Sleepless Night

It may be because I drank too much iced tea when we ate dinner last night with the volunteers who are staying at the church this week, or because of physical aches and pains that sent me to the medicine cabinet a few minutes ago for a couple of Advil, but it is 4 am and I’m wide awake – which is really quite rare for me.

At any rate, my mind is racing, thinking about what I will say in my sermon this Sunday as we observe the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. I’m already thinking of this as a ‘special news broadcast’ in the middle of the 'regular programming' of the season of Pentecost – the many, many Sundays of green! I’m not sure yet what I will say, but as the sermon is beginning to take shape in my mind, I find myself looking back over the schedule for the last few weeks…

The last Sunday I preached here ‘at home’ – the last Sunday I even worshipped here ‘at home’! - was a month ago on Pentecost! Even though I have been very much on duty and at work for the last few weeks, many members of the congregation haven’t seen me, because I have been away the past three Sundays. This is what much of this year has been like.

After worshipping here on Pentecost, Ray and I were both out of town for three days, giving LDR presentations in another area of the state. We returned home overnight, to unpack, do laundry, and repack before traveling to the synod assembly. We were both away at the synod assembly on Trinity Sunday.

The following Sunday, I was assigned to preach at another congregation ‘over the bay,’ so I traveled on Sunday morning to worship and preach at both of the services of another congregation in this conference.

Last week, Ray and I split the travels. He traveled early in the week to give two more LDR presentations in the northern part of the state, while I traveled over the weekend to Hickory, North Carolina to attend the annual gathering of the NC Synodical Women’s Organization of the Women of the ELCA. It was a joy to join many of my friends for worship and study and fellowship at that event. I was able to thank the women's group personally for all their support of my seminary studies. (see my last post!) I also had responsibilities, as I presented two workshop sessions on our experience working and volunteering on the Gulf coast, providing information for those who might want to help organize groups from their congregations to come and volunteer.

These past four weeks have flown by, filled with a variety of activities for LDR and within the congregation, and this week, I’ll be back in the pulpit again here. Guess I’d better try again to go back to sleep now – I’ve got a sermon to work on later!