I recently found a video clip that I found encouraging. It’s about three minutes long.
In the 1990s, a group called Sixpence None the Richer made waves in popular music. They had some hit songs, including a couple you might recognize: “There She Goes” and “Kiss Me.”
One night in 1999, they performed on David Letterman’s old show. They clearly connected with the crowd. Afterward, Letterman invited the group’s lead singer, Leigh Nash, to come have a quick sit-down interview with him.
She was obviously nervous but also enthusiastic. Dave made a couple of goofball jokes to attempt to loosen her up. Here is the neat thing. This was a pop band that consisted of Christians, not a Christian band playing contemporary Christian music (not that there is anything wrong with that.) This set up a memorable scene. Leigh was able to fly under the radar and deliver a beautiful moment for God’s glory that can still be seen today (thanks to YouTube.)
Dave asked Leigh how the band got their name. She responded sweetly but nervously, “It comes from a book by C.S. Lewis. The book is called Mere Christianity. A little boy asks his father for a sixpence, which is a very small amount of English currency, to go and get a gift for his father. The father gladly accepts the gift, but he also realizes that he’s not any richer for the transaction because he gave his son the money in the first place.”
“He bought his own gift,” Letterman interjects.
“That’s right. Pretty much,” Leigh said. “I’m sure it meant a lot to him, but he’s really no richer. C.S. Lewis was comparing that to his belief that God has given him and us the gifts that we possess, and to serve Him the way we should, we should do it humbly, with humble hearts, realizing how we got the gifts in the first place.”
And then Dave said, with sincerity, “Well, that’s beautiful. That’s very nice. That makes perfect sense. When you hear something explained that is so obvious but yet we need to be reminded of it almost every minute of every day, but if people didn’t need to be reminded of that there would be fewer [goofballs] running around, doing [goofy] things (that’s a reference to himself). You know?… If we could just keep that little sliver of enlightenment with us, things would be so much better.”
Leigh smiled and said, “I agree,” and the audience applauded sincerely and enthusiastically.
Three minutes–and God was given a lot of glory on national TV. It was a nice moment. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/IoLe5M9EJGc?si=Aw-B3ighJwJH04FS
People will respect you if you are in a fully supported ministry, but it is hard to reach them. They think you are untouchably holy or are paid to say the right thing. But suppose you work beside them in the workplace, literally or symbolically. In that case, you can more easily and winsomely earn a hearing. This is where we can take the Kingdom of God to America–on the job.
I’m Mark Edge. Thanks for reading.
You can purchase Mark’s new book Holy Chaos How To Walk with God in a Frenzied World here: