This year I do, because I was smart enough to buy two boxes last year. But there have been many Advent Eves when I had to find them myself or pray that a Deacon remembered.
On this first Sunday of Advent, we're contemplating the apocalypse (a non-Zombie version) at the same time the world is screaming "Christmas shopping! Christmas shopping!!!" How do we keep hearts and minds on Jesus when the more interesting story seems to be a lady pepper-spraying other customers at Wal-Mart in order to get her an X-Box?
Meanwhile, at my house, it still feels like Thanksgiving, and if you stick around for lunch time, I can promise turkey sandwiches. Here in the liminal space of the Saturday before Advent, we will get our sermons written. Or maybe Sunday for some of you, but let's try, anyway. After all the first Sunday in Advent is Hope.
My apologies for not pre-posting and getting the party started sooner. My college-age son is home and I am distracted from my routine.
ReplyDeleteI'm straying off-lectionary tomorrow to preach about a big chunk of Luke 1, telling the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and pondering this prologue to our faith epic, sermon to be called "A New Hope." This will be our way in to John the Baptist this year. Next week we'll have the Annunciation, then the Magnificat, and on Advent 4 the Matthew genealogy.
And if I can't spell that last word, I had better get the coffee going!
Good morning - I've got coffee this morning, and it is working for me. My kittens have still not adjusted to the time change, so my days of sleeping a little later on Saturday are over, I think! I am preaching the 1 Corinthians text...but I am wondering if any of you have 'themes' for the Advent season at your churches? Every year, I think I would like to suggest a theme but I never think about it in time.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Chilly Fingers! I try to get the liturgy planned ahead of time, and it's usually some sort of (occasionally tortured) weaving of the four wreath-related words (hope, peace, joy, love) with the lectionary texts. This is the first time I've strayed off that at all, and it's only for the gospel readings. In lots of churches there's enough distraction with special music/children's programs that it's hard to keep a theme going for all four Sundays, although in my current setting, I'm preaching all four. (Plus an ordination, yay!)
ReplyDeleteAwesome - blogger ate my post. :(
ReplyDeleteTo sum up:
Good morning.
Preaching Isaiah, Mark and 1 Cor.
Title: "OMG!!!"
Heading to church with oldest dog (the sermon whisperer) in about an hour.
Good morning; a good cup of fair trade coffee, a bowl of multigrain hot cereal w a bit of nutmeg and cinnamon and pieces of honeycrisp apples are on the table. Tomorrow, we begin a 4-week effort to learn to worship across cultural & language divides. One of the questions we will b asking ourselves as we consider making this our permanent way of worshipping on Sunday morning is "what will end, what will endure"? The image of the potter and the clay gives me a way to start opening that question up for us to think of Incarnation & God's work in history.
ReplyDeletekzj, I hate when that happens. I have Hoagie by my side--wait, no, he just left the kitchen. I'm on my own.
ReplyDeleteRosa, nice to see you here! I really ought to eat some breakfast. This morning I've been taken up with the backlog of dirty dishes and stooped to zapping yesterday's coffee. I think I need to make a new pot. I'm also giving some thought to going out for morale-boosting donuts, you know, for the college boy.
kjz, blogger ate my post too. It's just as well, I'm grumpy and was complaining.
ReplyDeleteI have a full day of chores to do in preparation for my daughter's arrival, an open house at the rectory tomorrow, and the family thanksgiving dinner where we will celebrate my husband's birthday. Baking, cooking, cleaning, laundry...
and, that sermon thing. I have pages of notes in preparation for a teaching sermon on the season of Advent and the Gospel of Mark...but I lack a good story to anchor it all in mystery, darkness, and new life...or something like that.
Rats, sorry Blogger is picking today to be so grumpy!
ReplyDeleteI'm still sitting around with the day old coffee, but I've decided to go out for the donuts. I'll bring back plenty to share!
Songbird,
ReplyDeleteI am glad I am not the only one that stoops to day old coffee.
I am preaching the lectionary texts--mostly Isaiah.
Gotta go look for the durn candles, though...and the wreath, which all should be somewhere in the storage closet at church, right?
KJZ--is your title really OMG?
Terri, if you find that illusive story.....
We don't really have an Advent Theme...and Rosa, I will be over for breakfast!!!
Morning, I'm about to make another pot as 3 of us are home this morning. I'll let y'all know when it's ready. Rosa, your idea sounds awesome. I'd love to hear more as it develops.
ReplyDeleteI'm mostly preaching Mark with some prophet thrown in, I think. I still have a lot to pull together which is why I stopped in here, I really prefer to be editing something I wrote on Friday, but I really took yesterday off and am hoping we all don't suffer for that.
Did SB say donuts?
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteWe had our candle drama on Wednesday - we had one pink, 2 purple and 2 1/2 blue candles. Annoying, expecially I asked a month ago if we needed to order candles. Apparently, I didn't ask the right persons. I just can't get used to not having an altar guild and the women's groups are not necessarily the ones who handle various parts of sancturary care! More searching unearthed the correct number of blue candles.
I still don't really have a theme - wavering between talking about Mark and Isaiah and hope in hopeless places OR the affront of Jesus' command to keep awake to our over scheduled, sleep deprived culture - or Paul, gifts and how we are enriched and prepared for anything in Jesus. Shesh! Not really feeling it, we've been talking about how to live while waiting for the 2nd coming for 2 weeks now and this just feels like more of the same thing and not a new thought for Advent.
I have my very first baptism to get ready for, the Advent wreath lighting chat to prepare, and to top it off, we're changing the setting of our liturgy to one I am less familiar with, so there's a later afternoon meeting with the organist to go over it and a few of the hymns don't know well.
But no stress here.... ;)
On the personal side of things, I really, really regret not taking any vacation yet or any 'reading time'. I'm really tired and really drained. And kitty is rebelling against the dog - I hope - with some litter box avoidance. She' locked in the bathroom to retrain. I hope it's just that's she's still mad we got a dog (3 months ago), otherwise, I've got a sick kitty on my hands and no one wants that. So a call to the vet is on the schedule for the morning.
Revelling in the simple pleasures of steel cut oatmeal with cranberries, coffee, the morning new and my blogpals before the craziness begins!
Sorry my post is so long! I guess I needed to rant!
ReplyDeleteday old coffee? no wonder Mark is talking of the apocalypse...
ReplyDelete2/3 of the way there the sermon is... a wandering rendition of Isaiah and Mark...
baileybean dragged doggie poo onto the porch on one of his paws *sigh* so rugs are in the wash. a fresh pot of coffee is brewing. paws have been cleaned, dogs fed, and later today turkey with the family. now where did my extra long conclusion for the sermon go???
Ok. I have managed to drag my notes into a reasonable format for a sermon to evolve. For a story I am using the image of our community garden, once ripe with a harvest of veggies and herbs, now lying fallow - but that the fallow time is necessary for new life - out of this dark season of night, this womb like season, new life is born. And, I have included a Mary Oliver poem (Sleeping in the Forest)...Now, I am going to let this sermon lie fallow for a bit while I do some other things...
ReplyDeletehot cup, you are so right. I'm making a fresh pot to go with the molasses glazed donuts. It's some kind of Starbucks with a bear on the bag, and it is BOLD.
ReplyDeleteoooh sounds yummy... if i weren't half way across the country, i'd be right there to beg a donut and cuppa joe.
ReplyDeletedoggies are anxious... think we'll squeeze in walks before i go eat turkey. sermon? yah well it's meandering closer to a conclusion.
Nancy Fitz, I did! There are molasses glazed and plain glazed.
ReplyDeleteramona, if you need to rant, this is the place.
I'm writing out sections of my sermon and hoping they will weave together eventually. It's been a while since I had a Saturday at home to write a sermon, and I'm feeling very relaxed as well as accomplishing homemaking chores, all of which suggests I'm about to pick up a novel instead. Don't let me!
Songbird - I am feeling the novel temptation. I just started "Favored Child" by Phillipa Gregory and am finding it particularly engrossing!
ReplyDeleteI hear it calling me "Just one chapter! One chapter won't hurt anything." We'll have to provide novel-resistance support to each other!
Well unusual as it is for me, I have a written text. At least I think I do. It is certainly preachable. But last night as I was lying awake after the dog decided she needed to go out (for a whole 30 seconds) I remembered that I was tempted to use Roger Whittaker's "New World in the Morning" as part of the sermon. Still mulling whetehr to do a rewrite/edit or not.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I am at it, any suggestions as to why the dog, who has never done this in her 7 years, has suddenly decided that she needs out at least once in the middle of the night every. single. night. for the last 3 weeks? At least the kids all sleep through the night....
Gord, any chance she has a UTI?
ReplyDeleteI'm well on my way and taking a break for lunch and to get a Christmas tree with the help of my (barely) willing son. Looking ahead to the next couple of weekends, this is really the best opportunity, although I don't like to go this early.
I stayed up late finishing the novel I was reading so I wouldn't be tempted today... but doesn't a movie sound like a good idea? sigh
ReplyDeleteAND those Molasses glazed donuts sound fantastic!
back to the screen and the lack of words staring at me.
Oh BTW, I'm thinking of ending with a poem. Is that terrible? Our pastor for 20 years preached 3 points and a poem. I feel guilty even thinking about it.
Chilly, we do seasonal themes. We gather a group (sometimes it's just the pastors and music staff, this year we included the worship enhancement team (the decorators)) and read all the lectionary texts for the season, talk about them, and try to see where a theme emerges. This year our Advent theme is "heaven revealed" and we're following the Isaiah texts. That meant we had to change up the candle words a bit, so we're going with Light-Peace-Joy-Love this year. And, umm, something for Christmas. lol!
ReplyDeleteIn order to do this, though, we have to start really early--we had our Advent theme/planning meeting in the first week of September, and our Lent meeting is three days from now.
This week all I have to do is light the Advent candle and write prayers of the people--the children's time will be done by people talking about an upcoming mission project, and the HoS is preaching. It's nice to have a holiday and a weekend sort of "off" after youth sunday, which just kills me every time we do it. I'm surprised I'm not prematurely gray/bald after that. But of course the kids were great--they always pull it off in the end.
So...I have mashed potatoes and green bean casserole to share...and if you ask nicely, I might toss you a garlic butter crescent roll too! There may be stuffed mushrooms in my future as well, since I want to test a recipe. Y'all will make the perfect guinea pigs. ;-)
Happy almost-advent!
I have some rather vague thoughts which I'm hoping might make some sense if I start to express them here! Have been thinking about the 'readiness/preparation' element (not very surprising) but looking at how might we (as individuals and as a church) look to being ready/prepared to meet Christ in the coming year. So often the call to be ready for Christ's return seems distant but what readiness do we need to look for for the potential daily encounters and are we prepared enough for God to send us Christ (in encounter) now? Do you think that might go somewhere?
ReplyDeleteI wonder about that SB, although usually it is to do the other that she goes out (and it apparently has to be mommy who lets her out--I let her out on the way to bed one night only to have her pester Beloved 45 minutes later). Unfortunately because she has an anxiety disorder, which gets worse with the passing years--she is terrified of the fridge now--that plays out as anti-social behaviour taking her to the vet is a very complicated endeavour, usually involving heavy drugs for anything other than routine vaccinations
ReplyDeleteTeri, love the theme. I talked to the worship committee chair this week about meeting early next year. I would love to have some theme ideas to tell her now...as her wheels will start to turn.
ReplyDeleteIt is a beautiful day here...hoping to go for a walk with BFF later.
so, I have not even looked at the sermon-thing since I left it at about 10am...but I have made an apple/pear/cranberry pie; mashed potatoes; sweet potatoes; and sauteed the onions and celery for stuffing (for our family thanksgiving and birthday meal tomorrow) and 6.5 dozen oatmeal/dried cranberry/white chocolate cookies for the open house. The house is cleaned and my daughters bed is made with fresh linens for her arrival tonight....
ReplyDeletenow I think I'll take a shower and get back to that sermon...would love a molasses glazed donut...!
Chelley, that will most definately preach! I'm tempted to scrap draft 2 and go your route - especially since I started my sermon prep this week with a vague idea of "Be Prepared" and scouting.
ReplyDeleteI do have most of a sermon written. It's about hope and expectation and how the political/social realities of Isaiah's time, Judea pre-birth and our time are not what we hoped for or expected. Neither is God breaking in through Jesus - it turns out to be more than we hoped for. But because I have to reneder a prophetic evaluation of our political/social environemnt, I am not sure I am brave enough to preach this in my very conservative, South Dakota (bright red state!) pulpit. Besides, I'm not entirely sure this is the word from God that my congregation needs or just my own pet views being promoted. Draft one.
Draft two is working off the FOTW observation that "Be awake" is just about the last thing our sleep deprived folks want to hear. More comfortable to preach and a call to mindfulness and silence and awarened of God with us in this season of preparation. Perhaps more in line of what my busy farm families need to hear?
I'd really like to be able to write just one sermon sometime soon instead of all these partials!
There's grilled brie and turkey sourdough sandwiches and Grandma Miller's cranberry jello salad if anyone's ready for lunch!
Thanks ramona, that's given me the encouraging nudge I needed to keep on with it! (I'm impressed that you have 2 alternatives on the go :D)
ReplyDeleteAdmitedly, I have been lost in the Michigan/Ohio State game, and excited my new home team won...now, where is that sermon?
ReplyDeleteRamona, it is a careful balance between preaching the prophetic voice (which may or may not be your preferred perspective) and going the safe route.
So many good ideas here today. I guess I better look at my sermon and see what it has been up to since I left to perculate. I hope it turned itself into a real sermon, and I don't have to do much... :-)
Advent theme, I often try to have one, it helps me. This year I was thinking of singing the Kingdom, next week is Zechariah's prophecy, then the Magnificant. I am focusing, a bit, on the Kingdom. this week is Hope, what do we hope for, what is our hope founded on. preaching on Isaiah.
ReplyDeleteThanksgiving is not celebrated here, so no amazing leftovers to share, but I can offer green tea, freshly made.
Time to get ready to go to the Church.
hope
Greetings everyone! Glad to see you all here and hear about what's up where you are.
ReplyDeleteI've just returned from a lovely Thanksgiving voyage and now trying to get back in the mindset of Advent. In my previous call we had themes and I would meet with a few other interested pastors for a half-day-long brainstorming/creative idea/imaging session. Not the case here, so I'm doing a loose theme for the candles but nothing really pronounced for preaching. Sticking with the lectionary, except I am moving the Advent 4 readings a week earlier to accomodate the kids' program. No way I am not preaching the Annunciation.
Think I'm going with Mark and pondering BBT's sermon on it in Gospel Medicine, along with a few other ideas. Lots to chew on!
semfem, welcome!
ReplyDeletepearl, again, my apologies for not getting the post up early enough for you.
Chelley, I love your ideas.
I went out with my son and got the tree, and it is in the stand. We'll decorate tomorrow. Right now I'm drinking more coffee and getting back to the sermon until dinner time. Anyone want a White Chocolate/cranberry oatmeal cookie?
Sadly my sermon did not write itself.
ReplyDeleteYes. I want a cookie.
Here you go, Terri.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why our sermons are out somewhere horsing around together instead of writing their own selves.
well....it's posted:
ReplyDeletean apprentice to the ordinary
now, I have to make supper and write the Sunday prayers...and, wait for my daughter to arrive in about five hours!
heehee, Songbird..seriously, someone needs to tell those sermons to get a move on.
ReplyDeleteEven though mine is up, its, well... it's probably as good as I've got right now...sigh...
Well, Terri, now I'm just embarrassed that *mine* is still out there on the loose. :-)
ReplyDeletethai carryout instead of fixing supper, for the win! Advent wreath is set up and 1/2 the hangings are changed. (Need 2 people for the altar table or it's crazy hard.)
ReplyDeleteNo decorations unless someone brings flowers or poinsettias tomorrow. oh well...
back to the sermon which has good pieces, they are just floating all over the place like a mindmap in motion. hmm maybe that's a way to fix this...
I went over to the church to go over the new liturgy with the organist and got invited to stay for a bit for a baby shower. So a 45 minute excursion ended up taking 2 hours - and my sermon still isn't done. And now I want a nap!
ReplyDeleteHopefully reading your sermons will re-focus me and I can get finished.
Teri: Loving the Paul Simon song you mentioned earlier! Hadn't heard it before. Obviously we won't be using it the awesome way you are, but it (or the YouTube video of it) might just make a good sermon introduction...hmm...???
ReplyDeleteMy team is (pretty much) safely ahead, so maybe I can turn my attention to sermon writing. Or maybe (probably) to eating dinner.
Well, the good news is that it is much earlier than it feels.
ReplyDeleteThe bad news is I feel like it is late.
I'm hoping a shower will rectify the situation and breathe new life into the fragments of ideas and sermon I have gathered about... or are out gallivanting around with SB's sermon.
Yes, the sermon is really titled 'OMG!!!' - not sure how I'm going to handle that for the non technology crowd.
I'll be back.
And I'll be staying for awhile.
Hey hey revgals. I'm not preaching tomorrow and I've mostly spent the day recovering from hosting family - lots of people in our too-little house, plus creating meals for a crew that included one vegan, one diabetic, one child with severe nut+egg allergies, plus multiple finicky preference. It was a good time, but it left me exhausted. I was so glad for some downtime today, and happy to be surrounded by the festive atmosphere of U-M's win over OSU (Go Blue!).
ReplyDeleteNow I'm turning my thoughts to my prayer for the morning as well as my youth Church School and Youth Group devotional. I'm so grateful to have a fridge full of leftovers so that I don't need to cook tonight!
I have a pile of pear-cranberry-apple crisp that I'm happy to share - my husband doesn't eat sweets and my kids would rather just have the ice cream that goes on top of it. It's an Ina Garten recipe, so you know it's good!
SB - don't be embarrassed...seriously, I just put mine in the corner in time out - and well, decided enough was enough, so its up.
ReplyDeleteGood evening preachers.
ReplyDeleteI know where my advent candles are --because I stopped and bought them at VT Church Supply on my way home -- but I sure don't know where my sermon is. I just got home about an hour ago after a short but sweet visit with my kids in VT; I also left my last nestling there and so am readjusting to a completely empty nest. Bittersweet and I'm feeling a bit sad.
The last week has been kind of nuts, and I haven't even thought about the sermon. I hate to be at this point this late in the game. AndI'm hungry -- had a wonderful brunch at one of our favorite cafes before I hit the road but haven't eaten since. So I think I must find some food and pray for inspiration. I may be a late night partier tonight.
Hey Earthchick, I watched that game - very exciting! Glad you get to rest a bit...alas I will wear my hostess cap all day tomorrow...
ReplyDeleteUgh! It's almost 5 pm and my sermon is out there trying to find Songbird's and Terri's sermons. I've been working on this all week and still don't have a word on the page. I don't even have a direction other than "Not Advent".
ReplyDeleteI'm holding "Keep Awake" "Be Alert" and that bloomin' fig tree together in the dark.
However the spot I'm in doesn't feel nearly as challenging as those dietary needs Earthchick had to address.
I think I found mine, but I want to give it a once-over before I introduce him to the public.
ReplyDeleteTaking a break to eat Thanksgiving leftovers with my kids, then to take college son to the bus. Back a little later!
well, I am back home after escaping the craziness here. two of our kittens that we fostered came back today, and the cat lady across the street was doing adoptions and wanted to adopt them to someone who had given up cats because of an eviction earlier this year. wish we could keep them, but we can't...but oh so sweet.
ReplyDeletei have a rough draft that went running around the streets with everybody's else's sermons.....it hasn't come back and I can't find it....
but did find the advent wreath that, oh, my deacons didn't really KNOW what it was? really? they thought I meant the wreath of greens they hang in the windows. oh dear. another church person said, oh, is it Advent tomorrow?
Gotta love New England.
Just sayin'
I know where my Advent candles for home are, and my husband just finished doing altar guild at the church so I am pretty sure those ones are up too. But I should never, ever have downloaded even one, let alone three, versions of Angry Birds for my iPad!
ReplyDeleteI did tear myself away for several hours this morning to go Christmas shopping with my stepmom; I saved a boatload of money and now feel much better about both Christmas and my older son's birthday in two days. 17 years ago on this very day I was making the decision that my labor pains were far enough along that I had better call in the backup preacher for the next day. Kid kept me waiting until Tuesday, as he has continued to do in all the years since!
I am doing the family service tomorrow. In one way, my sermon will be an intro to Advent: color, wreath, etc, But I am going to ask the kids to pay close attention and shout out "Get ready!" every time I use the word Advent. I figure that makes the point at a variety of levels and should be engaging for many ages.
Ramona, enjoy your first baptism!
Oh, Karla.
ReplyDeleteMy son is on the bus, and my sermon is on my blog: A New Hope. LP and I are watching a favorite episode of The West Wing, "In Excelsis Deo." (We're indoctrinating her.) I'll keep checking in, because we leave no preacher behind!
I've caught my sermon and sent it to its room...little rascal!
ReplyDeleteI 'forgot' how close advent was until Wednesday, went to order the candles and they had run out. I found the purple glass tea light holders from Lent a few years ago, and decided they would do. I have since found the leftover advent candles from 2-3 years ago, but the tea lights are easy, if a bit of a cop-out. shopping yesterday for Messy Church bits and pieces, I found a gold glass tea-light holder, so that will be Christmas day's candle.
ReplyDeleteI have added Advent Candles to next year's diary now,30 October, so I don't leave it so late again next year.
This afternoon is our once a quarter Messy Church, so now to think of what to say in a few minutes after the craft session where we are making an Edible Christmas Story , as well as making cards and wrapping paper.
all this talk of food, especially cranberry white choc cookies is making me hungry.
Maybe lunch will give me the energy to plan this afternoon's talk and prayers.
Hopefully all those wayward sermons have returned home by now.
Mine is up, at last. Now I know why it was a struggle, with this 'gang' of sermons roaming the streets together. No wonder.. Good thing we all stick together. I have several of yours open in tabs to read as soon as I finish the worship pieces for tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHang in there if you've got a rowdy one.
Thank you sweet baby Jesus, I have a sustainable sermon for tomorrow! I just finished tweaking it a bit, and I think it will do just fine.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately it seems as though the Advent calendars I ordered for the church school kids didn't arrive--or at least enough of them; instead of two packs of 12 calendars, i have 2 calendars. Thanks, Cokesbury :(
I hope all those wandering sermons come home to rest soon. SB, love, love, love West Wing...I need to rewatch it all. But now I think I will watch some more "Friday Night Lights" which my son just introduced me to.
Sermon is done (well, I will edit it a time or two more). I went with draft one - draft two wouldn't play nice and one kept calling to me. So I cleaned up the political rant, and changed the tone to one of naming the darkness and calling God to Tear Open the Heavens and Come! Now to wrestle it into an outline (a new preaching technique for me!), complete the baptismal and sponsor certificates, get the prayers and announcements ready, and write my wreath lighting/children's time thing. Seriously considering chucking the planned Jesse tree thing and just doing the wreath-lighting prayer from the denom. resource.
ReplyDeleteI'm off to read more sermons while I wait for the turkey gumbo to finish - help yourselves, I made plenty and there's homemade sourdough bread to go with! For those of you with more timid stomachs, I also have my mom's turkey rice soup. The best thing about Thanksgiving is making soup after!!!
Revdrmom, i think i should have looked back over my sermkns, a sustainable one wpuld have been fabulous...but I didn't think of it...ao instead I have this dog that has been running around loose all day and even when i get a leash around it, the ending is.the stupidest.eveh.
ReplyDeleteAnd i am too tired to deal with it. Maybe something else come out of my outh tomorrow instead of that ending? Ack...
Karla, that is just sad....
And, wait! Who is watching West Wing reruns? Songbird? I'll bring cookies if i can watch, too!
Pearl, i dont know what it is, but I love the term, Messy Church!
Lol, sermkns....iPad typo...but then again maybe all I have is a sermkn....
ReplyDeleteThat's me, Terri! We are wending our way through Season 1, currently watching "Lord John Marbury." (Expect the 2nd season to be in someone's stocking.)
ReplyDeleteWe recently got all the way through West Wing - a favorite of the adults in the household, although the teen sometimes gets drawn into the history and politics. Love love love the show!
ReplyDeleteOh...songbid, good idea, I kniw someone who would love editions of this series....
ReplyDeleteAm happy to report that after a soak in the hot tub i have an ending to that wayward sermon. Will edit in the morning... Time to chillax
ReplyDeleteLordy, lordy, lordy. Tried to live with the texts all week while the spouse man, girl-child and I took a much needed out of town break. When I woke up early this morning I was so fired up, sure that I had a clear sense of how to preach on this Sunday when so much is beginning to take shape and there is much anticipation in our community. But the day has been busy and unexpectedly stressful and I am sitting here just drawing a total blank. Oh Holy Word, breathe life into my words. Please. And make it quick.
ReplyDeleteUh...is that what Advent is all about?
Yes, Rosa. I hope the words flow.
ReplyDeleteyes, Rosa, THe breathe of Holy Life, "and make it quick". - truly the voice of advent.
ReplyDeleteI'm calling it quits. I'm enjoying your sermons so post 'em up here and whatever doesn't get read tonight, I'll read tomorrow. I hope to stay home and actually cook a little dinner tomorrow. (The Thai delivery was perfect tonight!)
Blessings to all.
I have written at least three Communion meditations under one sermon title.
ReplyDeleteNow, to muck it out....
I have seen no West Wing - sounds like I should.
Unexpectedly heavy week from many quarters for us...but we ate and were thankful and enjoyed being with family and are enjoying being home.
ReplyDeleteSermon...I'm off lectionary with Elizabeth and Zechariah. Talking about preparation. Need to go check on it and see how it looks tonight, and see what else I need to prepare (ha!) for tomorrow's service. I'm going to my favorite supply congregation, so there is lunch to look forward to.
kzj, I started watching it in seminary, during a semester when I spent Wednesday nights on campus. Everyone gathered in the lounge of the women's dorm to watch, with popcorn. I loved that.
ReplyDeleteChildren's time anyone? I got squat.
ReplyDeleteActually I would be happy if I had squat...
SB, we did that for Quantum Leap. It was very fun.
ReplyDeleteChildren's time - Advent. You can always talk about the candles and what they mean: hope, peace, joy, love.
Gord, I've had them practice waiting (just sit there and tap your foot, etc), then talk about the waiting that Advent means. No supplies required ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat do you know? I kinda like what I had from earlier in the week. That almost never happens, but I think I'll run with it.
Taking off the potter/clay imagery - if I can summon up the energy to try it out before tomorrow - I'm going to use some clay (or playdough) to make a figure from the Christmas story - then perhaps one each week and Jesus on Christmas morning. Just have to figure out how to wash my hands between then and sharing the peace.
ReplyDeleteI was planning on doing my Jesse tree ornaments for children's time, a few each week. But, I bought my tree (yes I know - they are supposed to be branches not trees) after Christmas two years ago, and was so happy to get a small tree for $5, I didn't look at it. I just got it out of the box - it's flocked, fiber-optic and has plastic snowflake as part of the fiber optics. Totally won't work. It doesn't pay to wait for the last minute!
ReplyDeleteOne the other hand, now I have a centerpiece for my table.
I don't actually have to have a children's time. I just wanted to add one for Advent.
Havent thoughtnof Quantum Leap in years....loved it!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has arrived safe and sound with the gentle boyfriend, glad they are here. No i am going to try an get some sleep!
Reminding myself what, I think kzj use to say, regardong sermkns, " if you have a dog, walk it proud." my sermon, which really wants to be a sermkn, is going to be walked tomorrow!
Prayer, all, and may the words flow!
for Messy Church this afternoon I am using something I saved from RevGals 2 years ago, unfortunately I didn't keep the person's name. Whoever you are with the idea for 2 boxes, and God loves us no strings attached, thanks heaps!
ReplyDeleteTerri, here is some information on Messy Church
if you are wanting to explore more. it is messy, fun, interactive and about God.
hope those still working on sermons are close to finished.
Gord, did you see my all ages idea, somewhere around post 50? Easy and requires little prep.
ReplyDeleteAnother West Wing fanatic here. A friend of ours was the production designer for the show; I had numerous opportunities to visit the set and never made the arrangements, for which I now kick myself!
Bones is my current TV fad; It is both blessing and curse that there are more than 100 episodes on Netflix...
Fell asleep for a bit...now hoping the Holy Spirit is coming...I have a nice long list of interesting ideas but no thread of a sermon.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see some sermons coming together as we head towards late night! I'll be here a while yet.
Betsy, I can imagine!
ReplyDeleteFriends, I am going to hit the sack. I hope no one is up all night. Fresh pot of coffee in the morning, I promise.
Pastor Lynne - Baby wipes to wash your hands after the clay!
ReplyDeleteChiming in super late, but probably for my only time tonight. Next week is my only sermon in Advent for all sorts of weird reasons. I mean. It's not just my only sermon in Advent; it's our church's only sermon in Advent.
This week we're doing a Hanging of the Greens service in worship by request. No preaching, but a lot of liturgy, Scripture, and Advent songs.
Next week I reach, but the week after is the kids' program,and the week after that I'm on vacation for a family wedding. The choir will do a cantata while I'm gone. I preach one sermon two times on Christmas Eve and then I'm off the next two weeks for preaching. We're combining with a Lutheran church for CE, C day, and NYD. Since I've got CE, he's taking the other two. It's like being on a staff again, and I have to say,at least during the holidays, I really like it. I'm on vacation once we're back to our own congregations, so other than next week and Christmas Eve, I don't preach until Jan 15. Crazy. I hope to use the time REALLY making visits. I'm so bad at that.
Anyway, I had to visit before I look back over the order of worship. I know I don't have all my decorating volunteers because of a little miscommunication about who was asking for those. I need to count how many I need in the morning so that I can start recruiting some easy going folks as soon as they walk in the building. I HATE doing that.
Well, I'm putting my sermon in a corner to think about what it's done (or not doing). Off to bed with me and I'll check on it first thing in the morning. I'm hoping the Spirit has mercy on me. If not? Bow-wow.
ReplyDeletePrayers ascending for all sermons and sermkns.
It's been so long since I've written a sermon I felt really good about. It's printed and I'll preach it, but it doesn't feel like it will connect. Hopefully - and we're all about hope this season - the Holy Spirit knows something I don't.
ReplyDeleteThanks Terri for the reminder -It's not a bad dog, so it should be easy to walk proud.
I think I need a vacation or at least 2 or 3 days off in a row. Five months is much too long to go without a break. It will have to wait until after Christmas, I'm afraid.
Um. HOW DID IT GET TO BE 1 IN THE MORNING??
ReplyDeleteramona, yes, totally agreed. I try to space my vacation out by the quarter (4 weeks including Sundays means one week every quarter), which helps, but that's not always possible.
Still no further along on the sermon, thanks to a side project that totally just sucked up a couple of hours.
Is anyone else still out there?? I'm going to get a piece of pie and a glass of water and try to get back on track. At least my involuntary nap already happened.
Ok so I woke up ten minutes ago and then discovered the 10.30 service I was invited to preach at is actually 9.30 - there goes that hour of fine tuning to the sermon. I'm basing mine on the idea of James Hopewell that we can tell the same story in basically four different ways and that Mark and Paul call us to wait in fearful or joyful expectation. What is our story of Christmas? and where is Jesus in that story underneath all the gift-wrapping?
ReplyDeleteg'morning....
ReplyDeleteSB, where is that coffee? Kitten just spilled mine all over the desk....(and splashed onto my computer....so far, it's working......)
am up to tweak...
Hope of Advent to you all...
and enjoy walking your sermons or sermkns (?) this morning.
Right here, kjarla. Right here.
ReplyDeleteI could use some, too.
To those who were up in the middle of the night, my prayers are with you as you face the day. God bless all who are leading worship today. (And all who have already done so, pearl!)
Napped until 5 am, then dashed off the sermon and it's done, yay! Off soon to church under a beautiful sunrise.
ReplyDeleteBlessings on all pondering, preaching, and proclamation this day.