The Art of Gratuitous Praise -- FPC sermon excerpt
Are you feeling blue? Unloved? Unappreciated?
Maybe no one can see your inner qualities. Maybe you need to take a trip to downtown Washington, not just to see the cherry blossoms but to hear some personal affirmations. If you walk down a particular stretch of 14th Street, you might be surprised to hear the sound of a chime, followed by a reassuring voice, saying:
“You help create a brighter future.”
I’m not kidding. I read in The Washington Post (July 21, 2007) about the installation of bright red-and-white striped boxes on the streets of DC. They have speakers at eye level and a grid of ventilation holes in their sides. The boxes speak to you as you pass by, and a small sign explains what they are: “The Compliment Machine.”
Ding! “People are drawn to your positive energy.”
Ding! “You don’t hate the player or the game.”
Hey, if the machine says it, it must be true. The high-tech box certainly looks as though it knows what it is talking about.
The Compliment Machine is a creation of Tom Greaves, a visual artist who lives on Capitol Hill. It is part of a public art project that runs along 14th Street between P and V streets. You might call it “the art of gratuitous praise” — praise that is free and complimentary, maybe even unwarranted and uncalled for.
But who knows? Maybe this unjustified praise can have a positive effect. Perhaps a person who hears the voice of The Compliment Machine will actually be inspired to “help create a brighter future.” Could be that a passerby will actually use her “positive energy” for something constructive, after being complimented by the box.
You never know what kind of effect a few good words will have.
The apostle Paul is practicing the art of gratuitous praise when he stands in front of the Areopagus in the city of Athens and says, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way” (Acts 17:22). He is speaking in a very public place, the Areopagus — which had functioned as a homicide court for the city. He is addressing a crowd containing Epicurean and Stoic philosophers — not a congregation of devout Jews or Christians. So Paul is out in public, in front of a potentially hostile crowd, and he begins with a compliment, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.”
This may be a line of gratuitous praise, completely free and complimentary. But I don’t believe that his compliment is unwarranted or uncalled for. Paul is serious when he says these words, because he goes on to say, “For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (vv. 22-23).
Paul makes a connection with the people of Athens, by focusing on an altar they had erected to an unknown god. Paul does not criticize their attempts at worship, or condemn them for believing in a variety of gods — instead, he says, “What you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”
Maybe no one can see your inner qualities. Maybe you need to take a trip to downtown Washington, not just to see the cherry blossoms but to hear some personal affirmations. If you walk down a particular stretch of 14th Street, you might be surprised to hear the sound of a chime, followed by a reassuring voice, saying:
“You help create a brighter future.”
I’m not kidding. I read in The Washington Post (July 21, 2007) about the installation of bright red-and-white striped boxes on the streets of DC. They have speakers at eye level and a grid of ventilation holes in their sides. The boxes speak to you as you pass by, and a small sign explains what they are: “The Compliment Machine.”
Ding! “People are drawn to your positive energy.”
Ding! “You don’t hate the player or the game.”
Hey, if the machine says it, it must be true. The high-tech box certainly looks as though it knows what it is talking about.
The Compliment Machine is a creation of Tom Greaves, a visual artist who lives on Capitol Hill. It is part of a public art project that runs along 14th Street between P and V streets. You might call it “the art of gratuitous praise” — praise that is free and complimentary, maybe even unwarranted and uncalled for.
But who knows? Maybe this unjustified praise can have a positive effect. Perhaps a person who hears the voice of The Compliment Machine will actually be inspired to “help create a brighter future.” Could be that a passerby will actually use her “positive energy” for something constructive, after being complimented by the box.
You never know what kind of effect a few good words will have.
The apostle Paul is practicing the art of gratuitous praise when he stands in front of the Areopagus in the city of Athens and says, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way” (Acts 17:22). He is speaking in a very public place, the Areopagus — which had functioned as a homicide court for the city. He is addressing a crowd containing Epicurean and Stoic philosophers — not a congregation of devout Jews or Christians. So Paul is out in public, in front of a potentially hostile crowd, and he begins with a compliment, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.”
This may be a line of gratuitous praise, completely free and complimentary. But I don’t believe that his compliment is unwarranted or uncalled for. Paul is serious when he says these words, because he goes on to say, “For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (vv. 22-23).
Paul makes a connection with the people of Athens, by focusing on an altar they had erected to an unknown god. Paul does not criticize their attempts at worship, or condemn them for believing in a variety of gods — instead, he says, “What you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”
posted by Henry Brinton | 10:01 AM
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