Yesterday, I preached the sermon. I knew that it would be a variation of this blog post. But it went in a different direction, one that made me happy--and more important, I preached the sermon that I needed to hear.
We had more children in church (2 families), so I did less with the King David and the young, beautiful woman brought in to make him feel like a man again. I did talk about this picture of a once powerful man who lies dying, and those around him are trying to make him engaged again, with a new girlfriend or political intrigue. But instead, he lies dying. All of us, no matter how strong, will one day lie dying.
And then I transitioned to the Gospel lesson. I said, "And the sad fact is that some of us will have died already, years before our physical death." I was surprised to see people nodding.
I talked about the offer from Jesus, that offer of living water, that promise that streams of living water will flow from us once we've drunk. I said, "And you may be wondering when that is going to happen exactly. You may be feeling dried out, desiccated. You may be thinking that Jesus was making this promise to other people, not to you."
I talked about the gospel being short on lessons about what we need to do to get those springs of living water flowing again. I suggested that we pray. I said, "And you may be saying, 'Lady, did you not hear me? I have nothing left. How do I pray?"
I suggested using the words that Jesus gave us for just this very day, when we have no words left to pray: the Lord's Prayer, Jesus, have mercy on me, a poor sinner, that kind of thing. I also suggested that we add 3 prayers to our day, and that if we haven't been praying, we start.
This end to my sermon came to me in the minutes before the service started, as I thought about the thorny problem of me giving advice about getting our springs flowing again, since I'm feeling pretty dried out in many areas of my life, and my spouse and I had been having a tough week-end, with disappointments that we were handling with less grace than I would like. The title of a book by Anne Lamotte came to me.
I suggested that we pray the three most common prayers: Help, Thanks, Wow. I suggested that we pray for those who need help, even if it's us. Then I talked about the importance of gratitude and how it can transform us. I know that it's a bit of a cliche now, but I did keep a gratitude journal for a time, long before Oprah did it, and I can attest to how it shifts one's attitude. I also reminded us all of how important it is to say "Wow." We live in a world full of wonders, but it's easy to stay in our ruts. I talked about my own experience on a walk that morning, a walk of gray clouds and a sunrise behind the clouds. I was hoping for a rainbow to give me hope, as rainbows do. I turned in the direction of where a rainbow would be, and nope. But then when I turned around, there was a beautiful rosy glow, even though the sun was rising over there. I imagined God saying, "Hey, anyone can create a rainbow. But look at this beautiful arrangement of clouds that won't happen again in your lifetime. Look at what I did with these colors."
I concluded by saying, "So, if you are feeling dried out, if you are feeling like Jesus was talking to somebody else, rest assured, he was not. Remember these three prayers: help, thanks, wow."
When we got home, my spouse watched the recording of the service that had been livestreamed, as he always does. He's analyzing the choir, and his performance, but he did invite me to hear the sermon again. I was impressed with how well it flowed, particularly since I changed its approach at the last minute. But I was most moved by how much I preached the sermon I needed to hear.
And I suspect I wasn't the only one who needed to hear it.
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