Skip to main content

Delivering Bad News

I have to confess something. There are times when I want to tell the truth. Yes, shocking, I know. You might imagine that it's just the pastor in me that makes this honesty want to burst out of me like a song on Glee, but it's not that at all.

Alas, that is not it. It's not the sugary-sweet honesty that I want to tell. The type of honesty I'm talking about is the kind that will possibly offend, or at least sting for a few days. It's more than just letting you know that something is stuck in your teeth or that your hair looks like Justn Bieber's.

It's truth's truth and many times it hurts. But there are some ways to deliver truth that apparently make it easier. I say 'apparently' because they are found in the Bible.

It's Deuteronomy 31 and Moses isn't going to last much longer. So he decides it's the season of Festivus and it's time for the airing of grievances. He tells the Israelites about what could happen if they disobey God while living in the Promised Land. Except that he paints it as all but done.

Granted, Moses was right. The people were stubborn and they would turn on God. But could you imagine our president standing before us and admitting there was no chance whatsoever that we would ever pay off our debt?

Moses tells the Israelites how pig-headed they are and then decides to put it all to a song. That's right, a song. Apparently having your failures sung to you make sit sound better. Was this B.C.-emo-rock?

Just imagine having a song dedicated to you with such lyrics as;
They are corrupt and not his children; to their shame they are
a warped and crooked generation. Deuteronomy 32:5

“I will heap calamities on them and spend my arrows
against them.
I will send wasting famine against them,
consuming pestilence and deadly plague;
I will send against them the
fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the
dust. Deuteronomy 32:23-24

They are a nation without sense. Deuteronomy 32:28

Maybe the only lesson here is that if you want to drop some bad news on someone, it's better to do it in song. Ok, your turn. What would be the worst lyrics to have sung to you?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...
5 comments
Read more

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...
Post a Comment
Read more

But I Wanted It

As I've said before , I'm looking for a new place to do youth ministry. Job searching in itself can be a full time task. Unfortunately, no one is paying me to look for a job. And when you haven't had to find a job in 15 years, the whole experience can feel brand new. And nerve-wracking. And quiet. So very, very quiet. I may spend a few hours here and there sending out my resumes and writing cover letters. But the churches I'm sending my information to have their own timeline. And sometimes that timeline does not involve acknowledging my presence. Which is fine, especially if one of the churches I've applied to is reading this right now. I understand those looking for youth pastors will have their own agenda and their own timeline. But it leaves me sitting here with a deafening quiet around me. I am choosing to walk by faith through these days, picturing God working behind the scenes (always behind the scenes) and holding His voice very still, until He is re...
2 comments
Read more