Good sermon, Rev

Sir Paddleberry, at a recent VBS

I really enjoy listening to other preachers' sermons this summer. It is a refreshment to get around and hear other colleagues who do the same thing that I usually do.

Today it's the Rev. Jim Thyren (AKA Sir Paddleberry), holding forth at a combined worship for First United Presbyterian of West Pittston and Second Presbyterian of Pittston, all gathered at St. Cecilia's Roman Catholic Church in Exeter. Yep, there's a story, and the locals will know it.

He was good. Really good.

What's the mark of a good sermon? For me, it's the evidence that the preacher has wrestled in the mud with scripture, emerging with a wounded hip and a word of grace. You can tell from the look on the preacher's brow that she or he met God in the dark.