Hallelujah, Amen

Can somebody shout Hallelujah --

Just the other side of Thanksgiving Day, this very weekend, comes the First Sunday of Advent. No doubt it will be a low Sunday with many folks out of town visiting and celebrating Thanksgiving and feasting with loved ones. We’ll be doing that in our family, right here. Kristen is already home from college for the weekend, and Tass, Jeremy, Caroline and Charlotte are to arrive late this afternoon. We plan to welcome and enjoy with a family steak dinner, cooked outside on the grill. Ray, a chef at a fancy restaurant at the Beach, will be working, Ray usually grills the steaks and I sit there with a glass of red wine and say, “Mine’s done, take it off.” It used to be that I grilled the steaks and Ray kept my wineglass filled. Either way, I’ll miss Ray this evening.

Advent One is my Sunday to preach, and it’s made a little more challenging than usual, because along with the ominous readings of this apocalyptic Sunday, we are to baptize a tiny baby at ten-thirty worship. “OMG, what to say” came to mind this morning after 0215 bladder call. What to say? 

Some who are trained in the art simply climb into the pulpit, turn off the brain, open the mouth and let the Spirit keep promise. For me, that doesn’t work. Tried it once and instead of hearing the Spirit speak, heard him laughing. At me. So, six or seven or a dozen hours or more sermon prep, which includes a time of confrontation with God, whom we believe to be present both in the gospel as it is read, and then in the pulpit as the gospel is proclaimed. God creates heaven and earth in six days but needs nearly a full day to wring a sermon out of me. 

But, hallelujah, I’ve got it. That’s why my +Time post is late this morning.

Let all the people say, Amen.

TW+