Playing it safe
I have just arrived at my desk after completing my journey here in a driverless car. As I traveled here I watched waving fields of golden corn go by projected on the windows, as I didn’t much fancy the real view. I turned my computer on myself, but it is now busy sorting through my emails to delete those which it thinks will waste my time and file the others in order of priority for my response. I used to make a cup of coffee during this process, but sometimes the boiling water exceeded health and safety parameters and so it is now delivered to my desk in a heat resistant mug. The strength and color of the brew has been calculated according to readings taken of my fatigue and mood taken during the journey here. Today is an especially exciting day, as I have downloaded the latest upgrade to Sermon-maker. This sophisticated piece of software integrates with a statistical analysis of last week’s attendance and satisfaction ratings, together with pastoral needs submitted online during the week. I have only to select a style from the gallery, push the slider to the right for required length and wait for the programme to do its stuff. If I feel really edgy I can edit the finished product, but I will have to find a workaround to beat the theological safety check.
Recent announcements suggest that the prospect of the driverless car is getting ever closer. Enthusiasts of this innovation point out that since most accidents are caused by human, rather than mechanical, error – this will save us from ourselves. Police and paramedics who deal with roadside carnage on a daily basis would doubtless agree with them.
In general, though, Mistakes are what make us human. Like the flaws in a piece of wood which tell the troubled story of the tree from which it came, they are all part of the pattern. When God turned Adam and Eve loose in the garden of Eden with only trust to keep them from sinning, he took an enormous risk. The consequences were both drastic and wonderful. They were drastic with the loss of Eden and all that went with it, but wonderful with the arrival of Jesus and the joy of redemption.
The arrival of driverless cars may or may not be a good thing. The advent of flawless humanity, though is something for which I am quite prepared to wait until time itself runs out. Until that day comes my sermons will cheerfully combine aspiration with imperfection. God will be by turns hidden through error and revealed by mistake. Preaching may at times be a broken thing, but God is in it.
