My theory is that there is a fairly finite catalog of sermons or homilies or whatever you choose to call the Sunday morning time where someone stands up and front and speaks while everyone else listens.
There are a lot of reasons this subject list tends to be closed ended. One reason is that while there's an infinite scope and variety of the experiences of people interacting with God, there's a finite number of stories in the bible. Another reason is that the theology that's popular at any given moment in time limits the perspective we have of God. Put that second one another way, it's probably not a good idea to assume that the Catholics of the late Middle Ages were all wrong and that the emerging Protestants were all right...You can reverse that if you're Catholic and the meaning will be virtually the same.
I think the biggest reason for a finite catalog of weekly inspiration though, is that those who have gotten comfortable with where they are with Christ tend to get a bit bored of the whole thing. Bored might be too strong but we could certainly say that most people don't wake up in the morning and feel challenged and inspired to ferret out a new revelation from old King James. Usually we're just happy to wake up again and have the hope that someone got up before us and made the coffee.
Thus, the Finite Sermon Catalog Syndrome usually leads to the Boring Bible Reading Corollary. That's the part where we imagine that the bible can no longer surprise us...And who wants to get up to read something that we "know" front to back? I think the truth is that the bible contains the capacity to give us slap across the mouth revelation, persistently and consistently if we'll just abandon our preconceived, boring preconceptions and accept the bible at it's word.
The book of Esther is a pretty good example of what I'm talking about. Somewhere down in the fourth chapter of Esther, her cousin Mordecai (who was her surrogate father) says: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, "... I think when we read this our sense of justice, our modern sensibilities and our "all's well that ends well" reflexes (albeit in this case, "all then ends badly") want to fill in something like, ..."you and all your house will be destroyed." Here's how Mordecai finishes that sentence: ..."relief and deliverance
for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s
family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal
position for such a time as this?”
Mordecai appeals to one thing in Esther and it's something we in modern times have insulated ourselves from using every artifice of thought and theology we can muster. Mordecai appeals to who Esther was spoken by God to be.
I paid someone a compliment today. He's 60 something. I don't know him well but I do know that he has walked with God nearly all his life and unless all men and books do lie, he is a habitually nice guy. He thanked me for my compliment and said he was trying to do a better job of accepting compliments but that it was still hard. After a half century of knowing Christ, he still found it hard to accept that he's a beautiful creation, well worth compliment.
Mordecai is telling Esther that God's purpose will ultimately be fulfilled regardless of her choice. However, by choosing to align her life with what God spoke her to be, done at great personal risk, she fulfilled herself and saved her nation. But something else happens too. She created a story.
The story she created is the story of a partnership with God. The partnership made her a queen talked about throughout time. One day in heaven, I'll walk up to a campfire where a woman will be sitting, staring into the flames. I'll ask her name. She'll say, "Esther." In that moment I will know the story that she co-wrote with God, in the form of the person who risked everything to complete it. She will carry that story with her throughout eternity. Out of the story's overflow, a nation was saved.
I will also walk up to other campfires and learn other names. Likely, most of them will have echoes of Esther's story. They will be equal parts choosing away from fear and pain, offered and accepted grace and love. They will all be testimony to the God who like Esther, risked everything to partner with each story, with each soul.
And when they look at me and hear my name, they will know the same of me...and of you too if you so choose.
