Why I can Watch a Three-Hour NFL Game Instead of an Hour Sermon.

Ah, the great Sunday sermon marathon! My pastor, bless his heart, kicks things off around 11:15 AM and doesn’t pass the finish line until 1:00 PM. It’s like a Netflix binge, but you can’t pause for bathroom breaks. He once said that we can watch a three-hour football game but can’t get through an hour long sermon. 

I’m so tired of pastors making these comparisons that people can sit through movies and sports games but can’t sit through hours of church service. It’s pretty obvious why people can do one and not the other.

Speaking of long-winded sermons, he brought up Acts 20:9, where Paul goes on so long that poor Eutychus falls asleep and takes a literal leap of faith out the window. Note to self: avoid window seats during marathon sermons.

Some Pastors have good messages but they ramble a lot. How many times are you going to say ‘God is good all the time and all the time God is good’ until you get to the next point?

Whether it’s a political speaker, a football game, or a comedy show, we can distract ourselves when the source of entertainment is not entertaining. At the same time, it’s considered rude to walk out in the middle of a sermon unless necessary.

Let’s be real, watching the game is a social buffet – friends, family, a smorgasbord of snacks. If we had to watch in monk-like silence, munchie-free, we’d probably start daydreaming about grocery lists.

In church, it’s silent mode, no snack bar included. So unless the pastor’s sermon is speaking to me and he knows how to flow through his points, then my attention checks out.

Paul’s marathon sermon was his swan song – his “I’m outta here, but first…” moment. Back then, sermons were the spiritual Netflix – no New Testament to binge-read and most folks couldn’t read anyway. Paul was their spiritual storyteller.

Fast forward to today, most Americans are literate and the Contemporary English Version of the Bible is on a fifth-grade reading level. So, sitting through a two-hour sermon feels a bit like being in a movie where the plot’s been explained but the film keeps rolling.

I’m not saying that just because I can read the Bible I don’t need a theologian explaining it, but hey, at least I can read scripture without needing a four-hour director’s commentary every Sunday.