There are times when it's necessary and important to state the obvious. Such a time is now.

Question: What do Smokey the Bear, Winnie the Pooh and John the Baptist have in common?

Answer: The same middle name.

Why is the obvious so oblivious, so hard for us to see?

Dr. Samuel Johnson once observed: "Never be afraid to state the obvious. It is what most people have forgotten."

As a pastor, out doing some home visitation, climbed the steps to the porch of one of his parishioners, he heard the sound of a piano being played. The closer he got to the door, however, the more painful the sound. This wasn't the sound of an accomplished pianist finding joy in making music. This was the stumbling, clashing, rhythm-less attempt of a beginner. When he knocked, and no one answered, he walked on the porch to a large picture window. Peeking through the window, the pastor saw the family's young son seated in front of the piano, his faced pinched in frowning concentration. A light tapping on the glass brought the child flying off the piano bench and racing to the door, ecstatic at the excuse for a break.

"Hi, Matthew," the pastor said. "What are you doing?"

"I'm practicing my piano lesson," Matthew replied, with a doom-laden voice and a scowl on his face.

"Well, I really came to talk to your Mom about some things. Is she home by any chance?"

Matthew heaved a great sigh, rolled his eyes in impatient disgust and replied, "Now what do you think?!"

The obvious needs to be restated today. The church is no exception. Tucked inside today's gospel lesson is a declaration of the obvious that the church has lost sight of lately. In Luke's gospel, Simon has evidently been a hanger-on, an interested bystander, watching and listening to Jesus as he preached in Galilee. Now, suddenly he becomes a central part of this Galilean ministry.

First, Jesus uses Simon and his boat to create a safe and satisfactory place from which to preach, a service Simon is happy to provide. But then, Jesus uses Simon and his boat in a demonstration of divine power and authority. When Jesus causes the nets on Simon's boat to fill with fish _ almost to the breaking point _ Simon suddenly realizes this is not just a gifted speaker or a talented teacher that he has welcomed aboard. Keenly aware of the eternal gulf separating himself and Jesus, he cries out the obvious to Jesus: "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man" (Luke 5:8)!

Now there's a confession one doesn't hear very often anymore. It doesn't get much simpler than that. Even when we are trying to live committed, faithful Christian lives, we need to hear the most obvious statements of faith over and over again. They help clear away some of the theological cobwebs, the haze of interpretive nitpicking and ecclesial hairsplitting that can sometimes lose sight of the obvious.

There are so many "fuzzy" areas in contemporary living that people are longing for the freshness and straightforwardness of a direct answer.

In the sequel movie, City Slickers II, the Billy Crystal character reveals that the mysterious "one thing" that is most important in life is: "Honesty!" And you know what, he's right!

Knute Larson, pastor of the exploding church in Akron, Ohio, known as "The Chapel," has as a motto: "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." And you know what, that is "The Main Thing."

(Note: Use something local that is obvious to your congregation and add here.)

Retired professional athletes often move into a second career as sports announcers. Here is a classic example of someone getting paid for restating the obvious. In the days before television, sportscasting was more of an art _ drawing pictures with words for people tuned to their radios. But what can a sports announcer possibly add to the surround-sound, slow-motion, instant-replay, 15-camera angle, close-up version of our favorite sports events that we see now. All they can do is retell what has obviously just happened right in front of our own eyes _ and get paid for it. And for the most part, people still like to hear that obvious message, that perfectly evident recall of what they have just seen. Ever go to a football game and notice how many spectators in the stands have their ears plugged into the play-by-play on the radio despite the fact that all the action is going on right in front of them?

We need to be just as obvious in church. No Sunday should ever pass in which a confession of Jesus Christ as Lord is not spoken aloud.

When Simon Peter fell on his knees and confessed, "I am a sinful man," he contributed to a host of obvious texts we have at our fingertips that can convey the truth about God and the redemptive love of Christ with a single observation. In earlier times, we would have these verses of Scripture memorized. But let's flail the obvious a bit this morning and freshen our memories:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3:16).

"Blessed ... are those who hear the word of God and obey it" (Luke 11:28)!

"What is impossible for mortals is possible for God" (Luke 18:27).

"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

"Follow me" (John 1:43).

"Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit" (John 3:5).

"See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you" (John 5:14).

"I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die" (John 11:25-26).

"You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand" (John 13:7).

"I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another" (John 15:17).

Sometimes the church tries to make too hard what Jesus made so easy. What was so obvious to the crowds of people who listened to his words and were moved by his message was that Jesus was from God. And the message that Jesus came to give us about God? In its most obvious form? Great God: small world.