Congruency

(This is my sermon from Sunday, November 8, 2020 in response to the reading from Amos 5:18–24. You can find the recording of the full service on the church website — www.ststephenlc.org)

Aesop, the ancient master storyteller and teacher of fables once told this tale — One fine day two crabs came out of their home to take a stroll on the sand. “Child,” said the mother, “You are walking very ungracefully. You should accustom yourself, to walking straight forward without twisting from side to side.”

“Pray, mother,” said the young one, “Do but set the example yourself, and I will follow you.”

The moral of the story — Example is the best precept.

Another way of saying this is that congruency is the key. And what is congruency? It’s practicing what you preach.

I’m sure we’ve all heard the phrase, “Do as I say, and not as I do.” This phrase is all about being incongruent.

Matthew Jones wrote an article in June 2018 for Inc magazine on congruency in the workplace. Here’s a portion of what he wrote — “When you were a child, what did you think of the person who told you to do what they say and not what they do. Perhaps you still respected and admired them. But as a grown adult who is less than pleased with authority breathing down your neck, when you see a leader preaching one thing and then practicing something different, you lose respect.

“You start zoning out. And you stop valuing that person’s opinion. Because you know that on some fundamental…