Yesterday was the official send-off for my sabbatical. I knew that having it on Memorial Day weekend would mean that a lot of people would be gone, and that was the case. Still, it was a good morning full of rich blessings. I preached a sermon that was more personal, more directed at my congregation than probably any other I've ever preached. There was so much I wanted to say - about my need for a sabbatical, about what I would be doing while I was away, about what this opportunity meant for the church. So, it was long and maybe a little rambly, but I think I said the important things I needed to say.
I am very grateful that Rev. Trish Winters is ready and able to step into pastoral leadership at Living Water while I am gone. I know that she can handle whatever comes her way this summer and that gives me a great sense of peace.
My goal was to be able to walk away (well, drive away) from church on Sunday and be done with all my Living Water work. That didn't happen. There are loose ends that need to be tied up - some of them very important things that only I can do. So I will spend some time today and tomorrow dealing with those. But the big work ahead for me this week is preparing what I will preach in Tanzania. This is a task so big that I could not even sit down to begin working on it while I had all my other responsibilities. And it is still a task so daunting that I must give up any hope of "being prepared." Even if I were to spend hours (days) writing out manuscripts for all those sermons, I would undoubtedly find myself wanting and needing to make changes once I get to Tanzania and begin to learn about the people there. So I can only pick Scriptures, themes, get general ideas about where the sermons will go. And then throw myself on the mercy of the Holy Spirit.
One of the biggest blessings I received yesterday was a drawing from my brother-in-law Clifford. He heard me say in my sermon first service that I was really scared about preaching this crusade in Tanzania, that I've never done anything like this before and that I might mess it up so badly that I'll eventually be preaching to empty chairs by the last night. He came up to me between services and handed me a drawing. He said it was a vision of my crusade. In the drawing, I was preaching in a tent, and he said more and more people came each night so that on the last night, there weren't enough seats and people had to stand outside the tent to hear me preach. I don't know that it will happen that way, but I'm taking that drawing with me as a reminder that with God, all things are possible.
I am very grateful that Rev. Trish Winters is ready and able to step into pastoral leadership at Living Water while I am gone. I know that she can handle whatever comes her way this summer and that gives me a great sense of peace.
My goal was to be able to walk away (well, drive away) from church on Sunday and be done with all my Living Water work. That didn't happen. There are loose ends that need to be tied up - some of them very important things that only I can do. So I will spend some time today and tomorrow dealing with those. But the big work ahead for me this week is preparing what I will preach in Tanzania. This is a task so big that I could not even sit down to begin working on it while I had all my other responsibilities. And it is still a task so daunting that I must give up any hope of "being prepared." Even if I were to spend hours (days) writing out manuscripts for all those sermons, I would undoubtedly find myself wanting and needing to make changes once I get to Tanzania and begin to learn about the people there. So I can only pick Scriptures, themes, get general ideas about where the sermons will go. And then throw myself on the mercy of the Holy Spirit.
One of the biggest blessings I received yesterday was a drawing from my brother-in-law Clifford. He heard me say in my sermon first service that I was really scared about preaching this crusade in Tanzania, that I've never done anything like this before and that I might mess it up so badly that I'll eventually be preaching to empty chairs by the last night. He came up to me between services and handed me a drawing. He said it was a vision of my crusade. In the drawing, I was preaching in a tent, and he said more and more people came each night so that on the last night, there weren't enough seats and people had to stand outside the tent to hear me preach. I don't know that it will happen that way, but I'm taking that drawing with me as a reminder that with God, all things are possible.
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