction.

Understanding hearts were clearly present,

With empathy, sympathy, and love for all to see.

But when orderly worship bows to moments of feelings and sensation,

It tends to shift prayerful intent from Thee.

“There is a time and place for everything,

And a season for every activity under the heavens …

[There] is a time to tear and a time to mend,

A time to be silent and time to speak.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,7)

WENjr      6-28-2015