I Don't Want to Make You Feel

I don't want to make you feel anything in particular with my sermons.

I don't want to make you relive that fateful day. I don't want to make you feel sorrow, or terror, or even relieve or joy.

You know what they call it when someone other than a preacher makes you feel something so you end up acting in a specific way? They call it "Manipulation".

I will preach the Word of God - the Law in its sternness, the Gospel in its sweetness. If you happen to feel something -- consider your own reactions. But I'm not aiming for any one emotion. I want to you know Christ's love for you -- the flavor or shade of emotional reaction... well, not what I get to control.

Just saying. Oh, and if you aren't as emotional as someone thinks you should be... tell them to stuff it.

(Favorite joke on this... Carlos Mencia tells of how he is roped into going to a showing of the Passion of the Christ at his Church, and when he isn't crying during the film, one lady accosts him, "Why aren't you crying?" His response. "Because I read the book. He comes back, it's okay." Let no one judge you on the meat you eat, or your holy days, or your emotions.)