ruminating

Last week at the staff retreat (the one where I got my act together for my high wire stunt) we poked a lot of fun at old songs, particularly the sappy Christian variety. It's not hard to do, especially when the first hippie Jesus music was so terrible! (And if you are thoughtful and careful in your analysis, there's a whole lotta bad stuff out there today... but I digress!) I was amazed at how much of the really bad music and lyrics I could remember (complete with harmonies and accompaniment!) It's like all of the grunge is embedded in my brain.

I'm digging into some research this afternoon now that class is out (10 minutes early WOOOO HOOOOOO!) and finding that it is hard to get old songs or old "tapes" of any kind out of my head.

I have a million ideas and concepts and they are not jelling into something that is "from God to me to you." I'm trying not to stew. But since I could be doing this "sermon" as early as Wednesday after lunch, it's a bit of a pressure point. And then there's my prejudice against this kind of dry bones stuff.

"Expository" preaching has been in my past experience a totally dry, tedious exercise in hearing someone's regurgitated knowledge of Greek or Hebrew. Instead of drawing out the meaning of the text, it shut down the brain of the listeners. I know that's not the point of the "expository" exercise I am working on right now. But I have to shut off years of dry and dusty to bring about the fresh, ENLIVENED, preaching that I so desperately want to give as God gives it. The preaching that brings change. That brings LIFE. (not snores)

I hear this kind of "good stuff" every week at church (the life-giving stuff, not the snores!) I want to emulate it. More than that, I want what I preach to be deeply ingrained and shown clearly in my own life.

So I'm not there yet. That's today's report. The sermon is still "veiled" but I see some glimpses of the good stuff... (can you see that I am working on 2 Cor 3??)

OK - back to work - library is only open until 6!

Deb