Ordination papers well underway...
which they should be - they are due January 3rd! This is hopefully one of the final stages in the ordination process. I'm working my way this afternoon through resurrection, the kingdom of God, eternal life, the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, the nature and mission of the Church, and my autobiographical statement. Yeah!
Last Saturday I was writing my sermon for Sunday at the local Dunn Brothers coffee shop in the Roseville Public Library. It is one of the places I often go where I can get good work done and the creative juices are usually flowing without interruption. I'm often surprised by the number of times I've been in coffee shops and the people sitting at tables around me are talking about God. Or the Bible. Or any number of interesting topics related to faith. I had a hard time focussing on my sermon as three men sat down at the table next to me, loudly sharing their stories of personal salvation in Christ. I'm not sure if they were intentionally speaking loudly to try and evangelize the other coffee shop patrons, of if they were just hard of hearing. Needless to say, it was distracting to hear them talk about how Satan has taken over all seminaries, that you can't trust a thing a pastor whose been to seminary says, and that Satan is working through Muslims, who have now taken over all of Europe. They also talked about God saving from physical ailments only those people who are worthy of sharing his message with the world.
I could have just cried, especially as I was preparing a message from the words of John the Baptist, where he says that "All flesh shall see the salvation of our God." That and his father Zechariah saying that John came to prepare the way of the Lord, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Peace doesn't seem to be given much credence these days, and the world we are preparing for the Lord seems to be along the path of war. May God have mercy on us, in this world where we have such strong and divergent opinions about who, what, and where God is active and working in the world.
Last Saturday I was writing my sermon for Sunday at the local Dunn Brothers coffee shop in the Roseville Public Library. It is one of the places I often go where I can get good work done and the creative juices are usually flowing without interruption. I'm often surprised by the number of times I've been in coffee shops and the people sitting at tables around me are talking about God. Or the Bible. Or any number of interesting topics related to faith. I had a hard time focussing on my sermon as three men sat down at the table next to me, loudly sharing their stories of personal salvation in Christ. I'm not sure if they were intentionally speaking loudly to try and evangelize the other coffee shop patrons, of if they were just hard of hearing. Needless to say, it was distracting to hear them talk about how Satan has taken over all seminaries, that you can't trust a thing a pastor whose been to seminary says, and that Satan is working through Muslims, who have now taken over all of Europe. They also talked about God saving from physical ailments only those people who are worthy of sharing his message with the world.
I could have just cried, especially as I was preparing a message from the words of John the Baptist, where he says that "All flesh shall see the salvation of our God." That and his father Zechariah saying that John came to prepare the way of the Lord, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Peace doesn't seem to be given much credence these days, and the world we are preparing for the Lord seems to be along the path of war. May God have mercy on us, in this world where we have such strong and divergent opinions about who, what, and where God is active and working in the world.
posted by Melanie at 4:13 PM
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