Maybe I should have more sympathy for the airport screeners...

“In 1914, when the outbreak of war left the whole world breathless, I felt obliged to let this war rage on in all my sermons until finally a woman came up to me and begged me for once to talk about something else and not constantly about this terrible conflict. She was right! I had disgracefully forgotten the importance of submission to the text. It may come to the point that a member of the congregation has to call the pastor to order and counsel reconsideration. All honor to relevance, but pastors should be good marksmen who aim their guns beyond the hill of relevance.”

Karl Barth wrote this in his book Homiletics. I saw this at the top of this site. Preaching is proclamation of the word of God. John Stott adds to this by making the point that it is not just exposition of the text, but the preacher must build a bridge between the Bible and its world to the modern world. If relevance becomes the singular focus of the preacher, he is building a bridge to nowhere without foundation.