We are on our way to a Bernese Mountain Dog Picnic, but before I go I am laying the table here for last minute sermon writers. I know at least one of you has a Saturday sermon to preach.
Picture, then, a shady pavilion near the sea, a friendly and supportive group of fellow preachers, a cooler filled with ice and the libations of your choice--and, most importantly, a buffet of inspiration!
Meanwhile, Molly the Church Dog says, "Woo Woo! I know you'll do a good job!!!" (And if you don't, consider bringing a dog to church. It always works for me!)
I'll be back to check on you mid-afternoon.
Hugs,
Songbird
Once again I am pulling up my bench to the sermon-writing table...but FIRST I must take my Mom to the airport. And not the closest airport either!
ReplyDeleteEight hours and counting until I have to preach this thing... which is about half-written, half-concept. Meanwhile the revbaby woke up at 4:20, nursed/dozed until 5 and was ready to party. R took the first shift and let me sleep until 6:15, at which point I got up and went for a walk. She's not too patient with me on the computer, so I can't even work. Help me Jesus.
ReplyDeleteAll for a text I despise today!
reverend mother,
ReplyDeleteI hear your angst. Perhaps starting where you are with I despise this text is a good place to start for even your parishioners. We are startled when the bible has violence in it. I am not sure what text you are referring to, but I am guessing the beheading of JB. You have all the beheadings in Iraq even of their own people. You have the Israel-Lebanon thing going on. Perhaps your people are as scared as JB's disciples were. I have had all this on my mind, and wondering why did I choose Ephesians, and how can I incorporate all this in my sermon. So I join you and Will Smama at this picnic that was set for us when Will gets back from taking mom to airport. I seem to be finding whatever I can to keep from quieting myself to let God's voice speak, and my fingers to type what God is saying.
revmoth,
ReplyDeletethis balancing work and motherhood is so hard some days...
is it John? what direction are you heading?
I skipped that chose amos/ephesians instead as a way to talk about how we're always living in the tension between god's grace and the result of our human decsions, since I thought because it'ssummer and everything we should keept it , um like, light and palatable. sheesh. The rough draft I have so far is almost twice the lenght of my usual sermon. So I'm either going to have to bore everyone to DEATH or do some serious cutting.
I wrote the first 1/3 of mine in the wee hours this morning--and when I say wee I mean 2:00 am-ish. I went back to bed at 5:00 and slept to 9:00. Now I must finish.
ReplyDeleteBut first I need to go and see what kind of crap gets produced at 2:00 am--and I'm not talking about diapers! Wish me luck!
I'm expanding what I wrote for the Ordinary Time book and hoping that it works... Saturday night worship, a memorial service this morning (I'm 3 for 3 on doing services for people I've never met)... So, I'm talking a bit about power and how violence interrupts our celebration -- and how the true celebration is the message that John points us toward, that Jesus brings life out of death. We'll see... Now I have to dry my hair and get ready for this memorial service! See y'all later!
ReplyDeleteJust in from really happy barbecue with most of the Gloucester curates,- and now confronted with the reality that the passages for tomorrow evening (Job 6 or Romans 15 v14-29) really do have NOTHING to say to me.
ReplyDeleteHerrumph. There must be something...please Lord!
Well, I'm continuing with my Life of David series. Because I was gone last week and the guest preacher (and there's a horror story to blog about...) did not use the David scriptures, I need to pack both readings into one week--we can't exactly skip David's coronation.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm talking about God's time--it may not be our time, when we think things should happen, or how they should happen, but it is the right time and way, because it's God's time. Just as David didn't claim the throne immediately after Saul died, nor rush off to claim the ark, so too do we need to wait sometimes, for God's perfect time.
Because there's a lot of what I call "truck farming" in the area (small fruit and vegetable farms, some of which are pick-your-own), I'm using the illustration of ripe fruit and vegetables--if you pick them too soon, they are inedible; if you wait too long, they rot. THe perfect time is God's time.
And I'm relating that to our church's search for our own space--since things are looking a bit rocky for a space we thought we had, I'm going to be encouraging the congregation to think in terms of God's time for us--the right place and time, according to God's choice, not what we think is right and perfect.
And all in a 15 minute sermon! Help...
I've got it half written, just need to figure out how to wrap it up.
*pulls a chair up to the table*
ReplyDeleteI'm also doing a series on David, in a narrative style, interweaving the Scriptures with storytelling. It's kind of a fun change of pace for summer. The problem at this point is, well, me. I'm tired, I'm cranky, and I just plain don't want to write. Oh, and I've left "The Message" (which I've been using for some of the readings) at church, and I just plain don't feel like tromping over there to get it. Wow, I am a bum.
Stacey,
ReplyDeleteBible Gateway (Don't remember the URL, but you can Google it) has The Message on line.
I'm preaching a very non-lectionary text -- Heb 11.
Peace y'all.
Theresa
This is awful. I really DONT have anything to say. Panic. Anyone ever preached on Rom 15? Care to lend me a sermon?? I struggle so much with the "second service lectionary"....it's always a nightmare, but this is ridiculous!
ReplyDelete(Gratefully abandoning Herodius and that trainwreck of a family of hers for a few minutes to gance at Romans 15...)
ReplyDeleteI don't know which part of Romans 15 you are dealing with, but just off the cuff, you might go with hospitality or stewardship. Oldies but goodies, and we can't really hear enough of that in these times, can we?
OK. Not really a sermon, but it will have to do. I've taken Paul's words in Rom 15 v20 "I've made it ambition to proclaim the good news not where Christ has already been named..." and talked about the need for a missionary culture in our post Christendom world. Mostly pinched stuff from a talk I gave on fresh expressions of church. Not very impressed with it, nor with myself, but totally empty of other thoughts. Some weeks are just like that, I find. Should have prayed sooner. One day I'll learn!
ReplyDeleteKathryn--I preached on Romans 15 while on internship, but it was for a very specific thing--the unveiling of my project (a congregation-written devotional) and Favorite Hymn Sunday. It worked perfectly, but mainly because we have a hymnal called With One Voice which gets its name from Romans 15:6.
ReplyDeleteThe image of music and singing is great though--singing together is not like singing a solo, you intentionally want to make everyone else sound good. Plus the reference to "harmony" and "with one voice".
Not sure if there's a whole sermon in there, but maybe it will trigger something for you. I hope so!
As for me...I'd hoped to go with Amos at first, but now I'm girding my loins to deal with John the Baptist and the exceedingly quiet people at Herod's table. Got an outline, so I know where I'm going. Just need to get there!
Oops. Well Kathryn, good luck and may the Holy Spirit be in your words!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say in my last comment...I think I'm going with a Harry Potter reference to kick things off! Dumbledore's famous admonition to "do what is right, not what is easy." Anybody with me on this one? Heh.
Well back at the picnic. I have written a rough draft. Am going to let it sit. Already know I left something out. Imagine that. I have 30 minutes of time to preach.
ReplyDeleteKathryn, I feel for you, and I hate it when nothing hits me. You might want to try text this week. Here is its link on Romans 15 TextThis Week
Go to Desparate preacher and look at Advent2a and here are some sermons on sermon central.com and look up under Romans 15 And if that doesn't do it. Go to SERMONS & SERMON - LECTIONARY
RESOURCES and look up ones on romans 15 or for Advent2A.
I am of to seee the elderly mother of one of the church members. Oh goody. I hope we get to go out on the boat. HOWEVER, the two adopted daughters are determined to do us in today. When they were suppose to be napping they were pulling all kind of antics, which I caught them in, and had to discipline. Can't work on a sermon in the mood I am, especially about ADOPTION!
semfem, that seems like a great connection to the Gospel lesson. I wrote a piece for the Ordinary Time book about it, how we may look at Herod and think he was a king so what does this have to do with us, but so often in churches people are maneuvering and manipulating as does Herodias, or used as a pawn as her daughter is, but most of us are sitting at the party feeling we don't have the power to do anything about what we can plainly see. Herod convinced himself he was in that position, too, when clearly he was not as king. And most of the time we have more power than we want to acknowledge, too.
ReplyDeleteso far today I have cleaned out the airing cupboard, vacumed and cleaned both my boys rooms (they are away and I got in there quick!!!) hung some new curtains in the hallway... all this after watching my family sail this morning- it is now 8:12pm and I have nothing to say... brain is frazzeled and so am I
ReplyDeleteJust picturing the cooler and the relaxing scene- trouble is I am going to fall asleep!!!!
Well, abi, maybe this gives you an anecdote about God's love for us even when we are acting up...
ReplyDeleteWell I'm off to preach this thing. Saturday night is always a good road test--not a lot of people, it's kinda like a dress rehearsal--although I'm not feeling energized to change a lot, so I hope all goes OK.
ReplyDeleteIt's sort of a sermon in four movements--I retell the story from four different points of view. I'm second-guessing that decision since there are so many contemporary connections to be made--and they're there in this format, but more subtle. I hadn't even thought about the beheading thing, Abi! Wow. Yes.
OK,
ReplyDeleteI've got mine sketched out. I'm preaching at Scottish Rite hospital, which is a very different context than I'm used to. I'm preaching "The Hall of Justice" -- a Superhero's sermon using Hebrews 11:32 to the end. Society would have us buy into the concept of a Superhero having Super Strength and so on, but God's Hall of Justice is full of people who were very ordinary -- no different than us, but acted with faith -- even when they didn't "feel it" they acted with faith.
And when we feel that we've run all out of faith -- God does something wonderful. He tells us that "their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours." In other words, we don't have to do it alone. That our faith together is a completed whole, that our faith is not apart from the great cloud of witnesses that have gone on before.
Still working on it,.
Songbird--well then, I'm just going to have to buy the Ordinary Time book, aren't I? :) It does sound like a fantastic resource.
ReplyDeleteOrdinary Time book = very wonderful. (even if I do say so myself....)
ReplyDeleteI've used it over and over since the beginning of June.
I am back. Had a nice little visit. Got to see some of the shoals area I haven't seen.
ReplyDeleteAnd yea we are going out on the boat for a little bit. It is stifling hot out there.
And Martha, I thought the same thing about God's love for us. I do love them. Don't like the behaviour sometime but I love them.
And Sally will you come clean my house, please!
LOL at Cheesehead taking a break from Herodias. I am supposed to be on vacation till tonight. Instead I arrived home Thursday due to an unexpected and tragic death in a family related to one of our church people. THey have no pastor, but they know me (I married them only three years ago), so I am elected. I spent a day praying desperately for the Holy Spirit to show up and help me reach out to these broken, unbelieving people. I just returned from the mausoleum and I'm desperately in need of a nap. However, I have a surprise 50th birthday for one of our deacons to show up for in a little over an hour. And I have no sermon. ARRRRGGGGGHHHH! Help help help. Looks like it'll be a late night.
ReplyDeleteDon't know what I'd do without you lot to whinge to. it's done and dusted, - frustratingly, the verses set for tomorrow are the chunk AFTER that which appears in the Advent Eucharistic lectionary, so no helps anywhere on the internet or elsewhere...I'd have had LOTS to say re singing had I been blessed with that part. Ah well.
ReplyDeleteHope you all get some sleep and have a blessed Sunday x
I leave you people all day and not one of you has posted a sermon in the comment for me to prayerfully steal!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, people... pass me a libation and let's 'get-er-done'.
*she said shaking her head and smiling*
ReplyDeleteWell, my shocker is this--I'm done! (With the first draft at least--but it really feels good and solid right now.) This is unheard of for me, a bona fide night owl.
ReplyDeleteSo, will smama, I hereby send this little bit of the Holy Spirit on her way to you (and to everyone else who needs her). She's guided me plenty so far today!
Of course, a beverage of your choice could help invoke the Spirit, if need be. :)
will smama, remind me, what are you writing about?
ReplyDeletedunno
ReplyDelete;)
ReplyDeleteEphesians - I'm good. I just got home so I need to regroup. I might hit up the group for some sermon illustrations later.
How was the dog party? Did you prove Gord and I wrong and finish up things before now?
I did prove you wrong. I looked over what I had written and decided to let the fascinating concept of Roman adoption sit for another time. We went out to dinner and I daringly had a cocktail!
ReplyDeleteSongbird, well played!
ReplyDeleteOf course, after typing that, I had to write another 300 words. Tomorrow I am baptizing a little guy whose grandparents include some Catholics who think the parents have become pagans or something by going over to the UCC and also some UUs who think the parents have become fundamentalists by joining the UCC. Man, I'm feeling challenged by that. I want to give them something good!
ReplyDeleteThe picnic was fun, but I have a sunburn.
That's quite a baptism! Let me know if you solve all of that in 300 words or less!
ReplyDeleteAny word from reverend mother yet? I wonder how it went.
Can I join the SB/WS party?
ReplyDeleteI finished mine a few hours ago, but I hate it.
I'm off to the grocery store right now though, and I think a bottle of wine or two might accidentally land in my cart...then I might accidentally open one of those bottles...accidentally spill some into a glass and accidentally drink it. That would put the kibosh in a rewrite, wouldn't it?
I don't know, Cheesehead. I added that whole section (more like 400 words in the end) after a Longhorn Lemonade at dinner. Just be sure to have a glass of water, too.
ReplyDeleteCHEESEHEAD!!! Look at me.
ReplyDeleteLook. At. Me.
Now repeat: I shall not rewrite.
(I can't hear you)
I shall not rewrite.
That is what the Holy Spirit is for.
------
Also be sure to accidently open the wine at home. No one wants to hear the sermon illustration about the drunken preacher at the grocery store... again.
Oh my, can I say how much I'm enjoying reading this? I heart the RGBP's so much! You'll all be here August 5th, right? (I preach for exactly the 2nd time on the 6th.)And as we all know from RM's most excellent meme, the pet peeve that drives others crazy about me is that I procrastinate. Good luck to all of you. You all sound positively brilliant.
ReplyDeleteNo sermon for me tomorrow. I'm on for next week. Though that means I do have to do a children's sermon on the beheading of John the Baptist tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHelp! Anyone have any ideas?
Marie, I'll be on vacation, so I won't be preaching, but I promise to be here at the Preacher Party for you. Cross my heart.
ReplyDeleteMom? Is that you?
ReplyDeleteEmily, IMHO I think you should skip that topic. It is just an internship, right? What are they REALLY going to do to you if you don't stick to the lectionary for the children's sermon.
ReplyDeleteGo to Ephesians. Talk about how God chose us specifically to love and ask them what are good ways we can love God back.
Wow, Songbird, that's generous!!! Thanks! Yikes! Children's sermon on a beheading. Can't wait to see what you all do with that...
ReplyDeleteUCC=fundmentalist? NOw there is something I never thought I would hear!
ReplyDeleteUn fortunately I am not nearly ready. WEnt to visit MIL for two days, got back and its just to #$&*@#$ hot to think in this house!
Time to reread the third article S'bird linked to on adoption and think about how modern concepts of adoption fit in with thte passage. And maybe reade Sun-Mon devotionals to "borrow" some ideas there...
I finished my Superhero sermon.
ReplyDeleteAnd two glasses of wine.
And some 70 percent cocoa bittersweet chocolate (Lindt).
I'm feeling good -- even about the sermon.
I would LOVE to hear a children's semon about the beheading of John. Love. to. hear.
peace y'all.
Oh, Emily. Walk away from the beheading. Just back away slowly and no one gets hurt.
ReplyDeleteHow about a glancing attack on the topic? Ask the kids what they would do if a friend tried to get them to do a bad thing. If you've got talkers, you'll be all set.
Ooooh, Songbird, that's brilliant! And I'm not really sitting here reading comments. I'm actually reading my OT assignments. See?
ReplyDeleteI am back from boat riding on the Tenn. river. What joy, what freedom, what fun. I am refreshed. Even did a little swimming. The only libation I have is Dr. Pepper or water. Oh well, would you all accidently drink one for me.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad will smama are back as well as cheesehead. So lets get it started. Sorry Kathryn the links were no help. Marie, can you see those kids now if we told them about the beheading, they would be running down the aisle crying to their moms, and some parent would complain we aren't preaching g-rated sermons to the kids. How dare we.
Well back to reread the rough draft.
Or do what Songbird would REALLY do and ask them:
ReplyDeleteKids, what would Antonio Banderas do?
Oooo... right, children's sermon. Huh. I don't do one Saturday night because so rarely are there children and then when one is there it's weird. Anyway... Use the plumb line... lots to talk about there ... I'm thinking of having the kids put the adults in straight rows ... line them all up and see if they rebel. :) Definitely skip the beheading for a children's sermon.
ReplyDeleteUgh. This day has been...not my best ever. However, I have a sermon, more or less, and I have a glass of wine, which may well become two (the extra is a favor to Abi, after all!), so things can't really be that bad, right?
ReplyDeleteI do not envy those of you preaching on the beheading. Not at all.
Thanks Stacey. I needed that. Ooh Songbird I love it, "Oh, Emily. Walk away from the beheading. Just back away slowly and no one gets hurt." You could even use that in your little sermon. That sometimes we just have to back away slowly from things that well might lead us to do bad things. You all are good.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about Antonio at the children's moment. In your dreams or real life might be good.
Revabi, it's just too grisly to contemplate. But kids these days are kind of immune to gore. They'd probably run home and tell the neighbor kids, "Dude, it was so cool! In church today, we learned about this guy who got his head cut off!" Well, okay, they wouldn't say "dude".
ReplyDeleteBut really, I am reading for my OT class. I am NOT procrastinating.
ReplyDeleteWho else thinks Cheesehead is sitting on the floor of the grocery store with an open bottle of wine and her laptop?
ReplyDeleteOh, this is fun! Where have I been on these Saturday nights?
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying a hearty bowl of SmartFood white cheddar popcorn (I think I heard BBT endorse that at the festival of Homies, didn't I?) and a glass of pinot grigio. But I think I have to cut myself off at one, though, because if I'm not mistaken, I'm getting the old wink-wink from across the room.
That means if I suddenly disappear, you know what hap...
just kidding! Kids are still awake.
ReplyDeleteCH - ha, ha.
ReplyDeleteOK,
ReplyDeleteI have considered it and I really really want to preach on dancing and passion -- just like I did three years ago. Think anyone would notice?
Well even thought (if) they wouldn't I told myself it was Epistles this summer and so adoption and belonging it is. Dancing will be for the children's time.
Well, we'll probably go upstairs in about 30 minutes, kids or no kids.
ReplyDeleteI mean criminy, we're married and 40-something. It's not as if those kids think they came from the turnip patch.
(Guess I won't be re-writing after all...)
cheesehead, you get the older child to take the younger child to the movies. It works.
ReplyDeleteFriends, I hate to desert you, but I have fallen asleep on the couch twice and I'd like the third time to be in bed. God's blessings and a good night's sleep to all of you. Thank you for coming to the party!
Last one to leave, turn out the light.
G'nite Songbird, and funny you should say that since right now my sermon consists solely of denominational lightbulb jokes all in the name of getting to this line:
ReplyDeleteHow many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb?
None, light bulbs will go on and off at predestined times.
Night Songbird! Ermm...goodnight or umm...something, CH! ;) No rewrites for YOU!
ReplyDeleteHee Hee
ReplyDelete(eyeballs the clock...)
Well, the divine miss m is *finally* down (for the night?) after I missed her window for bedtime, so I'm stopping into the party.
ReplyDeleteSermon went well. Mainly I'm glad it's done. I do feel like the college student whose finals were scheduled before everybody else's--I'm ready to kick back but everyone's still cramming ;-)
But yeah... what on earth does one do for a children's sermon?
Vacation Bible School starts Monday at our church--I think I'll hit that.
Wow, rm you must be exhausted. Well done you - glad the sermon went well.
ReplyDeleteI, genius pastor that I am, decided that we shouldn't do children's sermons in the summer. It is. Truly. A vacation. Those suckers are much harder than the other sermon. Let's face it, getting me to talk about Biblical texts for 15 minutes is a breeze. Figuring out how to communicate something important but not patronizing for children? Night sweats...
ReplyDeleteHope that everyone has a good Sunday... And by that I mean an afternoon that includes a nap...
apstraight, you are a genius.
ReplyDeleteWell folks, I need to get up from this table and grab a few winks in the tent (NOT the one with Cheesehead in it).
ReplyDeleteGood luck Gord and everyone else still hammering on the keyboard. I'll get the coffee going first thing in the morning.
I'm off to bed too, though not so exciting a bed as cheesehead's, apparently. Blessings to all who are still working.
ReplyDeleteI'm off to bed as well and also not very exciting, since K's on the other side of the country. Oh well. I made it through Hosea. Blessings on all who are preaching in the morning.
ReplyDeleteIt is 11:30 where I am, and I am home from the party, I still have no sermon, and I am exhausted. I don't know what to do, but I guess I will at least be the one to turn out the lights as I leave the room in despair.
ReplyDeleteOwl, the lights are still on waaayyy out here in the pacific time zone, but I'll get 'em.
ReplyDeleteSermon, check. Children's time, check. DIshes, still in the sink.
WillSmama - you are so funny for one of God's chosen frozen.
Songbird - thanks for the party. One big drink at dinner = two little naps on the couch at my house too. :)
Love you Rev Gals!
4:45am where I am and I have decided that the outline format is not going to cut it. Manuscript it is.
ReplyDeleteSinging Owl, Stacey - how goes it? Juniper, are the dishes out of the sink?
Sue, thank you for the beautiful prayer.
Huh. Amazing what one can get done when no one else is chatting with her... reminds me of college when I used to sit in the library right where folks could see me as they walked in getting nothing done for HOURS and wondering why...
ReplyDeletePREACH IT pals and gals:
1) Let it go... the Holy Spirit has got your back.
2) If you've got a dog, walk it proud.
Have a blessed Sunday, all.
ReplyDeleteOff to preach for the first time at a Children's Hospital. Different context = butterflies. gulp.
The dog comment makes me laugh out loud, every single time.
ReplyDeleteGimme some of that coffee--and make it stout... revbaby was up every hour last night. Every Single Hour.
Shoooooooooooot meeeeeeeeeeeeee
I just poured some very stout coffee over ice. It's in the coffeemaker and I can't remember when I made it--yesterday? Friday? Let's hope it helps. Our household was a restless one last night, too, and I woke quite a few times.
ReplyDeleteNo nap here this afternoon, I'll be driving a child to yet another camp. Maybe after that?
Now to figure out what I can wear that won't hurt my sunburned shoulders. At least I don't robe in the summer.
Singing Owl! Hi! Welcome home!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm about to go shower and head down the road to church. I have that old-yet-familiar controlled-panic feeling that I should have twice as much nailed down on paper as I do. I'm reminding myself that God takes over where my preparation ends. Still fishing for a children's sermon, but those actually come fairly easily to me. I am still thinking Dave or Johnny would have been easier to preach, in a way, but just not good for our overall summer focus and for a one-shot staffer's sermon. Thanks again to everyone who commented on the Tuesday post concerning adoption. It spurred me to more research of my own and made me think about my own baptism/adoption/blessings from God. Even if no one else gets a thing out of this sermon this morning, at least God worked on me throughout the week!
Peace to all who preach this day.
Well, it sounds like I missed a lot after I went down. Reread my sermon, and decided to leave it alone.
ReplyDeleteIt is 6:43 here and the kids are rising. We had two get up in the night also. These PKs must sense our anxiety.
Thanks for the prayer Sue.
I am with apstraight about children's sermons. I usually get some lay person to do the children's sermon, because they seem to be able to get with the children. But here at my new church, it was the only time the minister had anything to do with the children. You wait after awhile I am changing that little number.
Blessings to all who have already preached and to those who will be preaching today
Oh, no...I just scrolled back up to see your first entry, Singing Owl! Yikes! I'm praying for you and for that family, dear one.
ReplyDeleteMmmm.... coffeeeeee.......
ReplyDeleteWEll we shall see what happens after a night of sleeping on it. Maybe a longer chldren's time and a shorter sermon...
ReplyDeleteOh and Songbird, they have this new product out--called sunblock :)
Shorter sermons... does anyone ever complain when we shorten it up a bit? Especially in the summer?
ReplyDeleteRM - I wish I could take credit for the dog line. My friend (who held PPB's previous position after PPB held it) heard it from her homiletics prof.
Off to print...
Singing Owl, you and the family are in my prayers--how difficult it is...
ReplyDeleteWell, I finished mine up a few minutes ago...
Meant to do it last night, and then friends invited us over for drinks--friends whom we haven't seen for a while, and we had something to give them (they took care of the cats while we were in Boston), so...
Wine spritzers with homemade wine...mmmm...
Firstly, what a wonderful picture of your dog! Wow. I want one. Covet a mutt.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, 88 comments?!!?
Thirdly, I am preaching on the death of Uzzah and having a little humility in worship.
Annie Dillard and crash helmets, you know the drill, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Yes indeed.
ReplyDeletePausing for a break between services... for the children's sermon I realized I missed the boat in not bringing in a plumb line and explaining what it's far (we read Amos as the OT text). Ah well,
2 or 3 hours until naptime......
Dear Tripp,
ReplyDeleteThank you! I am always happy to accept admiration from everyone.
Love,
Molly
Next time I am getting too big for my britches thinking it was all my hard work and witty reparte that made the sermon a good one, remind me of this Sunday and how only the Holy Spirit could have saved that thing and indeed she did.
ReplyDeleteWe even had a breeze in the Sanctuary... or so I was told, it doesn't reach the front.
17 minutes until naptime...
GOD IS FUNNY SOMETIMES...or if not God, just life. At 1:30 a.m. I went to bed with no idea of what to do! Egad! This a.m. I took one of the scriptures from the funeral in my Bible and went to church praying my head off (silently). We had a young woman at church today, the daughter of friends, who is raising funds and prayer support for a one-year stini in Macedonia (yes, Macedonia, and I know what you are thinking). Anyway, it was hotter than heck in our un air conditioned sanctuary. Our guest spoke eloquently for about 20 minutes instead of the 5 to 10 she said she would take. LOL! I had my husband pray for her, took an offereing for her, said AMEN, heaved a sigh of relief and let everyone go home!
ReplyDeleteWooooHooooo! Now I am heading for bed. I'm asleep already, so I hope I make it there for my usual Sunday na.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...snort...ernap!
Whoo! Glad it's done. My voice student, who had cancelled, showed up for the second service and then on the way out asked if she could have her lesson after all. Wish I'd said no, but guess it's a star in my crown, eh? ;)
ReplyDeleteSermons went very well. God is unfailingly good, because my preparation ought to have been much, much better. But this absolutely washed-out feeling--I'd forgotten how drained one feels after a morning of preaching. Oh...and the mic fizzled out half-way through the second sermon. Talk about distracting! Despite all human and mechanical frailties, however, the Holy Spirit visited us big-time today. Ah! Blessings to you all.
Singing Owl - You sure did deserve that one. Sleep well.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have made it through my second sermon, and service. It really tires me even with a nap.
ReplyDeleteWe are eating popcorn and watching "Finding Nemo" with the kids even though it is way past bedtime. But we are having great time. Wouldn't miss it for the world.
Boy this party has gone on and on and on. Wine, homemade spritzers, a little spice, a little nap, popcorn, and wow what a party. My complements to the host.
It really seems to have been a successful gathering! Many thanks to all who attended. See you Saturday!
ReplyDeletereading this monday morning -it's funny!
ReplyDeleteKathryn ... one thing that struck me whenI read your comment saying that the lectionary reading was after what you'd be happier to preach about ... sometimes we can talk about the context of the passage and read more of the scripture and preach on what led up to it...
just a thought.
I also want to say that people ARE blessed by what you all preach - week after week - and even on those 'bumming out' Sundays - I think - in the long term our words do bless, and God does reach his people. What you say counts. You are faithful to do what He called you to do. Keep partying and fine-tuning those sermons together. What a GREAT community RevGals is. I'm privileged to be invited to this party -even though not preaching right now.
I noticed several of you stressing over presenting a childrens' sermon.
ReplyDeleteGo to: www.sermons4kids.com
Freewebsite, with a search engine. You can search any scripture and come up with several suggested childrens' sermons--and they're good.
This will save your bacon.
Kiss Kiss
QG
Brilliant QG!
ReplyDeleteNow can you tell me how to get the woman who does our children's sermons and who refuses to use the microphone because of 'all that confusing stuff' (umm, it's an on/off switch) to use a computer?
100!
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe you could print the children's sermons out for her--in advance?? Seriously, I do get your point!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the revgals who have to do this themselves can use the website.
101 !