I am so unbelievably behind on this posting stuff. Believe me, lots of interesting and noteworthy things have happened recently - dinner with Jimmy, the snow angle saving me and my family and Jimmy from a nearly stupid drive North (thanks, April), and church in the fellowship hall because of the new "weather policy" defining when and when not to use the sanctuary in order to save money on heat. I will note that no matter hwo theologically or ecclesiologically wrong said policy sounds, I will say that it does lend to creativity in the worship space and is gracious to the opportunity to try new things that might become staple in the "big room."
But recently, and today is no exclusion, I have been studying like no other time in my life as pastor and preacher. Instead of preaching the lectionary for Lent, I arranged a new sermon series. It has been over a year and a half since I had done a non-lectionary based sermon series, and I have forgotten how ridiculously difficult it is for a variety of reasons. Most prominent of those reasons is the task of isolating yourself from the word that needs to emerge from the texts and the focus of the theme. Preparing these sermons has almost like doing weekly research papers all over again, and strangely enough that has been exilerating to the soul. Don't get me wrong. The lectionary demands it's own amount of study and isolation all the same, but not near this much. And where the lectionary has gotten so repetitive and dry (even in all the commentary and updated dialogue resources), the sermon series has given me excuse to interview and talk to people in new and deeper ways that have been renewing and revealing, challenging and deepening faith experiences, and I have had to take time to read old "stuff" again, and discover new "stuff."
Don't worry. I can't do this forever. I am sure that by Holy Week, the winter relief of the sermon series will have run its course, and I will be bitching and begging for lectionary summer to come again. I have to go study some more before the library sells my bookbag.
Some excuse, huh? Take time out from writing, so and go write...
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Yeah, I'm just now returning to the lectionary after being off-lectionary since last summer. It WAS exhilarating and invigorated preaching the way nothing else has for me. And the only reason I'm back to lectionary is because I just don't have the time right now to do another non-lectionary series well. The lectionary feels like cheating everyone, me especially, but I'm going to ignore that and use it anyway. Lame, eh?
So what is your sermon series on?
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