This cartoon says it all...

I'll be talking more about this in my sermon on Sunday, but this is sometimes how I feel we do church: being interested more in ourselves, and in so doing we keep Jesus out.  When we start doing this, we are fast becoming the builders who end up rejecting the cornerstone that Peter speaks of during his interrogation in Acts 4...which, like I said, is what I'll be preaching on this Sunday.

I'm looking forward to it, but this is definitely also a challenging sermon.  I almost never talk about my sermons to anyone before they're given (part of that has to do with my latent insecurities that, after five years of regular preaching, are still very much present, but part of that also has do with the fact that sometimes, the Spirit calls me to make some changes to the message after I have already written it), but this is one that is finding itself bubbling up well before Sunday!

Fellow clergy: where do the personal challenges tend to pop up for you in your preaching?  And everyone (clergy and nonclergy alike), what sorts of preaching tends to challenge you the most and in your spiritual lives and why?

Yours in Christ,
Eric

And oh yeah, here's the cartoon (from nakedpastor.com):