You don’t have to be around churches very long – particularly if there are any children around – before somebody insists it is a bit boring. Kids have a habit of saying whatever happens to be in their heads, and that has the benefit of at least being unfiltered and what they actually think. Adults tend to be a bit better at pretending they don’t think these things, but we can’t escape the fact that just because they don’t say it out loud doesn’t mean they don’t still think it anyway.
It’s usually at this point somebody – no doubt meaning well – pipes up: Church isn’t boring! If they’re the chiding type, it is followed up with some suggestion that the problem must lie with the individual suggesting such a thing. If they’re not, they just want to over-enthusiastically claim that church is inherently interesting. It’s a bit like when your mum insists ‘tidying up can be fun!’ I mean, nice try and all that; I understand what you’re doing, but just saying it doesn’t make it so.
I accept reality: sometimes my sermons are a bit boring. Inevitably, some of yours will be too. We’ve all sat under some at some point. I also acknowledge that the regular, routine, week in/week out stuff we do in church can sometimes feel a bit pedestrian and, well, a bit boring sometimes. It isn’t always super-exciting.
