Here it is – the building I spend almost every Sunday morning in. (If God is everywhere, why do I have to drag myself out of bed at 8am every Sunday, make myself reasonably presentable, and drive here?)
There are actually multiple answers to this question. Fellowship.
The music. Passing the Peace. Chancel (fancy word that means helping to
clean up afterwards). The
Eucharist. The fact that I'm a church
warden and people will start asking questions if I don't show up, plus I have
to sign cheques. And of course the
sermon. In this church, that's a very good
reason to show up – because the priest here gives sermons that are worth a much
longer drive in than the one I have to make.
But today, it was me
giving the sermon – my very first. Which
isn't a big deal at all, because public speaking is my most favourite thing to
do. (Good thing I'm not in church right
this second – telling a whopper like that
would get me struck by lightning for sure.)
I'm not sure what inspired me to put this 'first' on my list of
50. I really have no clue, because
almost every Sunday, I glance up at the pulpit, I take in the message that is
meant for me as the priest speaks, and at least once, I think to myself,
"I'm glad that's not my job".
I wonder why it's so intimidating. Is it because you're working for God while
you're doing it? The same God that sent
the flood? The same God who sent locusts
and poisonous snakes? The walls of
Jericho, Sodom and Gomorrah, pillar of salt, etc., etc. This
is one job I did not want to screw up.
Today I preached on the Book of Revelation. (Hopefully the fact that it was me in the
pulpit is not one of the signs of the apocalypse.) Specifically, John's greeting to the 7
churches. Talk about a dedicated
guy. In those days, you just did not go
around irritating the Romans, because they owned everything. John was lucky that all they did was ship him
off to prison to work in the mines at age 90.
Which does not sound at all like good luck, but telling people that
Jesus was the Son of God was a great way to end up nailed to a cross. So prison, especially with a fabulous sea
view, doesn't sound too bad in comparison.
Although I don't much like any situation without electricity. No movie nights. There's a plus side to that though – somebody
always gets shanked as soon as the lights go out.
No sooner had John got himself settled in to prison life on the
island of Patmos, God started to talk to him, dictating the Book of Revelation –
presumably shortly after sending him pen and paper (which should have been a cinch,
after the locusts). When John was done, he put the Book and some letters in Asia Minor Post, and they were delivered to
the 7 churches, thus beginning the 2000 year-old tradition of lucky number 7.
For someone who does not have to go to all the trouble of being
rejected by Toastmasters to find out that speaking in front of a crowd is never
going to be my forte, I think I did a passable job. My congregation members were very supportive
and generous with compliments. (People have
to be nice to each other in church.) They were each probably so thrilled that they
had not been the one who was dumb enough to try preaching with no experience.
If you're ever feeling like it would be enlightening – or hilarious
– to hear me speak about the Apostle John, here's a link to the sermons page of
our church website: http://www.stsaviours.ca/sermons (April
3, 2016). Yep, I allowed myself to recorded. In for a penny, in for a pound...
Thank you God, for letting me live in a country where I can worship
openly, in complete safely. And please
Lord, from now on, let me leave the preaching to those who know how to do
it. AMEN!
[Thanks, Dad & Margaret
for the photos!]
One Thing That >50 Me Has Learned Along the Way...
I just had this argument again with someone recently, and I keep
hoping it's the last time, because I just don't get it that everyone (with
access to modern plumbing) does not know this. Hand-washed dishes get rinsed in
COLD water. Not hot - full stop. Rinsing
a soapy dish in hot water just promotes more suds. And it's more expensive. So if you want your plates to squeak (I
don't personally know anyone who cares about that, but it seems impactful on the
TV commercials), remember – cold water.
You know what I haven't learned? All these dishwashing liquids rave about how gentle they are on hands – but why would anyone care about that? Doesn't anyone with even a half a brain wear rubber gloves to wash dishes?
