Jack and Jill Choose A Church

Jack and Jill

Choose a Church

Adapted from “The Preacher as Storyteller” by Robert Allen.

                        “Jack and Jill went up a hill

                        To fetch a pail of water.

                        Jack fell down, and broke his crown,

                        And Jill came tumbling after.

                        Up Jack got and home did trot,

                        As fast as he could caper.

                        He went to bed, and covered his head

                        With vinegar and brown paper.”

                                                Mother Goose

            Contrary to popular opinion, millennials do not choose a church based on the instrumentation of the worship team.  The rapidly spinning wheel of new worship music attracts, but does not retain interest beyond the latest release.  Loyalty develops from satisfaction with a preaching style.

            At least that’s what Jack and Jill learned when they set out to choose a church.

CHURCH # 1

            The first church Jack and Jill visited had a pastor who specialized in linear logic.  With profound stentorian tones and impeccable diction they heard their own story expanded through the statement of a proposition supported by two main points.  Listen in.  Become Jack and Jill as the sermon unfolds.

           

Jack and Jill

A “Sermon”

In the style of Linear Logic

            Today we have taken as our text the familiar lines from Jack and Jill.  We have learned from long experience that every story has a moral.  Even nursery rhymes contain a truth that serves to imbue them with value as we extract that morsel of information from the kernel of fantasy.  The verses before us today are no exception.  They have been written to communicate an eternal reality which stated propositionally is this: We must always protect our heads. 

And why must we always protect our heads?   We must always protect our heads because of the dangers that threaten our heads as we make our way through this world. 

The first danger we see in this familiar text is the danger that threatens each one of us in the wide-open spaces of life.  Our first main point comes from the first lines of the text: “Jack and Jill went up a hill.”

Certainly this was not the first time they had ever climbed a hill, but that is the very point these verses compel us to make.  The act of climbing hills, the very experience of living in wide- open spaces, inured them to the dangers which accosted them on every side.  They lived dangerous lives simply because they had grown accustomed to danger.  They ignored the danger signs all about them, exponentially increasing the danger.

Subpoint number one—these two ignored the danger of going on a mission.  Certainly it was a noble endeavor to fetch a pail of water.  But they should not have undertaken that mission without seeing the danger.  Any time we go on a mission there is danger involved.  The very act of accepting an assignment such as water procurement should alert us to the risks we are taking with our heads.   Going up a hill, on a mission, demands head protection, a helmet at the very least.  They should have recognized the danger and taken appropriate steps to assure the successful completion of their mission endeavor.

Subpoint number two—these two unthinking, hapless individuals also avoided bothering their minds with the danger of unexpected trouble.  Without any warning, without anticipation on his part or serious consideration of the possibility that such an event might take place, Jack fell down.  His fall exposed his head to a grave predicament and that reality reminds us of the truth of our proposition: we must always protect our heads.  Had Jack not fallen down he would not have broken his crown.  Had he anticipated the fall and taken steps to prevent that calamity, this danger could easily have been avoided.  But he was not thinking about his head.  He was thinking about the water in his pail, the girl at his side, the beauty of the hillside and the sheer exhilaration of going on a mission. His eyes were blinded to the imminent danger of unexpected rocks over which he stumbled.

Subpoint three—another great danger finds expression in this first verse.  That is the danger of leading others astray.  Not only did Jack fall down, Jill came tumbling after.  Once again we see that Jack blinded himself to the dangers besetting him in wide open spaces.  No consideration was given to the possibility of leading his companion into danger when he invited her to accompany him up the hill.  He took no thought for the safety of his own head and even less for the safety of hers.  Reckless endangerment of his own pate, we may possibly excuse as bravado.  But behavior becomes inexcusable when callous disregard for potential hazards places at risk those who follow us.

The second danger in this text proves even more tragic.  Jack not only blinded himself to the reality of danger in open spaces, he also refused to accept the truth concerning the dangers that lurked in another habitat.  We must always protect our heads because of the dangers in our own homes.  We place our heads at extreme peril if this second important lesson remains unlearned.  We recognize Jack’s ignorance of this second principle immediately when we read he “home did trot, as fast as he could caper.” 

This is a common danger, but one that makes it even more perilous because of its commonality.  He ignored the danger of assuming that home remains a place of safety.  There was not even any hesitation when Jack rushed into this second danger.  No contemplation or consideration of alternative plans such as calling 9-1-1 or visiting the ER.  As soon as he was able to struggle back onto his feet, he capered off toward home.  He capered!  Did you see that?  He capered! The fact that he was capering shows that he still hadn’t learned from the danger in wide open places to protect his head.  Now we see that he refuses to learn to protect his head from the danger at home.

At first it would seem that climbing into bed would be a wonderful protection for a person’s head.  But it is not so much the location that is in view here as the attempted remedy.  Jack took the very crown that he had broken out on the hill and applied a home-remedy plaster of brown paper soaked in vinegar.  How absurd.  What did he think that was going to accomplish?  Well, again I make my point clear.  He didn’t think.  He never thought.  Not from the moment he left the house on his mission.  If he had been thinking, each of the dangers would have been easily avoided.  But the truth of the matter stands firm—he did not protect his head.

We must protect our heads.  Learn the lesson of Jack and Jill today.  Protect your head in the wide-open spaces.  Protect your head at home, lest you find yourself like poor Jack, wrapping strips of vinegar-soaked paper around a head that is cracked and desperately in need of major surgery.  Danger lies at every turn.  Protect your head today.

CHURCH # 2

The next church Jack and Jill visited had a pastor known far and wide for his ability to take a single word and develop a topical message which highlighted his scholarship in the ancient English.  He too chose their story as his text.

Jack and Jill

A “Sermon”

As a Topical Message Based on a Single Word.

I want to call your attention today to the word “hill.”  Jack and Jill went up a “hill.”  All of the suffering in the world, all of the heart ache, all of the sorrow, can be traced back to the word HILL, to all the hills we are called upon to climb.  Like Jack and Jill those hills become our downfall.  Today we will explore some of the hills you might be facing even as you sit here in church.  They may be steep hills or rolling hills, green hills or barren hills, long hills or sudden hills, anticipated hills or surprising hills, hills that you are climbing or hills that you are trying to descend.  But in the end it is the hill that causes us to fall.

The first hill we want to consider today is the hill of un-realized expectations.  This hill may look like a green hill far away but the closer you get to the summit the greater becomes your disappointment.  You may have set out years ago with the conviction that any child born in this great land could become the President of the United States.  If Abraham Lincoln could go from a log cabin to the White House then you too could go from a split-level in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to 2400 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Yet with each succeeding year you have come to realize that the road to the White House is slippery with good intentions.

If that is your condition today, then recall the campaigns which Lincoln lost before he started winning.  Remember that his years in the White House were not the happiest years of his life.  It wasn’t easy living with the constant nagging of a complaining wife who didn’t care for any of his generals.  Un-realized expectations occurred even in the life of the Great Emancipator.  Count your blessings if that great expectation you had of becoming the President has not been realized.  Perhaps that’s a hill you would be better off not climbing.

Next we must explore the hill of unexpected good fortune.  It is hard to imagine that anyone, even someone as clumsy as Jack or Jill, could stumble and fall on this hill.  The path of good fortune seems to be so smooth, but it is in the very nature of this path to hold unforeseen hummocks of faltering.  Take, for example, the good fortune of winning the lottery.  Yesterday you owed your soul to the company store.  Today you own the store.  But look out—because next year you may lose it all.  It is estimated that 95% of all those who win the lottery will not live more than 5% longer than those who never purchased a ticket.  What a dreadful statistic.  And besides, we know that if everyone who ever bought a lottery ticket were laid end to end, they would be a lot more comfortable.

So don’t be distracted by this hill of good fortune.  If it comes to you, climb it, but always remember that what goes up must also come down.  No hill provides a constant ascent.  Like the old Japanese proverb, “Up like a rocket, down like a stick.”

Which brings us to our third hill—the hill of unconditional love.  Have you offered your love freely and without restraint to one of your fellow men and been rejected?  Then you know exactly what I am talking about today.  There is no hill so steep, no mountain so tall, no journey so long, no storm so ferocious, no burden so heavy, no water so tepid, no lane so crooked, no cargo so hazardous, no cry so plaintive, no glass so shattered, no child so wearisome, no weekend so boring, no lemonade so sour.

Unrequited unconditional love.  I have walked that weary hill before you.  Let it never be said that you have walked it all alone.  Walk softly, my sister.  Tread lightly, my brother.  This, too, shall pass.  No hill can last forever for then it would become a mountain.  No downward path can be never-ending, for someday soon we must pass through the valley and start up again on the other side.

Let’s be like Jack and Jill who did not let their personal hill of difficulty conquer them.  Instead, let us jump to our feet and trot off toward home as fast as we can caper.   If we but follow their example, we will live to climb another day.

CHURCH # 3

Church shopping was not something Jack and Jill enjoyed.  They really wanted to settle on a church home. But they were certainly learning that each church took on the characteristics of the pastor’s sermonic method.  At their third stop they heard a sermon focused completely on the value of personal illustration.

Jack and Jill

A “Sermon”

In The Personal Illustration Method.

As we consider the text of Jack and Jill we must never lose sight of the importance of these truths in our own lives.  You are Jack.  You are Jill.  Mother Goose mentions here two people given a task to perform, two people who tried their best to fulfill that task in spite of all the obstacles they faced.  What an important lesson for each of us to learn.

I was given my first job of carrying water when I was only three years old.  We had an old pump that capped a deep well down near the barn where it was handy for the cows.  But it wasn’t handy for the kitchen, and that meant that Mama needed water from the well several times each day.  Papa made me two buckets out of old tin cans and my job was to fill those buckets with fresh water from the well before it spilled over into the cattle trough.  Papa could have hauled more in one trip than I could in five, but he knew that I needed a job even at three years of age.  I had to know I was part of the family.  Everyone in our family worked hard to make a living off that small farm.  I was proud to be part of the family.

I learned a great lesson from the job.  I learned that success comes to those who work hard.  Mama had a big crock in her kitchen where she kept the drinking water.  It must have held at least ten gallons of water when filled to the very top.  Filling up that crock seemed like an impossible task to a little boy of three, but if I kept making trips down to the well and hauling those two tin cans full of water up to the kitchen, I could fill that whole crock.  It was a great feeling to climb up on a chair and carefully pour those last two cans of water into that big old crock and realize that not even one more can of water could be added.  My little three-year-old heart swelled with justifiable pride to think that I had finished an impossible task.

There’s nothing in this world any greater than being called upon to do an impossible task and finishing the job.  That was just the first of many impossible jobs I was able to do through the years.  I’ve talked with many a person and had them say to me, “It just won’t work.  I know that’s what I have been called to do, but it is just impossible.  Is there any hope for me?”  And I have had the privilege of telling them, “If Jack could find water at the top of a hill, then no task is ever totally impossible.”

My mother was the one responsible for teaching me this lesson.  Mothers today would have told her not to be so hard on her child, but my mother was the hardest mother in all the world and I thank her for that.  She said, “If you don’t do what you are told, you will be punished.”  She could be hard on me and love me at the same time, I never doubted that.  We know that Jack and Jill were going up that hill on that day because of a mother who loved them and wanted them to learn the meaning of working hard and completing a task.  They could have quit, but even when they ran into trouble they were not afraid to go back home to that loving mother.

When I was six years old, we moved in with my grandparents because times were so hard.  At four o’clock every morning I had to get up and milk cows and gather eggs from the hen house and herd the turkeys.  This house had running water, but it was running in a creek bed about one hundred yards from the house.  By this time I had graduated to full size buckets, and since the house was at the top of the hill I knew exactly what it was to fetch a pail of water.  I fetched many a pail of water in my day.  Jack and Jill had nothing on me.

That pail of water represents all the tasks in life which we have been called on to do by those we love.  We can carry the pail with joy or we can carry it with grief.  I carried it joyfully some days and other days it was a great grief--especially on Saturday night when I not only had to take a bath, but I had to carry the water for my own bath from the creek.   That seemed like double punishment.

Oh, the sadness of a life that is lived without joy.

Oh, the sadness of a life that is lived without joy.

And I say again, oh. the sadness of a life that is lived without joy.

We had a man working for us many years who complained about everything he did.  He complained about his wife, and he complained about his kids.  He complained about his job, and he complained about his days off.  He was just a born complainer.   But he came to hear me one night when I was talking about Jack and Jill.  He felt the buzz of spiritual electricity in that great auditorium as we considered the task that had been set before them by someone who loved them and their faithfulness to endure to the end, their determination to get up and go on even after they had fallen down.  That man got up that night from where he was sitting and grabbed two imaginary buckets from beside his chair.  He went away determined to climb the hills he had been given with joy, and never again complain about the size of the buckets he carried or the weight of the water. 

His wife didn’t change.  His kids didn’t change.  His job didn’t change.  He still had to mow the lawn and wash the car on his day off—but he did it with joy.  What a difference, and all because he came to hear me speak and went away determined to live his life with joy.

I heard a dear old man speak from this poem when I was still just a young man, and I will never forget the impact that message had on my life.  I used to follow that man around the country just to hear him tell about Jack and Jill, over and over, again and again.  He said that when he was a younger man he had decided one day to give up.  He had taken a huge fall on his way to serve someone whom he loved, and he just didn’t think he could ever get up and get going again.  But then he thought about Jack lying there on the path with a stubbed toe and a cracked head, and he said to himself, “If Jack could get up and keep going, then I can too.  What if there is a Jill out there somewhere who has also fallen.  What if she is just watching me to see if I’m going to keep on keeping on.”  And with that thought he struggled to his feet and went on with the task that lay before him.

When I heard that story I knew that I could go on.  And I know that you can go on.  Don’t quit.  Don’t lie down in the middle of the path and nurse your wounds.  Pick up the bucket and get to work.  There’s no crock too big to fill.

JACK AND JILL CHOOSE A CHURCH

Which church did they choose?  I don’t know.  But I have a guess.  I think Jack and Jill chose the church where a preacher gave them something to do with what they had heard.  That’s what I think people want from sermons, and from personal Bible study.  They want a take-away.  They want a task.  They want action.

Which church do you think they chose?  Let me know!  Write me at robertallen@biblestoryfamily.com.