A Sermon in Shoes

Yesterday my wife and I were talking… I can’t really recall what now… but something she said triggered a kids song in my head that I had not heard in decades. The song goes like this:

Do you know, Oh Christian, you're a sermon in shoes?
Do you know, Oh Christian, you're a sermon in shoes?
Jesus calls upon you, to spread the gospel news, 
So walk it, and talk it, 
Live it, and give it,
Teach it, and preach it, 
Know it, and show it.
A Sermon in Shoes.

Apparently, if online is to be trusted, it was written by Ruth Harms Calkin. I was actually a bit surprised to find it, but when i put in the words in the search engine, there were several YouTube videos of kids singing this song.

I have looked up “Bible” songs of my childhood with mixed results. One i remember that I have completely failed to find anywhere online goes as follows;

There's Nebuchadnezzar and Zerubbabel,
Shadrach and Meshach and Gemaliel,
____________, _____________, and Mephibosheth,
I would tell you more but I's all out of breath!

If i wasn’t clear enough, the lines are markers for Biblical names in this little song that I have forgotten. Of course, it is just a bit of a nonsense song— a tongue-twister.

This is, however, very different from “Sermon in Shoes.” I consider this song a quite profound one. At least I think so now. When I was young, the song seemed weird. “Sermon in Shoes”? What does that mean. I think our Sunday School teacher explained it, but the metaphor then did not strike home. Now, however, it seems most relevant. Frankly, we live in an era of words— written, spoken, audio recorded, video recorded, and even AI-generated. If ever there was a time in human history where “talk is cheap,” it is now.

A true “sermon” or proclamation of the God’s message is something that is lived out. In our walk, in our lived out existence, we can in effect “Say” the Gospel, or “Betray” the Gospel.

Of the short phrases near the end, I think three of them are quite relevant. Live it and Give it. Know it and Show it. Walk it and Talk it. In each one, one could take the first part as how the Gospel of Christ should be incorporated into one’s life. It should be something that we Know and understand. It should be part of our Walk (actions). It should be Lived out (affecting every part of our being). The other part is more directly how we evidence/proclaim the Gospel to others. We Talk it (in what we say and how we say it). We Show it (through what we do and how we do it). We Give it (freely based on our love for others).

Now you may not see them divided up like that, and certainly the fourth pair kind of ruins it. Teach it and Preach it doesn’t really fit that pattern. But it is a nice rhyme, so i get it. It certainly does not ruin the song. There are not many things that rhyme in a way that would keep the pattern using either teach or preach. I guess one could say, “Reach out, and Preach out,” but I have a feeling that I would be the only one who would see it as an improvement.

It is funny that there are many Children’s songs that have surprisingly good theology. Wouldn’t it be great if adult worship songs took theology so seriously. And I am not just speaking of P&W or Contemporary Christian. Hymns also often are shaky. Not throwing shade…. I just am happy that at least some of the songs of my childhood do stand up to scrutiny. As one who is teaching “Foundations of Holistic (or Integral) Missions” I like a childhood song that sees the Gospel message as something more than propositions to be passed on only through verbal proclamation, and recognizes that that the Gospel message has implications for one’s whole being— and not just a “ticket to heaven.”

We can use more songs like that.