We are about half way though the actual "12 Days of Christmas." In our church, the candlelight service is now a sweet memory, while the Advent wreath and the Christmas tree will remain lighted through January 6. In our household, we have finished off the leftovers from the Christmas feast. Many of you had a white Christmas -- or a very white Christmas! Here in south Louisiana, it's just wet.
What are you looking forward to? Most especially, are you making any preaching or worship plans for the season(s) coming up? Any reflections on how your preaching and worship leadership is evolving?
What direction will your preaching take this week?
I'm working with Christmas 1C (Luke 2:41-52) and the young Jesus engaging the teachers in the Temple while worrying his parents.
You might be reflecting on the past year or the year to come. Or does your congregation have a special worship service for the New Year?
Some RevGals might be taking a vacation week. Several are in transition to a new call or a new setting.
What are you looking forward to? Most especially, are you making any preaching or worship plans for the season(s) coming up? Any reflections on how your preaching and worship leadership is evolving?
WELCOME to our last Preacher Party for 2012! Let's have fun with it!
Help yourselves to the never-ending supply of fair-trade organic coffee, hot cocoa, and all kinds of tea bags. Add a Christmas treat to the snack table.
Pull up a chair, get out that keyboard, and let's get this party started!
Still up here but fixin' to go to bed. Will join again tomorrow. Gospel in Luke for me but it's all still a jumble. Wondering about the rumor I've heard that a lot of people have felt their first call to ministry about the age of 12. I've heard that before as a "common knowledge" fact - and it was true for me - anyone else? May just be an aside to the sermon...
ReplyDeleteFor me it was around 12, but it was a long time ago in very different circumstances. I was in the EFCA (Evangelical Free Church in America) and had, shall we say, a different identity then.
DeleteI was 14 or 15. But as women weren't even allowed in the sanctuary in those days, I didn't realise fully what it was about.
DeleteMy first call was at a younger age (around 9), but (like Pat), it made no sense back in that day.
DeleteEither way, Amy, it does seem that at age 12 (give or take) is an age where kids are starting to hear voices other than their parents. Also, in many traditions, it is when confirmation takes place or a personal faith decision is cultivated by the faith community.
Thanks y'all! As the youth liaison, I am sensitive to when the youth ideas get pooh-poohed for being too _____ - I will gently point out that sometimes the youth feel the call of God and have good ideas for implementation of those calls.
Deletebtw, I love Cindi's title below - it won't let me reply there!
De-lurking here. I was about 10, I think, when I noticed the small guiding voice. In a time and place where kids were not generally considered real people, and a religious tradition where women were not welcome in leadership. I understood even at that age that something different was going on; my difficulty has always been in finding a context to express that call to service where the particular circumstances of the moment do not get in the way.
Delete2012 has been the year where that insistent call made its presence known, yet again, and this time I hope to do better with it than I have done so far.
Sandhilldiary - for the same reasons (no women allowed and too young) I had to listen and find my way over the years. It waxed and waned, but finally I was able to follow it. Blessings on your journey.
DeleteI'm going with Luke also. Title is "Have You Found Jesus?"
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing a turning point from God finding people (Adam & Eve in the garden, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses after he runs to Midian, and various prophets) to people looking for and finding Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us.
And though Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the temple - and why not? we look for Jesus in church! - people also find Jesus at a wedding celebration, in the wilderness, at the banks of the river, at the healing pools, at the grave of a friend, on the plain, on the mount, on the sea, and even in Samaria.
Do we look for Jesus outside of the 75 minutes we spend in church Sunday morning?
Have you found Jesus?
Where have you looked?
Yes, Cindi! Jesus certainly wasn't where Mary and Joseph expected him to be! A very intriguing avenue for preaching, to be sure, especially on the brink of a new year.
DeleteI love the title! Sound like a theme you could come back to again and again in the coming year.
DeleteI could, though I am merely the seminary intern. I have two more preaching dates after tomorrow: 2/24 (UCC Seminary Sunday) and 5/19 (the day after I graduate - it happens to be Pentecost).
Delete[previous reply deleted due to a correctly spelled but grammatically incorrect typographical error.]
I can (and did) make that comment disappear forever!
DeleteI'm not preaching tomorrow! First time in months and how lovely it is. I have recently had a lay minister licensed to preach so this will be the first time she does it "legally". Just had a funeral though - the lady I spoke about last week who was suffering such pain without proper medication. A welcome release!
ReplyDeleteHow nice for you and for your congregation to have a newly licensed minister to preach, Pat! It brings back memories of my own pastoral internship setting where it was a certainty that I would be "asked" to preach the Sunday after Christmas and the Sunday after Easter.
DeleteEnjoy!
not preaching tomorrow. we are having a service of Scripture and Song, just tidying it up at the moment, adding some pictures for the PowerPoint.
ReplyDeleteHow nice, Pearl! Thanks for checking in today!
DeleteMy home church always did a Christmas Hymn Sing for the Sunday after Christmas - wishing I had thought to bring that up before today!! (-:
DeleteGood morning, all!
ReplyDeleteI just made some fresh coffee, so help yourselves if you are getting a slow and reluctant start to the day or with your sermon, and that would describe me today.
One of my favorite scriptures to use in weddings is the Colossians reading for tomorrow. So, I'm using that with Luke for a sermon I decided to call, "Wear This, Not That." I am thinking of (non-sarcastic!) ways to also say that Jesus outgrew his precious little baby Jesus swaddling clothes, and he is now wearing his big boy clothes in the Temple. They grow up so fast, right?!
Then we'll have him back in infant clothing next week for the discovery by the wise men... a bit of time travel!
DeleteHA! Good one, Amy! Come to think of it, the Bible does that time travel thing a lot.
DeleteGood morning preachers and pals.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting Sharon!
I am guest preaching at my home church tomorrow after being out of the pulpit since Dec 2. So many memories and associations. The liturgist is a past youth group member and son's first serious girlfriend! She invited me to officiate her wedding when the church was between pastors. The church is familiar and yet changed in many ways. Finding I need to be attentive to check what was practice before and is practice now.
I have a very rough draft of a sermon that feels like enough words but not enough point... weird to be writing from a library computer in 3 hour time blocks. I just have my first generation tablet. Hoping for the house to sell before we do the full on computers replacement.
Beloved is back at the house 2 states away. He had dental work done just before we left. He has been in pain for a while - unusual for him. Saw the dentist yesterday. Abscesses... nasty major infection. So he is there recovering until he can travel. Hate that he is so far away.
Will be back after attending a funeral. Thanks for being here.
Celeste
Good morning, Celeste!
DeleteOur prayers are with you and your beloved. Transitions, going home again, house selling, etc., -- a lot going on! Take care of you and yours!
A memorial service this morning for someone who often read at the shelter Sunday service and preached at Noonday Ministries (Baptist). I'm "saying a few words." Not sure what that means in the Baptist tradition but think I'll go with the Luke reading and then use it as a base for the shelter sermon tomorrow. My friend Duane was a fine man who encountered some bumps on the road. Like all of us he had his demons, but boy did he love God. The Luke passage fits because it points to Duane's love of God's story, his eagerness to learn, and his on-going conversations about the Bible. Some say Duane committed suicide. I don't think so. I think he died from heartbreak and from homelessness (though he had recently been housed). Ready for that coffee now. Thanks, Sharon.
ReplyDeleteRevAlli! Good morning!
DeleteThis sounds like a very poignant memorial service. Your presence will be a blessing, as I know your words will be also.
Our prayers go with you.
Tomorrow is our Lessons and Carols. I'm sort of on vacation - at least I'm trying not to work! I had a few days left that I need to take before the 1st. I planned the Lesson and Carols service so I wouldn't have to do a sermon. Everything is ready, except for copying the bulletins - and that's my spouse's job!
ReplyDeleteWe hosting a Christmas thank-you dinner for our councils, so today is dedicated to cooking and cleaning. I'm a little nervous because we don't know for sure who is coming - we could have 10 to 20 people in the parsonage. My spouse is pushing to hold it next door in the church social room, but I'd really like to have it here. Oh well. I'm sure it will be fine.
What a nice gift for your councils, Ramona! And not preaching this weekend works so well with that.
ReplyDeleteLet us know how it goes!
I used the readings for Christmas day, as I just couldn't get into the story of Jesus in the temple. I tried to do an angelic take on Christmas (it's been done before by better preachers than myself, but not in my church). Here's the finished sermon
ReplyDeleteAn angelic take, huh, js? I'll be over there in a little bit to read it!
DeleteLove this! It's so perfect for John 1, and it gives me some much needed inspiration after already preaching on John 1 on Christmas Day.
DeleteI'm preaching my revised "light shines in and with the darkness" sermon to "When the Shadow of Death Touches Christmas" combining the Feast (Slaughter) of the Holy Innocents with John 1 for Christmas 1.
ReplyDeleteHow very timely and, I'm sure, poignant, Wil.
DeleteThanks for checking in!
I'm leaning hard on the Samuel parallels -- he grows, Jesus grows -- and my current internal question is: I wonder if Mary thought this was going to be the Samuel story? Did she expect her son's life to play out, unfold itself, in the same way?
ReplyDeleteAnd the new-clothes-thing pulls in Colossians...and then there's that BLESSED "ephod"...is that the love/charity that just PULLS THE WHOLE OUTFIT TOGETHER??? Thoughts?
I'm looking at the parallels between Hannah and Mary also - the Samuel reading almost had to be a model for the Lukan reading.
DeleteHad not yet thought about the clothing between Samuel and Paul...
This is the first speaking of Jesus on Luke.
Also the three days has significance & three visits to Jerusalem by Jesus in Luke - this is the first.
Last mention in Luke of Mary and Joseph together as parents.
Ugh - need a common thread!
Keep weaving! If you spin it, it will preach? (Let's hope . . . )
DeleteAmy+ I remember Clifton Black saying that it was an intentional parallel. I'm fuzzy on the details now (since it's been 20+ years ago!). But it was one of those lectures that really was a pretty decent sermon :) Sarah
DeleteAny special plans for children's moments/sermons/et cetera?
ReplyDeleteI'm going with "baby Jesus on Monday, 12 year old Jesus today, so Jesus was a kid. You can pray to Jesus with kid problems."
Cindi, I'm also fascinated (freaked out?) by how fast the baby Jesus grows up. And then, as pointed out by Amy, he gets to be a toddler again to welcome the Three Kings (magi, astrologers, whatever).
DeleteAnd we get to make this stuff make sense, right? What a fun calling it is!
Hi everyone. we're doing a sort of a Christmas carol hymn sing this Sunday, and volunteered to tell a story,so that we wouldn't be entirely sermon-free.
ReplyDeleteso I'm learning a story I read recently called, "Once in the Year", about the legend that the animals speak on Christmas. tweaking the ending a little to get a little more theological and contemporary than the story.
Diane, that sounds like a great day at your church!
DeleteI love the Christmas special based on that story. "Then Night the Animals Talked." I looked to see if it's on DVD - it's not, but at least part of it is on youtube. It really made an impact on me - it was only aired 4 years!
DeleteI am extremely grateful that the service has been arranged by a worship leader who is also one of the choir mistresses and will take the form of a Christmas Carol songs of praise where we will hear a little about the history of the carols we are singing.
ReplyDeleteI had a funeral this morning for a 50 year old and would have been struggling to get a service together tomorrow even without the added pressure of a funeral. I had suggested that the Choir might do Lessons and Carols this Sunday (they have done one the last few years and for various reasons I vetoed that before Christmas) but apparently there were not enough of them to do that this week so when this suggestion was put to me I jumped at it. I think all I am doing is introducing one carol (words provided) and doing the benediction. TBTG!
Oh Tanya! (((HUGS))) to you!
DeleteI have found that people love to hear the histories of the hymns and songs they sing. Have a blessed Sunday!
Yes, Tanya, hugs indeed.
DeleteI survived the most stressful weekend. I was called to do a funeral for a 20 year old who died in an accident. If that wasn't enough right before the holidays, the family really wanted his young infant daughter baptized. So I celebrated her baptism as we commended his soul to God. Strange juxtaposition. I'm preaching on the New Year's texts of Matt 25 and Ecc 3 for tomorrow although I haven't even started the sermon writing. These are two of my favorite scriptures so I figure it will all work at pretty quickly. But first lunch with my kiddos, visiting a parishioner who had a stroke last night, and party with several fabulous young clergywomen. May you have a blessed sermon writing party.
ReplyDeleteOh my, Megan. What a full weekend!
DeleteThanks for checking in with us today.
Glad that you figured out a way to make it work for you and the family. Praying for continued energy and for a break next week!
DeleteI was thinking about you, Megan, and wondering how your funeral went.
DeleteWorking on a sermon for tomorrow on teen Jesus (Luke 2:41-52) being at his father's house in the temple. The kid, born in a barn, far from the home(s) of his unmarried parents, who would become the man who lived in the wilderness and traveled his entire career, did have a home. This fits with my journey and many of those in my "home" church, who have moved around, but keep coming back to our little congregation.
ReplyDeleteIt's thin, but it's still brewing....
It's definitely got some good possibilities, Erin. It's a basic question for those of us who have moved around a lot over a lifetime: Where is home? Or even: What is home?
DeletePlease let us know how it's going!
Way, way too late to be where I am with tomorrow morning's sermon. I wrote a blog post this morning...can't I just read that? :)
ReplyDeleteAll that has bubbled up to the top so far is out of the Luke gospel - Jesus at 12 being fully human. I remember leading a confirmation retreat over about 15 years ago. The youth were encouraged to reflect & write about Jesus as a boy - fully human. They couldn't do it. Jesus was too divine. The negative of that view is a failure to fully accept God 'as one of us.'
I'm in vacation mode, really I'd like a nap, but need to get out, do a little bit of shopping (return, exchange)...and the fam is having dinner out and seeing Les Miz tonight. Can't wait.
So, I am praying that as I continue this afternoon, something else 'bubbles up' or my thin thread fleshes out.
As "fully human" He still had to be age appropriate and go back with his earthly parents - since this is the first time He speaks in Luke, this is also where He exchanges Father God for Father Joseph - a turning? Still grappling here obviously.
DeleteAlso, it's the only glimpse at teenage Jesus we get in the Gospels - maybe it's enough to note it? I'm going to shower - I need to leave with an intact sermon in 2.5 hours and I'm not panicking yet.
DeleteI'm "preaching" tomorrow, but it's going to be telling a long story set in Bethlehem. Never done this before, but I figured I can get away with something different the Sunday after Christmas... A little nervous though!
ReplyDeleteGo for it, Lisa! Be bold! It is a good time to do something different.
DeleteThanks Sharon!
DeleteWith 3-5 inches of snow on the ground and Philly's iffy snow clearing, I'm not sure I'm going to church in the morning, which is a problem because I'm supplying for a colleague.
ReplyDeleteUgh! The uncertainty of that is so difficult. I never liked being the one to make that call or to try to make it when it seemed too difficult. Be safe, Wil!
DeleteNow the roads look clear. Final call in the AM.
DeleteAm I right in thinking that Jesus, being 12, is ritually probably now an adult? *Looks at Rev Dr Wil, and other knowledgeable others*
ReplyDeleteAnyway, not preaching, but got to thinking about 'the child in our midst' so some potted thoughts
on my very neglected of late blog, here
Putting off thesis [of doom] work, as ever. Ooops!
One of the texts I looked at said that 13 was when he would ritually have an obligation to observe Passover - 12 was still considered a boy.
DeleteIt's possible at 12, literally 12 years and a day is cited for male maturity in the Talmud (b. Beracoth 24a, many other places) And 13 as the cut off, (Kiddushin 18b, etc.).
DeleteBack to Basics Batman!! I've been preparing for the wrong text all day - I'm supposed to be preaching on John 1:1... I have an old sermon I can rework quickly. Thank goodness I took off to the lectionary page to look over the Collect for any help - better now than when the readings began I suppose. I need to leave in about 75 minutes - that's enough time, right?!
ReplyDeleteAck! A rework-able sermon is a gift to use and cherish, indeed.
Deleteand done. TB2G!! While I was in the shower I was pondering why I have never heard a sermon on Jesus as a 12 yr old - now I know why!
DeleteYea, Amy! Way to go!
DeleteOn the narrative lectionary - anyone doing Simeon and Anna????
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Tracy. I'm mostly done with a shorter reflection focused on the tension between the expected and unexpected that continues to happen in Luke's telling. I'm going to use "An Unexpected Christmas" video as the jumping off point (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM1XusYVqNY). Hope yours is coming together well!
DeleteHi, Mir,
DeleteSort of coming together, tho I'm trying to pack to get out of town for a few days after church. With a sick kid. Oh well - such is life!
I think I'm going to with birth/life/death intermingling and using Anne Weems poem "The Cross in the Manger" as well.
Just back (a harrowing, but mercifully uneventful, hour on unfamiliar roads in a snowstorm) from a "meet and greet" at the church where I'm hoping to be hired. Tomorrow morning I'm scheduled to preach my "candidating sermon," after which the congregation will grill me and then send me out of the room while they vote yea or nay. Mind you, that's IF they don't cancel church due to this all-nighter snowstorm!
ReplyDeleteWell, anyway, I'm on Christmas 1C, leaning pretty heavily on the lectionary thread (hah!) of symbolic clothing. Sermon is called, "Out of Habit." A reflection about my old hand-me-down linen alb (a sort of apprenticeship gift from a clergy mentor) is linked with the Samuel text, then it's off to Jerusalem, where Jesus is trying to step out of old habits himself & try on a more mature spiritual identity. Also looking at how Jesus upsets the habits of the people around him...hoping this all gets me to a satisfying conclusion that will...um...get me hired. IF they don't cancel church on account of snow!
Wow! Best wishes and many blessings, MC! Our prayers are with you.
DeleteGot myself back to New Orleans safely tonight. Note to self: Saturday evening is not the ideal time to be trying to get into the city. I so easily forget that there are those who actually have a social life on Saturday night!
ReplyDeleteSo, now I'm hungry. Thinking of heating up some soup.
Is everyone doing all right?
I'm new here, and this is such a welcoming community of women. And a resourceful one too! Many thanks to all of you.
ReplyDeleteIt's a snowy snowy night here and the scene outside my window is beautiful and serene. Inside, I'm still wrestling, for the second time around this week, with John 1. Gotta get something done really soon though because I'll have to get up early to dig out.
So happy to see you here this evening, Revmao.
DeleteI'm still working on my sermon too, and nothing seems to be coming together very well. I hope you can get yours done soon so that you will be ready to do the digging in the morning.
I just made some lemon zinger tea to jumpstart my brain. Help yourselves!
Blessings RevGals, on the edge of the New Year.
ReplyDeleteOver 10" of snow on the ground in Ohio, so Sunday attendance will be low. Especially given the Sunday after Christmas.
Worship is more low-key. No robe, no Gloria Patri and a contemporary Doxology. Will preach out of the pulpit closer to the remnant crowd.
Preaching on Luke 2:41-52 "A Day's Journey". Reflecting on the year and the days ahead. Will have some conversation as part of the sermon.
Hi, RevKel!
DeleteWhat a nice service for people who do venture out tomorrow. The low attendance days can have a fun life of their own.
Be safe and have fun!
Less than half of the usual Saturday night congregation - actually less than a quarter and then some visitors in from out of town. Sermon went quick. I do not preach from manuscript or notes so what I put on my blog is the skeleton. I ended up talking about the light in the darkness infecting us with the light through the Word spoken and through Communion (which we do at every service). Then we become the light to the world on the darkest of nights. Went OK.
ReplyDeleteThat's beautiful, Amy. At this time of year, and at this time in our society, testimony to the light is a big deal.
DeleteI'm about ready to go without a manuscript myself, since I don't have one, but I guess having a skeleton of some sort would be nice, huh?
I have half a sermon. Is that better than none? I think so. I hope so!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty much stuck, I think, and tired, so I'm going to get some sleep. I'll be back in the a.m. to finish up and check on the late-night party gals, if there are any.
DeletePraying for your safety in the snow and inspiration to fuel your preaching and worship leadership.
Good morning to anyone who is yawning or lurking or wondering how to get around in the snow.
ReplyDeleteThere is a fresh hot pot of French roast coffee to help jump start your day.
May God bless each of you today. You are in my prayers and -- as always -- the Holy Spirit has your back!
Peace & joy, courtesy of God With Us.