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| Is It Back to Church Sunday in your area? |
I also see that the Feast Day of Holy Cross is this Friday. The RCL readings for that feast can be found here
Then again some folks are off on the Season of Creation/Creation Time. If you started that season on the Labour Day weekend it would be Creation 3. If you, like many UCCan folks (since the UCCan decided, in its wisdom, that the season starts a week after Labour Day), started this past Sunday it would be Creation 2.
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| Lamp of Wisdom |
I think we need a prayer (prayer is from here):
O God, Wisdom of the universe,
you bear the pain of your people.
Grant us the gift of wisdom,
that we may discern your way
and live justly and graciously
amid the struggles of this world. Amen.
you bear the pain of your people.
Grant us the gift of wisdom,
that we may discern your way
and live justly and graciously
amid the struggles of this world. Amen.
Whether you are crying out with wisdom, or joining James in pointing out that we need to control our tongue (or maybe challenging that few of your listeners should be teachers), or trying to answer Jesus' most poignant question, or following some other strand from one of the above options, or heading off boldly in a totally different direction---share your brainstorms, questions, struggles, and triumphs with us all in the comments!
And is there an article that you figure people just "have" to read this week? Share that too!
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| Or Maybe we should follow this model??? |
Oh, I think it's James this week -- but Fab Deacon and I may have to toss up for it, or do rock-scissors-paper or some such augury, to decide who preaches.
ReplyDeleteMark. Thinking of the many different images people have of Jesus. Also may use some of Brian McLaren's "The Secret Message of Jesus". We are reading the Mark's passage as a reader's theater. That's all I got...
ReplyDeleteI am continuing in my journey through James, this week reading chapter 3. And I am OH so tempted to have the office admin put the Agnus Dei cartoon into the Power Point at the sermon time...
ReplyDeleteStrangely, I don't remember discussions of the beginning of James 3 (not all should be teachers) in my undergraduate degree (a BEd) nor in my seminary experience, nor in any of my denominational candidacy interviews....
My early thoughts are here
James is not a helpful text for those of us with CE committees still trying to recruit teachers and assistants even though it's Homecoming Sunday/Rally Day this week. :-P
DeleteYeah, not the text to preach if you WANT teachers
DeleteI'm going with Mark, and looking for stories about what denying one's self, taking up one's cross and following Jesus looks like in our lives today.
ReplyDeleteI'm preaching James. I have NO idea what the sermon will be yet, but I spent the morning writing a hymn to go with the text: http://kewp.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-hymn-for-our-words.html
ReplyDeleteI like it Katherine, may see if I can convince the musical director (and the office admin who does the PowerPoint) to change one of our hymns and use it this week
DeleteLove it, Katherine. Thanks for sharing with us
DeleteMy congregation received a letter today informing them of my discernment that my call to this church is ending. I do not yet have another call- have no idea what will happen next and yet I am at peace about the decision. Last day preaching will be Advent 1- December 2. That gives us some time to do some transition planning still with a sense of urgency. It is not the easy thing and yet it is the right thing, in fact for me the only possible faithful decision. Today has been spent with people who I felt needed to hear this directly from me.
ReplyDeleteFeels like I will be preaching the Gospel- David Lose' reflections on choosing real life instead of the fake stuff we are peddled certainly resonates with me and choices this congregation needs to make. The James passage also hits close to home - perhaps too close... need to let that sit a while.
Prayers appreciated for me, my family and for this congregation as we walk together this next part of the journey.
Celeste, you have my prayers.
DeleteThanks Martha
Deletemore prayers Celeste. Sounds like it's not an easy time.
DeletePrayers, Celeste, especially for the next few days and on Sunday as you face the initial shock reaction and inevitalbe questions that will follow
DeletePraying too.
DeleteThank you all- not easy, but the right thing and the right time. Prayers are deeply appreciated.
DeleteI'm going with Isaiah and the Gospel. It's Mexican Independence Day and I'm really going with El Grito de Dolores (The Call of the Sorrowful (i.e. Our Lady of the Sorrows i.e. Mary). Paths we might follow, calls we might hear. It's a stretch. And a big Sunday. We are taking our Live at Five bilingual service to the morning to show the rest of the congregation who we are and how we worship. I will be preaching at 3 different services with 3 different worshipping communities. More than a bit anxious.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about going with James' cursed tongue on this one...and relating it to the process of discerning what we put out into the world (from what we post on facebook or twitter to how we interact at the supermarket). I'm going to try to lay out the parameters for speech using the phrase "Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?" that struck me from a parenting book I read a few years ago (Simplicity Parenting, best secular book about raising a child in faith that I've ever read ;) I'm supplying some place I've never been, so I'll be playing pretty safe.
ReplyDeleteIs that the THINK anagram you are talking about?
DeleteI need to take a look at that.
I did a quick google and found:
DeleteTrue, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary, Kind
I had actually never heard of the THINK anagram. I'll have to take a look. I'm so downhearted with all of the negativity that enters into my "system" as it were (and that's w/o television) that I've really been wrestling with how we all operate as consumers and purveyers of the "cursed tongue".
DeleteAm I the only preaching on Proverbs? Wah! I liked it so much when I chose it, now I'm kind of scratching my head...DID check out your commentary at working preacher, Wil, and still pondering the difference between Wisdom being a characteristic of God and a part of God.
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ReplyDeleteI also went with wisdom, but switched from Proverbs 1 to Proverbs 8 (at a liberal UMC congregation, where this won't raise eyebrows) (hopefully). :-) Just wanted to tackle something a bit more creative!
ReplyDeleteI am preaching on James all the way through for the 5 weeks. What was i thinking?
ReplyDeleteThis is a good text, but also a challenging one.
I know what you mean. And I committed to blogging through the book in September, so I daily wonder what on earth posessed me to promise to do this!
DeleteI did a James series last time it came around in the lectionary and it made me really wish for a progrssive Christian perspective. Maybe we should make one :)
DeleteHi folks, in trying to tease out some tangles in my own research, I decided to throw some stuff down on the blog on deviant speech. If any of this lot helps with your thinking/ to tell a story within the sermon, or such, please feel free to make use of the rambling discourse found here
ReplyDeleteI was thinking to preach on Mark because there is a lot of stuff there, but this morning at our midweek Eucharist I *heard* James and it really spoke to me. I feel like I have a vocation as a teacher (one that I resisted mightily for years) and I feel the responsibility that James lays on. And the power of an evil tongue--something perhaps we ought to ponder in this election season. So we'll see where I end up when it gets down to actually writing.
ReplyDelete