Jimmy Buffett, The Grateful Dead, and Constructing Sermons

This past week Sirius XM had a preview promotion to entice people like me to sign up for the music service. I'm too cheap to pay for the music channels, but I absolutely love it when there is a free preview week. The two stations I listen to the most are Radio Margaritaville and the Grateful Dead channel. As I spent more time than usual driving my Dad's old Yukon listening to the music service, I was reminded how much I miss him at different seasons of the year. Last night, driving home with my oldest child, we listened to the Billy Joel channel and I found myself getting a little emotional thinking about riding with him when I was about her age listening to the Billy Joel Greatest Hits Volume 1 and 2 on cassette, that's right cassette. One of the songs we heard, Lullaby, was one of the songs I would sing to my girls when I rocked them to sleep. The road began to get blurry, so I changed the station.

Listening to some of the deep cuts and Parrothead favorites of ole Jimmy reminded me what an excellent storyteller he is. Aside from his ability to transport you to beaches, paradise, lazy breezes, and hammock naps in the shade of palm trees, Jimmy Buffett is one of the most gifted songwriters of the last 40 something years. (Yes, that's a reference to one of his famous tunes). He weaves a story together in such a simple yet profound way, that you get lulled into the island sway and often miss the insight into human nature and life that Jimmy serves up to all who listen. Like when we were teenagers and heard our parents tell us what to do and only half listened to what they said, we can miss the truth of Jimmy's songs.

The best sermons tell THE STORY in such a way that the listener is confronted with the truth of the gospel without feeling attacked and beat over the head. In telling THE STORY, the Jesus story, preachers tell other stories to point to the only one who gives our stories purpose and meaning. Have you ever noticed that most preachers can string a few thoughts together but very few can tell a story that point us to the JESUS story. Preachers, if you are reading this, do your congregation a favor and work on your storytelling. Read novels and short stories not just theology and church history. Listen to songwriters and musicians that are masterful storytellers like Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, and Bill Mallonee. Don't simply duplicate these storytellers, find your own voice in telling your stories, even as you tell the Jesus story to a world that desperately needs to hear the good news! Trust me, your congregation will thank you and Jimmy!

I know what your thinking, your a pastor and you listen to Jimmy Buffett and the Grateful Dead? Yes, I am and yes, I do. I'll admit that sometimes the Grateful Dead channel can get on my nerves slightly if I tune in during the middle of an extended jam and I can't readily recognize the song. The Dead are one of the most unlikely bands for someone in my vocation to listen to, but I have been listening to them for years, long before I entered into ministry. Like Buffett and some of the other songwriters listed above the songwriting duo of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter and others that composes the Dead's catalogue are subtle reminders of basic human truths and even at times gospel truths in disguise. As interesting as the songwriting is for the Grateful Dead, the complex layers of instruments and the improvisational nature of their music makes the Dead another unlikely source of sermonic inspiration. They can elaborate on a theme for several minutes and still allow the listener to hear complex aspects of each note and chord much like a sermon that drills down into a single doctrinal truth and allows us to see it from different sides. Preacher, don't take the temptation to skip over a complex truth in exchange for felt need sermons that your people don't really care about anyway. Mine the truths of the Bible and the Christian faith, bringing them to the surface for your hearers to hear and see again or for the first time, but do it in such a way that each truth is explored in its entirety. Like the Dead's live performances, no song sounded exactly the same way twice. So to, as you preach on doctrinal truths and exegete the scriptures faithfully your sermons may hit on the same doctrine or truth at different times, but it will be received differently each time, in part because of the status of the heart and mind of your listeners.

Like the Dead, don't be afraid to improvise in your sermons. The Grateful Dead masterfully explored the nether reaches of musicality because they weren't afraid to go off in a given direction as a band as longs as they came back to the steady rhythm of the song that helped guide them to the conclusion. Structure your sermon well, but build in room for improvisation, for exploration, for the Holy Spirit even in the midst of the structure.

I don't always quote from Jimmy Buffett or Jerry Garcia and friends in my sermons (though I have on occasion) but their music has shaped my preaching and teaching, I believe for the better...so I'll keep tuning in to the free previews as long as they are available.

Food for Thought

I measure the value of a book by how long I keep chewing on thoughts and ideas from the book long after I have reshelved it. Here we are halfway through 2018 and I keep being drawn back to things I read in Eugene Peterson's book, As Kingfishers Catch Fire. You may recall seeing headlines with Peterson after his interview with Jonathan Merritt a year ago in which Peterson first came out seeming to support same-sex marriage. Peterson later retracted his statements and affirmed a traditional understanding of marriage between one man and one woman.

I was eager to read As Kingfishers Catch Fire because I had benefited so much from many of Peterson's other books. I also was at a crossroads in ministry in which I was evaluating where and what God was calling me to do for the next phase of my life. The book is a simple collection of sermons spanning the 29 years Peterson pastor Christ Our King Presbyterian Church, which he planted. The collection is grouped around various biblical characters as Peterson saw himself preaching in the company of those individuals and the larger company of the saints of God. Now to be honest, reading sermons is usually less moving that hearing the sermons. This maxim holds true in this collection as well, though there are some stellar moments in the sermonic journal.

Perhaps for me it was my identity with Peterson's own struggle to find his way of being a pastor in the midst of the expectations that his denomination and culture put on him to be a pastor. In other words, the denomination expected him to grow in attendance by a certain percentage, grow in giving, educational endeavors, and various other "measurables". From the Preface, "But as time went on, I found myself increasingly at odds with my advisors on matters of means, the methods proposed for ensuring the numerical and financial viability of the congregation but without even a footnote regarding the nurturing of souls." He goes on to write that he had grown weary with laying out strategies and "casting visions". Instead, he wanted to nurture the souls of his congregation and walk alongside people as they figured out what it means to follow Jesus throughout life. As I read the Scriptures and grow in my own faith I have come to the conclusion that making disciples is not the same as casting a vision or developing a strategy to make disciples...it is MAKING disciples. It is building relationships with people, getting to know them, and patiently but boldly sharing with them the good news that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead thereby bringing reconciliation between us and God. This indeed is the gospel, this indeed is good news!!

Peterson drawing on inspiration from Gerard Manley Hopkins traces the way that Christ plays in ten thousand faces and places. He writes, "The Christian life is the lifelong practice of attending to the details of congruence--congruence between ends and means, congruence between what we do and the way we do it, congruence between what is written in Scripture and our living out what is written, congruence between a ship and its prow, congruence between preaching and living, congruence between the sermon and what is lived in both preacher and congregation, the congruence of the Word made flesh in Jesus with what is lived in our flesh."

Like so much of Peterson's library, there aren't always small nuggets of truth to tease out and quote on social media. Instead Peterson ushers you into the throne room of God and allows you to reflect on all that is and all that could be in a life of faith. Peterson nurtures the souls of his congregation while also nurturing the souls of his larger adopted congregation of his readers. He doesn't disappoint, nor does he wow the reader. Instead he simply offers his thoughts on what it means to follow Jesus and invites us to follow along with him. One year later I am still finding strength and encouragement from this book.

Does God have favorites?

Here is a recent sermon. Hope you enjoy!

Psalm 61

Grateful for RUF and Indelible Grace Music for hymns that serve as inspiration and encouragement for sharing the Word! Big shout out to the great group of students and adults in the college class at FBC Statesboro that listened to a modified version of this sermon a few weeks ago!

Psalm 61 from FBC Statesboro TV on Vimeo.

Recent Sermon

Seeing Things for the First Time

A recent sermon from a few weeks ago. I started a new component called "the Pagliarullo Chronicles" and worked a subtle nod to The Black Crowes with the sermon title.

2012 08 12am from Trip McAlhany on Vimeo.

Sermon on Micah 6:8 from July 8

What does God want from Us? from Trip McAlhany on Vimeo.

Finding God Along the Journey

Recent Sermon

Eagles Wings from Trip McAlhany on Vimeo.

Recent Sermon

Fighting the Enemy from Trip McAlhany on Vimeo.

Recently Heard in Sermons and Songs

We had our Disciple Now this weekend, which is always a great time for our students who participate...so between that and church today I've heard a lot of sermons touching on sin and grace and these thoughts popped into my head via Bill Mallonee's music.

we're all black holes so don't give me grief

i think you're perfect and you think i'm perfect to and

we're all just lying through our teeth
Poor Kid



Double Cure

yeah today i'm sick of all i am
today is my setback

first i swear i love you
then i stab you in the back

i wanna drink out of that fountain
on a hill called double cure
i wanna show you my allegiance Lord
yes i wanna be a son of Yours

Few have captured the meaning of grace for me and the struggle with sin and our humanness like Malllonee and Brennan Manning. They are both sources of encouragement and reminders to me about my need for the Gospel.

Empty Saviors and the True Savior

Here's an excerpt from my sermon this past Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent.

Jeremiah 33:14-16

Jeremiah gives Israel a glimpse of the hope
that awaits them. The hope that could possibly come at any moment. The promise of a descendant from David’s lineage who would rescue them, who would save them, who would be their messiah. The problem was that many of the Israelites interpreted God sending the messiah as something that would be political-that the messiah would be a great conqueror and military leader. They longed to be released from the clutches of Rome who occupied the Mediterranean world and the Ancient Near East.

They anticipated the arrival of the Messiah
they way I anticipate getting that 1st slice of warm pound cake my wife bakes when I’m good. They had listened to the prophets for so long that they waited and rehearsed every year the coming of the promised one. The coming of the one who will do what is just and right and who will save them. You see everything that had happened before and it would all happen again…
…God had acted for Israel before…and he would act for them again.
…God had rescued his people before…and he would save them again.
History would repeat itself. Israel’s story, God’s story would repeat itself. But in the mean time they took matters into their own hands and put their hope and trust in empty saviors!

How often do we do that? How often do we
pin our hope to job security, financial security, education, wealth, status, relationships. We’ve all done it before and we will probably all do it again but what God wants is for us to turn to him and look to him alone as our savior, specifically the baby born so many years ago in a lowly manger filled with smelly animals, crude conditions and rude sounds. Because after all what happened that night had happened before and would happen again, a baby(wrinkled, red, crying) makes it’s way into the world, nothing new or special, nothing different than how other babies come into the world. And yet it was completely different than any other birth, for that little baby boy was “Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father” as the Nicene Creed states. Finally the promise of the prophets has been fulfilled.

We don’t have an empty savior, a political
messiah, an empty promise of redemption, a story that has no plot and no meaning. Paul writes in Colossians 1:19-20. We have a savior and a story that we need to tell people about this Christmas! The cross is our hope, it is what the prophets looked forward to-because it is the cross that God used to reconcile the world to himself, to bring hope, peace, and love. The same is true when we take the Lord’s Supper or Communion. We find in the elements of juice and bread symbols that point us to the body and blood of our Lord the way Christmas trees point us to presents, lights, and decorations. In gathering for Communion we join our lives together, we join our hearts and minds together, we acknowledge that we not only need God but we need each other to make it each day, to live out our faith so that we too can point others to the Messiah. So that we can find our place in the story of Life, the only story truly worth repeating.

Communion is a leveling act for the body of
Christ. We all come as broken sinners to the table to find healing, wholeness, peace, and of course grace. Communion is not about a bunch of hocus pocus or about something magical it is a symbol that points us to the grand story of redemption of renewal. As we receive the cup and the bread this morning may we be ever mindful of the baby whose body was broken for you and for me, the baby whom we are preparing to celebrate his arrival. Just like the Advent season and all the rituals and traditions that we do in our families and will continue to do we gather this morning in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to experience something that we have all experienced before and we will all experience again. May we be forever changed this morning.