Sunday's Sermon Update

You can only avoid writing a sermon for so long, eventually the appointed time for worship arrives and you've got to give it your best and hope that the Holy Spirit is with you. With sweaty palms and some serious angst, I manged to preach what I hope is a meaningful sermon. The manuscript is already available at the church website, although there were some moments that don't exactly follow the script.

Today was a particularly meaningful day for me as an older woman who I had not seen before joined us for worship. She had been active in a Catholic parish, but not been in church for a long time, and wasn't so sure what she thought of church and worship. But, she had read an article that appeared about us in the Daily News last Sunday and thought she might give God a try again. Listening to her story made all the hard work and effort of developing this morning's sermon all the more worth while.

Interestingly, she said that what appealed to her most about our church is that it's a place where people ask the big questions in life. It isn't as much about force feeding "answers" to people, but being present and inviting the questions to be asked. Hey, if it's questions she has, well - she'll fit right in. We all have questions of God and life, and I'm glad to be in a place where I can admit that I don't have all the answers. Weeks like this one should assure us that we certainly don't have all the answers.

It's really a priviledge to be a part of a place where people who have given up on church find the courage to give it a try again.