Daily News Journal, August 5, 2018 Sometimes the problem with preaching is the hecklers. That’s right. You didn’t know preachers have hecklers? All preachers have hecklers. They’re often that little old guy that stands in the back, can’t sit down for 20 minutes, restless, walking back and forth, wants to say something. I saw Ezra in church the other Sunday. Little fellow, long pointed white beard like a dwarf out of Lord of the Rings, yellow in the middle from tobacco juice dribbling. Ezra was hopping mad. “It’s just not right! It’s just not right!” I ignored him, of course. You have to, or you’d never finish a sermon. Jeremiah’s usually back there, too, just standing in the corner mostly, glaring at me. Never says a word. I definitely don’t let him get going. Hoo boy. That happened one time and we didn’t get out of there till near 5 PM. Everybody was too scared to leave. Of course, you’re catching on. I’m speaking, imaginatively, let’s call it. More on that in a minute, but did you hear the one about the preacher who just preached his heart out one Sunday? “I just need five men, five men sold out for the Lord, and we can change this church, change this city, set this place ON FIRE for the Lord! We can turn things around. We can make a difference! Five men!” That afternoon, during his Sunday nap, there was a knock at the door, and the preacher, in his skivvies, put on a robe and went to the door. Five guys standing on his steps. “We’re here,” they said. “Let’s get started.” They were fired up. “Started? On what?” the preacher said. “Saving this town, preacher! You said you wanted five men. We’re ready to roll!” Preacher looked a little abashed, and finally said, “Boys, I’s just talking. I was just preaching, you know?” When Jeremiah’s there, I know better than to just “talk.” I know better than to fill up the time with just so much verbiage. I don’t know how many “authors” there actually are of our 66 books in the Bible, but they all want a say. They all need a say. We all need them to have a say, too. Of course, Jesus and Paul do most of the talking. I got no problem with that. And Peter and John and Isaiah and Moses. But Ezra’s in there, too. And even Obadiah, old one-chapter Obadiah, stuck there between those other chart-toppers, Amos and Jonah, yeah, that Jonah. Even Obadiah needs to be heard. Why? Because he’s there. The presence in the scriptures of a particular book means that God’s people over the centuries realized “we can’t leave this out.” Some folk weren’t too thrilled with the Song of Solomon being in there (too racy) or the book of Revelation (too scary), but they’re there. The church needs to hear them. Uncle Bob may be a little nutty, from your perspective, but you need to meet him. You need to hear his story. You haven’t lived what he’s lived through, but he’s family. That makes his story your story. There are a lot of ways to ensure that the “whole counsel of God” is at least read on Sunday mornings. The lectionary is an organized trip through the Bible on a 3 (sometimes 4) year basis, revolving around the gospels. Any given Sunday there’s also an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading and a Psalm. Myself, I just preach from one text per Sunday. You can easily find a lectionary on the Internet. Look up Revised Common Lectionary. Or, just alternate OT, NT, OT, NT, a different book each week. You’ll eventually hit old Ezra. That’ll put a smile on his face and maybe he’ll leave me alone for a while. Have you, or your preacher, ever preached from Obadiah, or the Song of Solomon, or even Philemon? That one’s easy to miss. If not, you should ask why. Isn’t the whole Bible worth hearing from? Steve Odom preaches nearly every week at Central Christian Church on E. Main St. in Murfreesboro and can be heard at borodisciples.org