Faith Works 1-5-19
Jeff Gill
How many times do I have to tell you?
___
Jesus famously said that we should forgive seventy times seven.
Infamously, Biblical scholars point out that the passage is not meant to teach that forgiveness runs out at repetition number 490, but that seventy times seven is a numerical expression of "more than you can really imagine."
Kind of like how we used to think about a million of something. A million times or a million years were formerly a big deal, but when it's a joke in a movie for a villain frozen in time to demand "one MILLION dollars," you realize a million isn't what it used to be.
So Jesus' seventy times seven is overridden by modernity's million which in turn takes a back seat to "billions and billions" . . . but the point is the same all along: you can't really imagine those amounts. Actually, how well can any of us hold the concept of seventy in our heads, let alone times seven?
We won't even get into "six hundred and sixty-six" with all of its various claimed and potential meanings.
On a smaller scale, it's a commonplace of presentations that people need to hear something seven times for it to really sink in. Seven sounds like a good number, but I've never found a published study that nails this down more than as a well-meaning anecdote. Like seventy times seven and forgiveness, I think hearing or seeing a piece of information seven times is more of a concept than calculus. The real point is that you rarely can just tell someone something new and count on it sticking with one announcement.
It doesn't work for me, that's for sure. I need to be asked, I need to write it down, I need it on my calendar, I need to put it on the office white board, and probably add a scribbled sticky note on the computer monitor. But that's just five times, and it probably calls for a couple more reminders to go from "somebody asked for it" to "it is finished."
How many times, in which forms, over what span of days, does it take to get a piece of information communicated? What does it take you to have "learned your lesson"? If it's something we want to hear, hope to learn about, the magic number can be one. Once is enough for the willing ear. It's the itching ears listening for something other than what you're saying which have trouble hearing the word you have to share, even the second or third time around.
When you have an event or program or change in the usual pattern in a faith community, how do you put it out there? You can announce it on Sunday morning, include it in a bulletin or announcement screen, add it to the newsletter, put it out in the weekly e-mail to everyone on the list, and place it on a bulletin board . . . which makes five times, but is that enough? You could add the news to the congregational web page, Facebook page, and Twitter feed, which takes you to eight – definitely past seven times! – but what if not everyone sees the same social media accounts, or misses a Sunday in worship? There you are back down to four, or even (horrrors!) three, and people saying "but no one told me… I didn't know about it… why wasn't that announced?"
This is where the seventy times seven comes in. Not as in announcing something 490 times, but in praying for forgiveness! Because in community life, it is hard to hit that elusive "tell 'em seven times" standard.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he's a big believer in repetition. Also in telling people the same thing in multiple forms again and again. Tell him what you think the "magic number" of communications is at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.
