As I was growing old, Saturday nights were not for relaxing entertainment. They were for sermon preparation and anticipation. When lunchtime came on Saturday, my mind began to drag my body toward the big weekly church event, “preaching time.” By the end of supper, I was no longer a family man; I had become the superhero, “Preacher Man.” By Sunday morning, I was fired-up, or overcooked, or, on more times than I knew, windblown ashes. One of the things I missed was NPR’s weekly live broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Created and hosted by Garrison Keillor, it ran from 1974 to 2016. The storyline took place in a fictional town of Lake Wobegon, somewhere in central Minnesota. I made an extra effort to at least listen to the episodes when Chet Atkins or the “Riders in the Sky” were the guest musicians. The reason I give you all this is to get to this phrase used in ending the show every week, “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”
I set this before your consideration as a commentary on the spiritual condition of your church as it lives and moves and has it being in our cherished American culture. Your church, like the First Baptist Church of Lake Wobegon, is above average. Well, not all the members of your church family. Likely it is evident to you that you are exempt from this assessment, for you are tucked securely beyond mere average. And, all the other churches in your hometown are at best average. After all, someone has to be close to perfect for there to be an average.
There is a psychological phenomenon called “The Lake Wobegon Effect.” It is a condition where a person is oblivious to the truth about themselves and overestimates their abilities and achievements. It has a herd effect that those in the social group all agree and see beyond what they think, want to see.
The “a little about average” mentality is devastating to the spread of the Gospel in our communities. The non-churched and un-churched see us clearly for who we are. We tend to think the life we are living is acceptable to God. We may not be perfect, but we are acceptable. After all, “How could God not be pleased with my life, I’m a Believer. Jesus is my Lord and my Savior. I have been baptized and regular in church attendance. And my conscience is pretty much clear most of the time. And, God loves me, the Bible tells me so.”
The problem is that our Creator is perfect, and everything around Him must also be perfect. God does not grade His creation on the “bell curve” I relied on while in high school. There is no average on perfection. You are perfect, or you are not. Now is an excellent time to say,” Yikes! I need a Savior!” Yes, you do! We each do. Not just to get into heaven but to get away from the Wobegon Effect.
Jesus has already solved our perfection dilemma, and He is just as passionate about guiding us in escaping our “little above average” curse. He spared nothing in delivering us from our imperfection, and we can spare nothing in pursuing our “perfecting” challenge from Him.
A Believer rejoices in the truth they have been “accepted” by God but cannot settle for anything in life less than what God intended them to be. I heard a phrase a long time ago describing a vibrant Christian lifestyle, “Chasing hard after God.” May we each be so defined by our companions in this life.
Photo – This is not Lake Wobegon. It is Lake Henshaw in southern California.
Baldwin Heirlooms 