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I don’t usually use sermon material in this forum, but I thought something
that was included Sunday might be worth repeating.
Catherine Marshall, widow of Senate chaplain Peter Marshall, told a story
about her effort to “fast” from criticism for one day. She felt this was an
assignment from God, but couldn’t figure out what God was trying to teach
her.
She was surprised at how basic her critical nature was to her personality.
During the morning of her day without criticism, she said she felt like a
void, as if she had been erased. This feeling was particularly vivid during
lunch with her family. Topics of conversation ranged all over, covering many
areas on which she had strong opinions. But, since her opinions would
involve criticizing people or institutions, she remained silent. Her family
was talkative enough that nobody noticed.
She came to realize that her critical nature had blocked her creativity. By
insisting on imposing her opinions, she had not allowed God to bless her
with new ideas that would have been helping her in her relationships, her
prayer life, and even her writing.
When I tell people about this story, the question always comes up, “Does
that mean we can’t think critical thoughts, or we just can’t speak
them?” It sounds like Catherine Marshall’s “fast” from criticism
involved only the speaking of criticism. However, she became much more aware
of how many of her thoughts were critical, which surprised her.
I would imagine that most of us would not consider ourselves to be overly
critical of others. In those instances when we are critical, it is criticism
that is deserved. I bet most of us would be very surprised at how critical
we are if we tried not to say anything critical for a day.
I challenge us all to try this. The world will survive a day without our
profound and insightful opinions. Try it for a day, and see if you don’t
learn something important about yourself. And, if Ms. Marshall is correct,
maybe we’ll find some tremendous blessings waiting for us on the other side.
Peace and
Prayers,
Walt
From
The Jamieson Journal
September
2008
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The calendar below lists church events occurring during the next seven days.
Click on an event to learn more. A complete church calendar is
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Current Events
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The history of Jamieson Memorial UMC dates back to 1830 in Clarksville, with
the current structure erected in 1901.
Our
Ministry is based on the common beliefs that we share as a church. We
explore these beliefs in our services, educational programs and in prayer.
It's
our members that make the ministry and community outreach possible.
Learn more about the various groups that comprise the body of our church.
Our
church is in mission within our community and around the world.
Jamieson
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