Image by Shockingly Tasty via FlickrWell, I don't know if they actually read it, but 128 people, probably while searching for sermon resources on the lectionary text of this past week, Luke 18:1-8, found my sermon on that passage called, "The Parable of the Persistent Widow." It was preached on June 27th of this year and, I have to say, is a pretty good sermon.
However, it is remembered by some as my "Diarrhea Sermon" where, as part of our summer series on the parables, "The Stories of Jesus," I told stories from my time here at Girdwood Chapel that helped describe who we are and what we are as a congregation. So, as an illustration on the importance of prayer, I brought up how a young boy in our congregation, Gunnar, wanted prayer for his father, who was on a boat, and had diarrhea. Everyone giggled at the time the original event took place, but I retold it as a reminder of what prayer means at Girdwood Chapel and, if it's big enough to be a burden, it's big enough to lift up in prayer. Now, the story didn't have much to do with the Persistent Widow, but it did have a lot to do with our church...which, during a summer of storytelling, was important to remember.
However, now I see 128 people found that sermon as they were looking for stuff to use on "The Persistent Widow" and I'm wondering what people thought when they got part of the way through and found that I actually used the word "diarrhea" in a sermon in a reference to prayer life in a congregation.
I'm mortified.
I'm amused.
And I'm impressed that 128 people found that sermon.
I'm hoping there were more than a few giggles at the topic and more than a few recollections from their own congregations, when prayers surprised congregants.
I guess, in order to get hits to my site, I just need to keep in front of the lectionary by a couple of months and the hits will keep rolling in.
What other maladies can I use that will surprise and shock those who visit?
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