Site Search via Google

Meditation 1137
Sermons and Boomboxes

by: John Tyrrell

Your thoughts on this Meditation are welcome. Please sign in to the discussion forum below, or alternatively, use the contact page to provide your comments for publication.

This week, a couple of travelling missionaries hit Regina Saskatchewan and started preaching in a downtown mall. Apparently some people were offended, particularly as the hot button issues of abortion and homosexuality were brought up. Consequently, a representative of the downtown business association brought out a boombox to drown the preachers out.

I don’t know what would have bothered me the most – the preaching – or the boombox. Depends on the music I suppose.

Of course, the news media had to conduct “man in the street” interviews. And, in the interests of reporting on both sides of the issue, they managed to find a few who thought “it was nice to hear the gospel being preached in public.”

As if in Regina, Saskatchewan anyone has any difficulty hearing the gospel preached.

Right now, the Canadian Church Directory lists about 125 churches in Regina. That’s just those that want to be listed on the internet. There's assuredly more churches than that. I’m fairly certain that what with various bible study courses going on, anyone in Regina who wants to hear the gospel in person on any given day can find at least one church preaching it.

And yet there are those who feel it would be “nice” to force the gospel on unwilling shoppers.

There’s at least two religious broadcasting networks on the basic level of Canadian cable television – you get them whether you want Christian broadcasting or not. And there’s several more a viewer can receive by signing up for a premium package. Any person who feels a sudden need to hear the gospel can just turn on his or her television.

And yet there are those who feel it would be “nice” to force the gospel on unwilling store clerks trying to do their jobs.

And there’s Christian radio 24 hours a day, on AM, on FM, on Sirius and XM. There’s probably thousands of internet evangelists with their downloadable podcasts. Anyone in Regina, Saskatchewan who wants to hear the gospel can hear it anytime and anywhere.

But that’s not enough. No – everyone else has to hear it to whether they want it or not.

No different than an overly-loud boombox. An unwelcome and unwarranted intrusion into the lives of others who have no interest in the noise.

Have your say...

Please take a moment to share your thoughts, pro and con, on this Meditation.