 |
| ps from ps:For those of you who attend St. Paul’s with regularity, you may or may not have noticed that the worship leader the past two weeks was a tad older than usual, but still bore the last name Biegner. Very thankful for Biegner – Chick Version that covered for me as I experienced some super fun Covid and migraine issues these past couple weeks. With that said, I have two sermons that I prepped and never preached. So this Sunday I will preach three sermons and the service will be most likely 90 minutes. Just kidding! Talk about disincentive eh?? Side note: as we started to return to a more normal worship pattern this year, I realized that my preaching in church had become a bit shorter. I used to preach for 12-13 minutes each service. But once Covid hit and I had to adjust for a 30-minute TV Church format, I slimmed them down to 8-9 minutes. I shared that with Michelle one evening and told her I should probably start to lengthen my sermons back out in church. She subtly and gracefully said: “Has anyone asked you to lengthen your sermons back out?” I reflectively paused. I understood. They are still 8-9 minutes. But this week, I’m ready. With multiple messages! Maybe during the Children’s Time, I’ll have them pick one out of a hat?! It’s rare that I’m ready with multiple options. Sort of exciting. Are you ready with multiple options? Are you excited about those options? Are you ready to preach? In John’s gospel (one of the potential sermon texts) Jesus shares that classic instruction for the disciples: “Love one another as I have loved you.” And he does that in a context of just recently washing their feet and pointing them to focus on the least, little, lonely, lost and left behind. What does your sermon looks like for that verse? And I DON’T mean from some dude rambling on for 8-9 minutes in a monologue in front of church! I mean what does YOUR sermon look like? A sermon is merely an interpretation, explanation and connection of a text to the reality of the moment. If that is the case, what does your sermon look like? What does your foot washing-like service in the world look like today? What illustrations and connection points do you have and will you live out in today’s moment? How will you interpret God’s love for the world to those you interact with? Will your actions and presence explain a risen Lord and Savior today, maybe without even using words? And might you just have multiple sermons to preach? See, I can’t preach a sermon from two weeks ago. Can’t even use the one from last week. Because the moment changed. The world changed. The opportunities change. The ability to love changes. But what is consistent in all of it, in every week, is a God who invites us ALL to preach. Interpret. Explain. Show. Illustrate. Connect. Be in God’s moment. All to love our neighbors. I look forward to your sermon today!! Preach on! Lord, help my sermon be awesome today. Amen Be well, safe and blessed! ps |
716-835-0407
office@stpaulseggertsville.org
