Good enough
As a lay worship leader, doing pulpit supply, summer is my busiest time. This summer, I have a stretch of five weeks during which I lead worship every Sunday - not always in the same congregation. One of the nice things about doing pulpit supply is that I get to reuse existing, previously prepared worship services, updating them for the current context.
I have been doing pulpit supply for over 30 years and so I have quite a large library of worship services to choose from. I am always amazed at how frequently a message from 20 years ago it just as relevant today. But, I suppose, I should not be surprised given how Jesus’ message of love and compassion is as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago.
Right now, I’m working on a service (which I have used before) for the end of August 2025. It is based on the story of Luke 13:10 - 17 - on the Sabbath, Jesus heals the woman bent over. For Jews, the Sabbath was (and is) a time of remembering God’s faithfulness and gifts to us. The focus of the sermon is that it is not just what you do or don’t do on the Sabbath that keeps it holy but also the attitude that you bring to what you do.
I remind the congregation of some of the Jewish rules for Sabbath. But, also acknowledge that, up until recently, Canadians have not been much different. I talk about the Lord’s Day act in Canada, which defined what was and was not legal on a Sunday, based on Christian values. This act was eventually overturned but not until 1985! At this point in the sermon, I shift from a list of activities which honour the Sabbath to attitudes which honour the Sabbath. BTW, I am writing this post on a Friday, not on a Sunday.
Doing pulpit supply is more than just preaching (and in the United Church of Canada, with its focus on the Word, it is not unusual to find sermons of 15 to 20 minutes). It is selecting the hymns, the scripture, creating a message for the children and writing the prayers. To be sure there is lots of reference, inspirational material to help with all of that - perhaps too much material. But at some point you say ‘it’s done’, ‘ that’s it’, ‘ it’s good enough’.
And a short time ago, that is exactly what I said about this August Service on keeping the Sabbath holy - “ that’s good enough”. For a moment, I was actually horrified. “That’s good enough”!! Did Jesus ever say “that’s good enough“? Did Jesus ever say “OK, that’s good enough. Let’s move on“?
I mean, I do have to stop the tweaking and fine tuning because, at some point, I will actually have to lead the service. And before that, I need to start work on the next service. You would think that having a previously presented service already prepared with a sermon, scripture, hymn selections and prayers, that it wouldn’t take long to tweak it for the current context. If only that were so! In the United Church of Canada, each congregation has a slightly different order of service, slightly different way of doing things. Between the last time I preached the sermon and now, the world has changed, I have changed and it takes time to reflect all of that in the updated service.
That’s good enough! I’ve learned over the years that no matter how much thought and care and preparation I put into preparing a service, someone isn’t going to understand what I meant, someone isn’t going to like what I said, someone’s going to misunderstand the words I’ve chosen. Jesus had exactly the same problem in the scripture for this service - they didn’t like him healing on the Sabbath. And so “that’s good enough” and I stop - praying that in fact, it is good enough.
And what about you? Does there come a time when you say “It’s good enough. It’s done. It is finished. This is all I can do.”? Or do you push past that point trying to get it “perfect”? - whatever ‘it’ is. Maybe it is a worship service, a meal, choosing a gift, a poem... Maybe it is trying to keep the weeds from the garden, getting the daily to-do list completed or …
If today were that Sabbath (and there is no reason why you can’t take a Sabbath moment, on any day of the week, to remember God‘s faithfulness and gifts ), what would you have done? Jesus healed the woman. He honoured the Sabbath. He chastised those who spoke out against him. And that was it! That was good enough. He didn’t give a 20 minute sermon. The same is true for this post. That’s it - good enough (I hope).
But that’s just what I think. What do you think?