Should be Writing a sermon

The kids are at friend's houses so I should be writing my sermon I did this instead...

Friday five

Friday 5- floods and droughts

Here in the UK we are struggling with floods, other parts of the world have similar problems without the infrastructure to cope with it, still others are badly affected by drought.... My son Jon is in Melbourne Australia where apparently it has been snowing ( yes it is winter but still!).... With crazy weather in mind I bring you this weeks Friday 5...

1. Have you experienced living through an extreme weather event- what was it and how did you cope? The only extreme weather situation that I have to live through are a couple of huge snow storms. We just wait it out inside the house and hope the power doesn't go out. If it does we put on lots and lots of layers

2. How important is it that we wake up to issues such as global warming? Extremely important. We only have one planet to live on. We have a strong impact on the future of this planet

3. The Christian message needs to include stewardship of the earths resources agree/ disagree? Agree without a doubt. If we destroy creation around us we will eventually destroy ourselves

And because it is summer- on a brighter note....

4. What is your favourite season and why? Summer and early fall. I love the weather and the sunshine, the food, swimming and all of the outside events that happen in the summer. I like early fall because of football and fieldhockey games before it gets to cold. Plus I enjoy being able to wear shorts and a sweatshirt. :-)

5. Describe your perfect vacation weather.... Hot hot hot! as long as their is water near by

My First Sunday

So my first Sunday serving my little country church is done. It went much better then I had expected. My original plan was to leave the service exactly as it was at least for the first couple of weeks I was there. Well that didn't quite happen. The service was about 90% the same as it had been in the past with a few minor changes. I put in a passing of the piece and my goodness it was like giving a bunch of little kids candy... they really seemed to enjoy it. The liturgist was nervous about how he would get their attention back, but it all worked out.

I received lots of positive feed back. even more then the usual that was very nice dear that I tend to hear. People seemed to really listen to the message, which was about being inclusive and welcoming toward theological and cultural diversity. During joys and concerns many joys were shared over upcoming mission projects with some of the immigrant families that are in the area. I was pleased to hear that. Right now the church has no mission budget but I am hoping to change that.

We had an administrative council meeting after church which also went well. They seem like a group that works well together. They were very open to the few ideas that i had.

I was very encouraged by a conversation that i had after church with a couple of members who said they were looking forward to fresh ideas. I keep hearing that and I am starting to believe that they really want them. I'm hoping sooo!

Sunday left me feeling really good for a variety of reasons.. one i survived my first service of the church were I'm the only pastor, two i actually enjoyed myself, the congregation seems sincerely happy to have me , and I'm excited to work with them!

Not that is was all peaches.. i left out a word in the unison prayer when i printed it in the bulletin and i knocked over my water while we were singing the third hymn right before I preached, and it was a union service with another church in the area so I have no idea if many of the people typically attend my church or the other church

Good things are to come! thanks be to God!

Friday FIve!!!.. and it's a good one!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Friday 5- looking back, looking forward

When I began work here at Downham Market a wise friend told me that after one year I would see a few changes and sense God at work- years two and three would cause me to question and to wonder why I had chosen to accept the post here and in year four I might see the beginnings of something new.And so with that in mind alongside yesterdays celebrations I bring you Friday 5 Looking back, looking forward..

1. Share a moment/ time of real encouragement in your journey of faith as scary and as acrazy as I think it is sometimes my call to ministry was that moment, because if God can Call me to do this work then he really does love me no matter how many times I've turned my back

2. Do you have a current vision / dream for your work/ family/ministry? work right now = school and my vision and dream for that is to not only survive it but enjoy it
family dream is to spend the rest of my life with the man I love and make each other as happy as possible
ministry- engergize people make them excited about their faith

3.Money is no object and so you will..... live in differnt countries for a couple years at a time then pick up and move to the next doing service projects

4. How do you see your way through the disappointments? What keeps you going? I try to
remind myself that other people face similar struggles or worse and knowing that they survived keeps me going

5. How important are your roots? they help me know everything I want adn don't want

6. Bonus= I am forever grateful for my friends whom many of I now consider family

Summer bloggin

Well my blogging this summer has been very minimal. I guess i just haven;t had a whole lot to say. I have been babysitting most of the summer and trying to wrap my mind around my first year of seminary. My first church service for the church I will serving as my internship is July 22 so I am trying to get that service prepared.

I went to a wedding and the movies this weekend. The pastor for the wedding that i was at was to say it nicely interesting. The homily was more of a sermon, much longer then it needed to be and made us all feel like it was 1950 again. And I sat through the movie (transformers) thinking about how it could be used for a children's sermon. Wow how my life has changed since I answered this call!