Simplicity and Sophistication

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
Leonardo da Vinci

     It is easy for preachers to use an abundance of words.  I contend that long, boring sermons are a result of inadequate preparation.  If you would ask me to preach for two hours, it would require very little work.  I can expound a topic very easily if given an unlimited word count.  But tell me to preach in 5 minutes.  Then I must prepare.  What can be said in five minutes?  How can I get to its bare core?  Now I must really study the topic, meditate on its meaning, and come to terms with its implications. 

     Many Americans find Christianity to be either too complex to access (elitism) or too simple to believe in (fundamentalism).  A large part of my job is to convey the gospel's simplicity. Not to water down, nor to over-complicate.  But in illuminating the gospel's core, we actually get to its profound depth.  It's a bit of a riddle.  The more you seek simplicity, the more sophisticated it gets.  The more you dwell on the cross event, the more you find God's compassion to be a well whose floor has never been discovered.