...of summer;
...of the Bread of Life passages;
...of Vacation Bible School, daycamp, or other special ministries and programs;
...of calls.
It seems like it's the "wrapping things up" time of year and we are starting to make the transition from one season to another. I find it a hard time because my mind is already more focused on what is coming than what is here now. My prayer today is for the Spirit to focus me (focus us) on the Word God has for us to preach this day. I truly pray that will happen (between the workout at the gym, playing with the kids, cooking for a staff-hosted party for some congregation members, hosting/serving at that party...).
Hmmmmm...my schedule seems to be working against my own prayer.
What do you need today as you are preparing to preach the Word, pray with the church, lead the worship of the children, or any and every other kind of ministry? What's wrapping up that needs your attention now? Where will the Spirit focus your attention?
Having reached 36 weeks of pregnancy, I find my mind and tasks consumed with the quickly approaching arrival of the addition to our family. It is definitely a big challenge to keep focus on sermon writing and preaching as we count down!
ReplyDeleteFor this Sunday I'd like to play with the images and expressions of wisdom found in all the lessons except for the gospel. What is the nature of this wisdom, what is our access to it, etc. The delightful personification of Wisdom in the Proverbs text seems to invite us into conversation / dialog with God in such an intriguing way. Not sure where this will lead me!
You're definitely coming down the home stretch! Yea!!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck where you are led, P.S.!
Hi Gals,
ReplyDeleteJust checking in before bed to say I'm back from a week of study leave and than a week of vacation and ready to prep for everything tomorrow - also to answer a gazillion emails.
I'm preparing a Serious Sermon on health care, what are others saying? If anything?
See you in the morning!
I'm in the middle of a sustainability series that could include health care next week, maybe. Could also have been dealt with more directly in last week's that worked with economics. Don't know that I can touch on it, though, with my severe lack of knowledge of the specifics of this debate. I know the general issue, of course, and I have some admittedly uninformed opinions, but I don't know the ins and outs or generalities of the proposals being debated. I think I'll be coming as close as I'll come in this sustainability series that could probably be subtitled "Enough is Enough." Not in the very "final" sounding sense of the phrase, but in the sense that having enough of something is enough for you. There is enough to go around if we share what we have, use just what is enough to meet our needs, and are attentive to the "enough" needs of others here now, and those who will be here in the future.
ReplyDeleteGod's grace be with you. Holy cow - - It's 2:23 a.m. and it's only SATURDAY morning. I'm in trouble as I head into tomorrow if I'm already starting with a lack of sleep.
Good morning, preachers. Woke up to itchy feet compliments of several mosquito bites. Full day today, so I've finished my draft. Does anybody else find it hard to prepare to preach the good news when church 'stuff' happens during the week?
ReplyDeleteGoing to get more coffee and bake muffins. Anybody is welcome to help yourself.
Good for you, Chilly. It's good to see a draft.
ReplyDeleteI do not have one. I have an order of worship and liturgy, though, so that was a night well-spent last night. I also have a possible sermon title based on a candy, "Now and Later," so I'm not sure if my 3:00 a.m. inspiration will stay.
I'm off lectionary (as I seem to have been most of the summer) and on week 2 of my sustainability series. This week is about environmental sustainability.
I had a hard time picking my Scripture for it because going with Genesis and being stewards of creation seemed like basic "old news" to me. I don't know, though, how often it ever actually get said. I don't really do Earth Day, so I know it hasn't been talked about in that last 19 months. Maybe for the average worshipper, the call and responsibility to care for the earth even while we are using the earth's resources (so there are some for NOW and some for LATER) as a God-given discipline might not be old news. I think I'll go with it instead of trying to complicate things more.
I'm working with both accounts of the creation of humankind - Gen. 1 points to the extreme power we do have (for good or for evil in the end), Gen. 2 points to the call to not only use but preserve. So essentially, we CAN make a difference, God gave us that ability. We MUST make a positive difference as we till and keep/preserve responsibly. I think it'll work.
I think I'll also point to Christ's example of ruling and dominion as one of servanthood and sacrifice. His "dominion" over sin was shown as submitting to death.
For now though, I need to make breakfast for the kids and find a way to make a walk/run of 6.55 mi a part of my morning. It's the last stage of a "lazyman triathlon" I have to finish today. Doesn't feel lazy to me!
Good morning preaching pals,
ReplyDeleteI've just spent the morning in my garden and I'm sitting down to do some sermonating. I thought I'd preach on the Kings text and talk about what we pray for..things verses a discerning heart.
Breakfast bars anybody. How about some cool refreshing water. I also have some fresh fruit.
Getting ready to head off to the Mack Daddy Art Fair (or as I like to call it, This Ain't Your Granny's Craft Fair). Was out perhaps too late last night at the artist's reception, a fun evening every year with old favorite artists and some new ones, too.
ReplyDeleteSpouse left early this morning to help with food tent set-up, and now I have to get over there, because he called and told me he forgot his belt and his pants are falling down! Hee hee.
Hopefully I'll be back later to talk about the sermon...
Sounds like some good ideas brewing with the coffee. (and tasty treats) More coffee for me and something healthy...
ReplyDeleteI'm preaching 2 short meditations on praise using the eph 5 text and it's twin from Colossians. We have a service of scriptures and hymns planned. I'm introducing projected images for the prayer time using Season of spirit idea/prayer litany. After church I'm doing a brief presentation on "Image, Story, and Place" from my cohort group study in 07-08. it was one of those Lily funded trips in the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence program which our denomination is in. All this and end by noon... I'm feeding them in between to be safe.
Best wishes to all.
I'm trying to get a draft done so I can play some tonight. Another good bye dinner (with local friends), and the one item I sold on e-bay gets picked up today. I am on hold with the new BIG CABLE company to set up servicein the new place. Oh, and Dancing with God was here for 2 nights and we had so much fun! I sent her on her way today - -send her happy sermon thoughts - -it will be suppertime when she gets home.
ReplyDeleteI have red white and blue bread to share -- blueberry bread with craisins in it from the store. YUM!!! Also some cherries to share too!
And after 15 miuntes on hold, evil cable company disconnected me. Sigh. Maybe that's the nudge I needed to get into gear.
Tomorrow is the last day here for me... I am in the home stretch of my first call...
I have chosen to preach on the difficult Ephesians text about wives be subject to your husbands. I didn't want to chicken out and skip this, I think it is important for our people to hear our female perspective on these difficult texts. But, I have really been wrestling with crusty Paul this week.
ReplyDeleteGood morning. I'm having blueberry pancakes; anybody want some. I wish I had a draft; I'm working on Ephesians 5:15-20, the stuff about singing, because it's our lectionary passage. I'll be interested in the interp on the men and women passage too; we get that in other years...
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of having the congregation sing the Doxology at various intervals throughout the sermon.
Now, I have to get going.
Hope to check in later... I have to be ready for our "early edition" service at 5:00 tonight.
Chilly, I'm having some of that struggle, too. And yes, it makes it hard to focus and even harder not to bring it into the preaching moment (or discern whether it ought to be...). Prayers for you as you work through that.
ReplyDeleteP.S. how exciting! Blessings upon you and your family. Wanted to share that Bruce Epperly has some interesting insights on wisdom this week...his site is avail thru text week.
I'm sticking with the gospel and trying to bring it to the deeper level I believe Jesus intends us to go in both our relationship with Christ and our approach to/participation in Eucharist. We've been celebrating Eucharist each week through this bread series and I heard yesterday that some of the folks are grumbling about it. Obviously, I haven't communicated well...at least for them. I do think its a small group and my guess is that it has less to do with communion and more to do with their unhappiness with me.
Praying the Holy Spirit will infuse me with conviction and strength to move forward and keep going with this crazy calling!
I'm technically on vacation, but in reality I'm packing for my move which will take place in 12 days!
ReplyDeleteSo this is my third week not preaching, and I won't preach again until Sept. 13. Seriously, I sort of miss it, so it's good to hear what y'all are planning--lots of good ideas out there.
Anyone who wants to take a break from writing to pack a few boxes, just come on over :)
I'm looking at Ephesians 5 also, Diane. And Proverbs - wisdom woman....
ReplyDeleteWould love to hear something, Sarah, about how you handle that text - hard one to preach on!
Sherev - sounds like you have a good start = yeah!
I'm going out in the yard for a while (55 degrees here - brrr) and hoping a little physical labor will shake my brain into gear. Coming back from vacation = not used to thinking....
Blessings all, back later!
RE Health care - SheRev _ I sent emails to nurses and a retired doc in the congregation and asked their opinion - so I'll use their specifics and lean heavily on God's preference for the poor, and what we know about how Jesus interacted with the sick. Also, am interested in encouraging some Holy Listening in the conversation rather than the shouting matches that have been going on.....
I'm not preaching tomorrow so I'm using the time to work on dissertation stuff while the girls are still asleep.
ReplyDeleteI'll pop in and out just because I don't want to miss the party!
I am here staring at an empty screen,pondering Wisdom. Worked very late again last night at other job, so here is another Saturday when I am exhausted and wondering how I will pull this together. Having you all out there to share Saturdays with helps...alot. Blueberry pancakes for brunch here...be glad to share. yum!
ReplyDeleteIt's too early in the day here for veggie chili, but some of you are in time zones ahead of me, so I'll offer it up! Diane, do you have any of those blueberry pancakes left?
ReplyDeleteP.S. Prayers for you in this final stretch.
Rev Dr. Mom...ugh on packing. May your boxes be all the right size for your belongings to fit easily :-)
Knittinpreacher, I hope you have time to breathe and feel the Spirit as you leave, giving thanks for what has been good, learning from what hasn't been, and looking forward to the next part of your journey.
I'm telling the story of Solomon's dream at our family service tomorrow. I need to re-read a few chapters to make sure I get my surrounding details right, then develop the "color" for the dream itself. Before that, it's off to the hazmat waste roundup with accumulated stuff; it always feels good to have that done.
What do you think? If all the twitter folks posted with #sermonprep, could we make trending topics?
ReplyDeleteI'm still on holiday time, so not preaching tomorrow. Actually, I'm traveling to another part of the province for a follow-up with my trigger point doctor/anesthetist who treated my headaches last summer.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this past week our General Council has been meeting. There are always "Friends in Council" who energize the court and make announcements and such. One of them is our Conference Executive Secretary. Yesterday he told this joke. If you like to start a sermon with a joke, and if it somehow suits your message, I thought you might enjoy it.
"A man hears a knock at his door and when he opens it, there is a snail there. He picks up the snail and throws it as far as he can. Three years later, the man hears a knock on the door again. When he opens the door, there is the snail saying, "What was all that about?"
I didn't say it was a *good* joke.
Blessings to all of you as you prepare for tomorrow.
Summer began being officially over two weeks ago with the first schools starting up. The last county goes in Monday and then everyone is back at school.
ReplyDeleteThere are Sunday school meetings tomorrow and the following Sunday. I have a meeting with my wardens tomorrow about writing job descriptions for our paid staff (all part time) and for putting a system of tellers in place when the receiving treasurer retires in October.
This afternoon, I'm speaking at a memorial service for a man I worked with in New Orleans. Then it's home to concentrate on the bread of life/bread from heaven. I have two more commentaries to read, maybe three.
Dinner out tonight and my sister wanders in tomorrow for a few days.
It will be a busy week with a trip to the diocesan office and some work on finding a new house for the campus ministry to buy.
Does anyone else preach midweek? Somehow, that Wednesday sermon either becomes the springboard for Sunday or totally distracts me. It's my fun sermon, though, since I preach from the calendar of commemorations and have to figure out why the readings were chosen for that particular life. Once, I just talked about the person and said I had no idea why we had read the gospel passage!
Okay, time for a blt before all the tomatoes are gone. Anyone else want one?
for those of you on proverbs:
ReplyDelete"The verses which immediately follow the lection might help formulate a response and they are provocative. They indicate that one characteristic of a wise person is that she or he learns from correction. "The wise, when rebuked, will love you. Give instruction to the wise, and they will become wiser still." By contrast the foolish are those who don't listen or learn. "A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you." (Anthony Robinson, found at Textweek)
I'll take some of those blueberry pancakes from whoever is offering.
Hi Vic - always think of you being a late night writer (oh, wait, maybe that's me!)
Sue - Thanks for the chortle. I dont have a use for it today (and I'm not really good at telling jokes anyway), but I'll tuck it away for sometime.
OK, getting dressed and stuff then off to the nursing home for a quick visit, and then I'll see you all again when I get to my office in an hour or so.
Juniper, late night is my specialty! But I had to be up early for Roto-Rooter so I decided I should do something productive even if I don't have to write a sermon this week.
ReplyDeleteWell, I tried to connect the texts to the health care reform stuff but was unable to. Here is a draft of my sermon.
ReplyDeleteStill aiming at wisdom for sermon. Looking at what is wisdom and linking it in with justice: Solomon was asking for it so he could rule justly.
ReplyDeleteSo, wisdom linked in with justice. Then moving back over to Proverbs - contrasting Lady Wisdom with Lady Stupidity:
and thinking of wisdom of the world vs spiritual wisdom.
Thinking about worldly wisdom as the wisdom of 'now'/ 'take all I can get' and resultant injustice that can cause... and that it leads to death.
Which links back to last week in Ephesians where we're called to be imitators of God.
God = source of all Wisdom.
We imitate God, who is a God of justice...
therefore we cry out against injustice, etc. Perhaps in one sense, they become spiritual songs and hymns which the Ephesians text talks about.
The starter is the question:
If you could have anything you asked for, what would it be?
Argh, argh, argh. And my Masters diss is due on Friday. A week with no sleep. Why did I choose to do this locum period at the same time as diss deadline!? Not feeling very wise at all!!!
Have a good preach folks :)
Vicar, I think you broke Twitter. ;-)
ReplyDeleteyep, cause I've got that kind of "follow power" :)
ReplyDeleteGod Gurl! Another draft! Woo hoo!
ReplyDeleteI'm back from finishing my lazyman triathlon. When I started this 4 weeks ago I wasn't offended by the title. Now with it complete, and after logging something like 17.5 miles in my running shoes this week (not counting the swimming and cycling that took place, too) I'm a little annoyed by the name.
Hmmm...kids are heading off to nap-land. I need to do some cooking for a party at a church member's house. She won the staff-provided party in a silent auction. We're all bringing an appetizer or two, the musicians are providing music, CE director and secretary will serve food, and I'm the "Keeper of the Spirits." That's right, folks, I'm playing bartender tonight for a church party! It supposed to end no later than 10:00 p.m., so after clean-up you know I'll be here for the late night party!!!
Will check in more before I go! Sounds like good things are going on!!!
SheRev - maybe a better name would be the "semi-continuous" triathlon - kind of like the "semi-continuous" OT readings?
ReplyDeleteI have the text on the page! now for the sermon. Since I made her up, can I claim the sermon fairy for the next 2 hours? Or at least get a sprinkle of fairy dust as she flies around?
You know it Vicar - it's only a matter of time before you take over the world. And that's a good thing!
ReplyDeleteoh, i really have to get on twitter, dont i? darn it, there goes the REST of my free time....
ReplyDeleteOk, reading done. I have 2 hours now to get a draft done before I"m off to a family party for the rest of the afternoon.
Sounds like everyone's perking along. Chin up, Nik! This too shall pass.
Notice to the entire Facebook industrial complex: Get BEHIND me Satan!
Hey Everybody!!!
ReplyDeleteI am about to go off to the wedding of my "little" cousin. Sorry to miss the party, but Godspeed to all and the HS has your back, no worries!
I'll sneak y'all a piece of scrumptous wedding cake.
At least I hope it is. This is a "high flutting" wedding and the last HF which I attended actually had pretty gross cake. But, these cousins are pretty particular about their food choices, so that is hopefully a good sign.
Oh, at the last cousin's wedding (sister of this one) we had whipped potatoes(aka mashed 'taters) in martini glasses.
ReplyDeleteWe also had chocies of toppings, so I am thinking food will be good.
So, sad, my folks' church had their AC unit stolen.
They use the copper parts to resale. Anyhow, also had a church member robbed from my congregation. Really tough to experience.
Okay, gotta get my good "bra" on and attempt pantyhose(ugh, 90 degrees)!
OHH!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd happy baby days, PS!
Mashed potatoes and cake. Mmmmm. I dont think you need to eat anything else with a menu like that. Have fun at the wedding!!
ReplyDeleteOk, it occurs to me that The Health Care Situation might be a wee bit of a biggish topic for a short-ish summer type sermon.
Just saw the movie "Julie & Julia" Absolutely delightful. I'm going to go cook a pound of butter now. Must have butter.
ReplyDeleteand writer's block! I'm goingto get some freshly brewed (this morning) iced tea and come back and try again.
ReplyDeleteany advice for a last sermon to a congregation?
GGurrll, you go, you all finished and stuff. Happy baby thoughts to you PS...and KP, I love the sermon fairy. thank you for creating her!!!
ReplyDeleteI am just sitting down to look at the draft I wrote on Thursday. Today has been HOT, and we were at the emergency vet at all hours of the night with one of our kitties. We thought she had been attacked by a wild thing, which she could have, but she has a HUGE absess (sp?) that runs along half of her bottom jaw. It will heal, but in the midst, blood work revealed a more concerning problem.
Sigh. We need to stop adopting adult pets--can't get insurance!
Anyway, glad that everyone is working hard...and Vicar, what is #sermonprep on Twitter? How do I find?
My colleague is preaching tomorrow, and much as I have wondered how I will get along preaching less often, this week I am glad I didn't have the pressure. He's preaching on wisdom, as some of you are, and I need to come up with the morning prayer, which should have some relationship to the theme but not preview it so much that it takes away from the sermon. I am learning new skills!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, my daughter is out, so the carnivores here are planning steak for dinner. Yum.
How do you preach in a community affected by natural disaster?
ReplyDeleteThe village where St. Smaller is was affected by a flood earlier this week that wiped out a trailer court, streets of houses, cars, all sorts of things. All my parishioners are okay but the whole village is shaken and stressed (although they are keeping a stiff upper lip).
In other news, St. Larger is having an end-of-VBS celebratory service which does not require that I preach. So I can preach ONLY to St. Smaller, which seems like a good idea right now. But...what shall I say?
semfem, what's the most comforting text you can think of, the one that reminds you God is with you no matter what befalls? I'd go right to that one. I'd pick out some hymns that say the same thing. (I'm thinking of "How Firm a Foundation" or "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less" or "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Or all of them.) My personal go-to passages would be Psalm 46 or Luke 6:46-49:
ReplyDelete47I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. 48That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.’
So sorry to hear this.
hi, just back to check in before preaching the "early edition" tonight. I'll stop in afterward too.
ReplyDeleteso...I guess that means I have a sermon!
Is nobody preaching on chewing up the flesh? I have two thirds of a sermon- it has flesh but needs sinews and a bit of tidying. Sigh...
ReplyDeletesemfem,
ReplyDeleteI really like what Songbird suggested, but here's some additional resources from the United Methodist Church:
http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?loc_id=739,1112&act=nav_loc
Thinking of you as you reach out to your congregation.
semfem - so very sorry.
ReplyDeletelove songbirds ideas (we share a passion for ps 46!). Your note about the stiff upper lip also makes me think that maybe worship could be a place where some might express emotions that are not safe to show otherwise. Do you have a sharing time during the prayer? Maybe making that longer than usual, or adding it if you dont? And maybe also adding some songs that will "let" them cry? Amazing Grace? Be Thou My Vision? Blessings on you and your town.
Ok, got a decent outline - off to a family dinner thing - back way too late I am sure to join the latenighters.
ReplyDeleteHave a great afternoon (or evening, east coasters)
RevHRod--
ReplyDeleteA seminary friend of mine just preached an amazingly incarnational sermon that "went there." It included not only Christ's incarnation and the communion "body and blood" language, but also breastfeeding, vampires, and cannibalism. She doesn't blog--only posted it as a Facebook message--but if you e-mail me at MaineceltATmaineDOTrrDOTcom, I can send you a copy with crediting information.
Hello, Preacherfolk!
ReplyDeleteJust spent all day at the Highland Games in 90-degree-plus weather, leading Gaelic song workshops in between duties as Saint Andrews Society chaplain. Lovely day, but this is an all-volunteer-run event and I felt so...well...unpaid.
Now I'm home, scrambling to come up with a portable, packable service for tomorrow's pulpit supply gig at a summer-only tourist church. It's so hard to craft a sermon and service for people I know nothing about!
Okay, done whinging. *Putting on big-girl pants* Off to craft a skeleton. Hope to get some meat on these bones before bedtime!
Speaking of meat... passin' around a big ol' platter of haggis dogs. Yum! Ya'll can have some...uh, anyone?
It's done. It ain't pretty, but it's done!
ReplyDeleteDraft here.
Definitely time for bed.
RevHRod - Calvinist that I apparently am, surely discipline is the 'sinews'? :)
Well, it's getting better. I'm playing with the whole notion that what really turns folks off isn't the sarx language but the word "abide". The idea that Jesus wants to be so connected to us - that there's no escape. No vacation from the life of discipleship. Hopefully I can wrap it up soon. The husband wants to use the computer to watch MLB.com. But first we are having pork steaks, fries and corn.
ReplyDeleteRead my sermon to my partner. She said she didn't understand it. Now on to the re-write.
ReplyDeleteRootbeer anyone. anyone. Buehler.
God guurll - you made me laugh. With not at, promise! I never screen sermons with the husband. He's of the "it's fine" school of sermon evaluation. Not a lot of help. ;-) Good luck with the rewrite.
ReplyDeleteY'all, I just started a Twitter account for RevGalBlogPals. If you're on Twitter, be sure to follow! Twitterfeed will automatically post an update whenever there is a new post here!
ReplyDeleteMy sermon is over here.
ReplyDeleteI really struggled with the gospel this week... especially how it would be heard by someone who had never been to church. I SOOOOO wanted to read the sermons of pastors who are in mission starts... or emerging churches... to read their take on it.
Since the sermon is meh ... I bring good stuff to the party... cream cheese pound cake... homemade peach ice cream... fresh peaches... some vanilla ice cream and some chocolate ice cream.
If the party really needs a kickstart... I have a couple of ice cold beers in the frig... and some hot salsa and chips in the pantry.
I'm going to wrap... print... and go watch my husband pack for 2 weeks in Puerto Rico.
I"m back to the computer. I stole away to play 9 holes with hubby. so nice to go and play! Now I have 2 short meditations to write on singing psalms and hymns, etc.
ReplyDeleteService is mostly reading and singing but I need to make 2 points; briefly. never as easy as I tell myself it will be. off to write.
thanks for adding us to twitter SB.
The Four points of my sermon on the text where Paul says wives should obey their husband and husbands should love their wives as Jesus loves the church are:
ReplyDelete1) How does Jesus love the church? Agape love. Used C.S. Lewis "The Four Loves" especially chapter on Charity.
2) mutual respect-explain the greek translated as subject means to line ourselves under or give up our rights, spouses must be willing to do this and we all must give our will to God's
3)Respect from the book "For Women Only by Feldhahn esp. chapter 2 "Why your respect means more to him than even your affection"
4) Eternal love is the presence of holy God. God loved us into creation and to really learn how to love others we must first learn to love God more, to love God like God loves us, that is a lifetime!
alright I redid the sermon. Here is the rewrite.
ReplyDeletehttp://godguurrlll.blogspot.com/2009/08/listening-heart.html
Santifying Sarah, sounds like an awesome sermon. I'd love to know how it is received. Perhaps with relief from some and maybe others with want to continue the discussion with you. very nice.
ReplyDeleteI have a draft and it is posted here. Feedback would be great! I packed all my liturgy books before pulling the communion liturgy for tomorrow - oops... Let's see what I have in the archives...
ReplyDeleteHmm. I've been pondering how to begin for much of the afternoon and evening, and I think I have a plan, thanks to Songbird, Eileen, and Juniper. Sort of a meditation, with Psalm 46 and some sharing time--both about what scared you, and where did you see God at work in what has happened. Then maybe some wrap-up from me (maybe connecting it loosely to John at that point?).
ReplyDeleteNow I just need to flesh it out a bit. I'm tired.
Final draft of sermon printed along with prayers. Good night. See you all in the morning.
ReplyDeletePeace and love,
Carrott cake anyone?
ReplyDeleteReally, really good icing.
Also, I had a delightful cosmo.
We did not have the mashed potatoes, instead it was Mac and Cheese(creamy, creamy mac and cheese) in martini glasses. Yummy!
Anyhow, help yourself to cake.
Happy writing to all.
you can do it semfem!
ReplyDeleteI am done and headed to bed. Blessings to all of you still writing.
Sorry I've been such an absent hostess! I thought for sure I'd make it back before I went to the "work" party. It took too long to stuff the mushrooms, so that didn't happen. So, I'm now I'm back for the late night party. I actually got back in time to start at my sort of usual time. I'm hoping to stay slightly less distracted than usual (HA!) so I can go back to my old routine of going to bed with a pretty good start at midnight, then waking up at 4:00 a.m. I went to bed at 2:30 a.m. last night after FINALLY getting the liturgy all written. I could really use more than 2 hours of sleep tonight!
ReplyDeleteCongrats all who are finished. Hang in there all who have yet to put the sermons (and themselves) to bed. Let's do it!
Best wishes She Rev, I'm done my meditations on praise and singing and hope they are shorter than they look. I may be slicing and dicing tomorrow. off to bed now. 'nite 'nite
ReplyDeleteSermon is all over the place...trying to say too much and address things that I probably don't need to address. At least, not in this sermon. I blogged my frustrations but can't seem to let go yet.
ReplyDeleteMay just need to sleep on it and get up early for revisions. I welcome your prayers.
Blessings to all still prepping or already sleeping!
Hi late nite writers - i'm back now and just off the phone from a somewhat demoralizing call. nothing like a welcome-back-to-work-wake-up-call after being on vacation for a while.
ReplyDeleteSigh.
Well, back to the grindstone.
how long do you think it might take a group of 80 to count off by sixes. my idea is to have people count off by six - sixth person stand and then we can see visually what percentage of people are un-insured. question: will the counting take so long and be so disorganized that it will take the whole time and be horrible?
ReplyDeletearg. HATE the first sunday after vacation. I seem to ahve forgotten everything I used to know a week ago.
Ugh, Juniper. I'm sorry for that. I have shut off all other forms of distraction and realize in the silence how very tired I am. Just praying I'll be heading to bed in the next hour for a little while. I'd love to get my eyes closed and my head down for a little while, even if I have to wake up early to finish. The holy nap is sounding so wonderful already. Not a good sign before midnight on Saturday night.
ReplyDelete80? Not too long. I think it's doable. Maybe you can move and point to them to do the counting, then the 6th person stands up. That might help move it a little quicker since you know what you're going for.
ReplyDeleteNot so sure I'm even going to make it to midnight anymore. I'm going to make sure my outline is fairly solid and then I just might hit the hay. I'm stinking tired.
ReplyDeleteI had a late night insight that I am trying to nail down...wasn't there an OT prophet who ate the Torah? i'm searching and I can't find it! I would like to make the connection to that and Jesus, the Word made flesh, and tomorrow's gospel.
ReplyDeletemany thanks to anyone who can help!
just figured out that's actually about 15 people, so maybe I could just get the first couple of rows to stand - that would be much faster and better, I think.....Too bad the choir isnt on right now - they love this kind of stuff.
ReplyDeleteEzekiel 3! of course!
ReplyDeletecool, gen!
ReplyDeleteok, i'm cooking. going to type for an hour, then go to bed and try to finish up in the morning. going off here now to try and be diligent. goodnight all :)
In last week's preacher party, someone posted a sermon which talked about OT prophets eating the Torah, unfortunately I can't remember who it was. It struck me, but that's all I remember...
ReplyDeleteCan't keep eyes open. Feel free to leave the lights on for me. I'll be back in about 4.5 hours!
ReplyDeleteCan't keep eyes open. Feel free to leave the lights on for me. I'll be back in about 4.5 hours!
ReplyDeleteI'm here and writing what needs to be written. Juniper, still around?
ReplyDeleteHopefully I am in the home stretch (heh, I just tied in with the party theme)...need to do a bit of wrap-up but be flexible with it depending on what people share or don't share.
DONE. Whew. G'night everyone.
ReplyDeleteBlessings on all pondering, preaching and proclamation today.
I'm back to do my writing. Sleep felt so so good. Nap in 8 hours, though. That doesn't sound so far away! Yea!!! It's time to make this girl come to life, though. 2 hours. Here she comes!
ReplyDelete(10 points for thematic tie-in, semfem!)
ReplyDeleteUp early to finish the sermon.
ReplyDeleteVisited KnittinPreacher this weekend and was too tired after the drive home to do more than the beginning and ending.
Blessings to all who are up and finishing ...
Welcome Dancing! It's good to have company. It's 38 minutes to my desired finish time, but I have hit that in months. Looks like another chaotic morning in SheRev's house. It's still good to hope things will change someday, right? Hope is good!
ReplyDeleteAn hour later than I thought I'd be, but things are coming together smoothly both with the sermon AND with the kids (and husband) getting ready. Just trying to equalize my attention and detail of description of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Then I'm done!
ReplyDeleteGrace and peace to you all!