This week’s 11th Hour Preacher Party is brought to you by all things HOT: HOT and humid summer weather, HOT-button political and religious issues, and HOT-off-the-grill holiday party food. Is it HOT enough for you?
Let’s start today with a party ICE-breaker — please play! — and it’s a three-part one:
- Current temperature report. Optional: your location, humidity, and forecast.
- Chocolate or Vanilla ice cream? Optional: Ice Cream + (Your favorite go-with?)
- Are you a picnic person? Optional: Favorite picnic spot!
For our beloved Southern Hemisphere preachers, please substitute COLD for HOT, and let us know how your winter is going:
- Current temperature report. Optional: your location, humidity, and forecast.
- Soup or Chili? Optional: Local or national dish that is a favorite comfort food.
- Are you a hibernation (sleep more, slow down) in winter person? Optional: Favorite comfort drink.
That’s how we get the party started!
Feel free to share your questions, prayer requests, sermon and worship needs, and whatever else is on your mind as we prepare to lead worship this weekend. If you need anything, please ask.
The snack table is overflowing today with all of your picnic food and comfort food. Which one is yours? I’ll provide the coffee and tea — hot and iced. Help yourself!
If you are reading this, please do check in and let us know you are here!
At this party, all are welcome: preachers this week and vacationing this week, women and men, laypersons and clergy. We are happy you decided to stop by today! Pull up a chair, grab a drink and a snack, and let’s party.
RevGalBlogPals 
1. it is winter here, cold wind, midday and 14 C, but the wind chill means it feels more like 5 C – info from the weather bureau website. forecast to reach 18 today, our max temp has been about 2pm, so takes long time to warm up.
2. winter is soup time – but chocolate ice cream is all year round – and winter means hot chocolate
3. I like to rug up, but we do have some lovely days in winter. e.g. Thursday it reached about 20C and no wind. still need a jumper all morning, but quite pleasant being out and about.
now that I have played 🙂 I should get the washing on the line.
liturgy is finished, tonight I will write a sermon on Matthew, thinking about what we are yoked with.
in between, hopefully a hospital visit, a trip to the gym and answering some of the growing list of things I need to respond to in writing, [the joy of being involved in leadership within the wider church]
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Hello, Pearl! “Rug up” is a new expression to me. Tell me more!
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hehehehe… Sharon, perhaps I can help as a fellow Aussie, albeit ensconced in Scotland?
‘rug up’ pretty much wot it says on the tin – find a rug/ blanket and throw it around you to keep warm…alternatively, chuck a jumper [i.e. ‘sweater] or other warm clothes on.
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Nik – will we need a “jumper” when we come to Edinburgh next summer?
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A rug here is what you call an afghan, which is a large dog here. So it means wrap up warmly.
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Glad to be expanding your Aussie language. And yes, rug up means a warm jumper or a blanket to keep warm. And I love lazy mornings staying in my pyjamas and dressing gown as long as possible 🙂
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forgot to mention, we have a late crop of home grown sweet corn for lunch today.
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YUM!
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Perfect 64 F this evening as we watched fireworks with dear friends. (4th of July celebration)
Vanilla ice cream with apple pie can not be beat!
Favorite picnic place is wherever my husband and I can find quiet and a glass of wine.
I’m off lectionary for several weeks as we look at the work of the Spirit as the church was established and grew. This will be accomplished through a sermon series on several chapters in Acts. This week is Peter’s sermon immediately following Pentecost. We’ll be exploring how the Spirt emboldens us to tell our “story:.
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Hello, Terri! Did your sermon series just start, or did it continue after Pentecost? The Spirit certainly emboldened Peter to tell his story that day, and I pray that your congregation will be similarly jump-started to tell theirs.
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No preaching for me right now. However, it is 95 with a dew point of 61 in Goodyear, AZ. We had our first monsoon event last night. Wind, dust, thunder/lightening, and a brief rain.
Chocolate…even in a place with many flavors…always chocolate…and usually plain. It does combine nicely with a tart raspberry gelato.
Picnics with baked beans, potato salad, and homemade ice cream.
That’s for hosting Sharon. I will admit I have nit yet “missed” preaching in this new location and especially on this holiday weekend.
Let the Spirit run free as you prepare.
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Elaine, thanks for checking in. The SW USA desert monsoons are something to behold.
The score is now 2-1 for chocolate.
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Current temperature – it is 12C – expected high of 17C (yes this is summer in Scotland!) this is warm enough for T shirt with light sweater. Earlston in the Scottish Borders…
Vanilla dairy free ice cream (I have never liked chocolate ice cream…) strawberries picked straight from my garden – we have a glut to share this year, perfect growing weather!
Loathe eating outdoors – I have such bad reactions to insect bites it is utter misery… but if that were not the case, the beach, with all my family close by – bliss
our community week draws to a close today: so shortly going out to watch the fancy dress competition/ parade; call into church to pick up my robes for afternoon wedding in neighbouring church; go to said wedding, race home, quick supper, then torch light parade followed by fireworks when it gets dark (around 11 pm)
and some time in there I will commit the sermon to paper (maybe) we are doing a series on the Fruits of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5 – so the next nine weeks will follow on from Love tomorrow. During the summer we have all sorts of folks who take a week to share a word – really refreshing!
And tomorrow- once worship is through we are off on holiday for a couple of weeks… so it’s all a little mad right now!!
LOVE IT!!!!
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Good morning, Julie!
Thanks to your dairy-free vanilla, the ice cream score is tied 2-2.
A summer series on Fruits of the Spirit, beginning with love, sounds nice, indeed.
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9.30 pm, just under 500 words, going through the Matthew reading in sections and no clear one thing that I am working with. I had thought of working with the Genesis passage, but needed a lot more research to be able to do it justice; so staying with the gospel. I have some ideas for the yoke bit.
maybe I could just read out David Lose’s column for the week 🙂
time to stop fiddling and write some more …..
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I find David Lose to be consistently full of good inspiration.
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We had a cool 4th of July at only 92f. We have yet to reach 100 this summer, which is highly unusual. Bluebell Vanilla Bean. Picnic at a lovely park near my home: big trees, gurgling stream, and rolling hills.
We have a Hymn Sing tomorrow, so just a brief message on Why We Sing. Borrowing heavily with full credit given from the opening sermon at Festival of Homiletics.
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Liz, you are simply practicing the spiritual discipline of borrowing well: knowing what’s good, how to use it, and giving credit where credit is due.
Your Bluebell Vanilla Bean — delicious ice cream classic and the only vanilla that I *might* choose over chocolate — delivers a home run to put Vanilla up 3-2.
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It is suppose to hit 79 here in Vermont today, I love vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and I don’t like picnics outdoors because I am allergic to grass. Although if I can sit in the shade on a picnic table, then it is tolerable. I am preaching Colossians 1 (off-lectionary) because it is my first sermon in my new appointment. Prayers requested that I make this transition ok. I think this is my first time to be recorded on public access (ugh) and to follow a preacher who wasn’t disliked by some contingent of the congregation. My husband helpfully promises to record my sermon so I can see myself…
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Many blessings upon this first sermon in your new appointment, Megan. What a special time for all of you! Be your most authentic fierce and fabulous self for sake of the gospel, and all will go well. I hope we will get to hear how it goes.
Vanilla surges ahead 4-2.
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It’s 15 degrees here in central Ontario, Canada. Getting to 25 today, but we live close to Lake Huron, so the temperatures are moderate.
I like Chocolate and Vanilla, but off dairy. There is a wonderful coconut substitute for ice cream called “coconut bliss” which fulfills my ice cream cravings in both chocolate and vanilla.
I began a new pastoral charge this week and they join with two other churches for the summer. My congregation hosts the last three weeks of August. I only lead worship three times, next week and twice in August. It feels strange to begin with a new church and not worship with them in their sanctuary for six weeks.
Although I am appreciating the slow down, I love the stories from Genesis that run through the summer. I miss wrestling with these texts. Very defiantly focusing in Jacob and Essau next week
Lots of green tea and oatmeal with apples and blueberries to share.
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Many blessings as your begin this most interesting new pastoral charge, CC. “Defiantly focusing on Jacob and Esau next week” sounds very much like the brothers themselves!
Coconut bliss gives each flavor a point: 5-3 with vanilla in the lead.
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1092 words, must be almost done 🙂
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WooHoo!
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Only another 400-900 words to go….
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Coolish, clear, may reach mid-80s in Central NJ. Vanilla with maple syrup–yum! Picnics OK if an adventure. Favorite picnic spot is Crow Island in the Penobscot Bay, Maine. Not easy to get to but worth the effort. The rector chose the lections for Independence Day, and that means the Gospel is Matthew 5:43-48. Oh, that perfection thing! My fiancé reminds me, perfect is the enemy of good. He means good work is good enough, but I heard: worrying about perfecting ourselves gets in the way of the good Christ would have us do–such as loving our enemies. Anyway, it’s worth a good look at the Greek. I think the rector expects some reference to 4th of July, our founding matriarchs and patriarchs, our national shortcomings, and such. But you know what? If I’m going to have to reference Independence Day, I’m going to do it through the eyes of 15 year old Laura Ingalls Wilder, who writes about the first 4th of July in De Smet, SD. See “Little Town on the Prairie.” She wrote, “The laws of Nature and of Nature’s God endow you with a right to life and liberty. Then you have to keep the laws of God, for God’s law is the only thing that gives you a right to be free.”
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Hello, Megan!
Yes, for sure, the Greek will help with the whole “perfect” thing.
You have a lot to juggle — especially the rector’s expectations for the day — so know that you are surrounded by prayer and love.
Another point for Vanilla, now leading 6-3. Pretty sure it would have been favored to win, but it’s still early . . .
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Good morning!
It’s a very nice 77 degrees here in South Louisiana this morning. I’m in Baton Rouge for the morning and will be traveling to New Orleans early afternoon. I love chocolate ice cream, by itself, or with anything nutty or coconutty mixed in or put on top. When I was a child growing up in El Paso, we used to own a pecan grove and we would often take a lunch and picnic under those trees.
In a last minute preacher switch at my church, I have yielded the pulpit to the young man I have been mentoring who is a Member in Discernment (on the UCC ordination track) and who has just accepted a job as a chaplain at Duke University. I have never heard him preach because he subs for me, and the congregation wants to make a big deal of sending him to his new place. This was the only week he could do it before he leaves in mid-July. I’m so happy for this next step for him, and I am going to miss him very much.
I just made fresh coffee, freshly brewed iced tea, and there is hot water for whatever you want to mix with that. I also offer you lots of cool sweet watermelon!
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Another point for chocolate. Still Vanilla’s game, leading 6-4.
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Hi Maggie reporting in from a cloudy but dry Edinburgh. Temp is currently 13C and may rise to a ‘mildly warm’ 15C this afternoon if reports can be believed. It is cool enough to be wearing a thin jumper but without a vest underneath!
Vanilla icecream with strawberries and pistachios on top please!
Hmmm picnics…tricky question. I love the concept but always find that they never quite live up to expectations (due to weather/ants/sand/children not sitting nicely/forgetting how heavy the basket is and how far you need to walk whilst carrying it!). However, favourite picnic spot has to be a walled garden not far from us, warm/sheltered from wind and a great place to watch nature and watch the world go by.
I am not preaching tomorrow. I am supposed to be on holiday til Monday but several calls and emails from funeral directors this morning have stopped any plans of relaxing so I might as well work. I have a visiting nomination committee coming to hear me on 13th so I am trying to get a ‘head start’ for next week [which is no bad thing given I currently have 2 funerals (plus visits)] and an interment of ashes already booked in the diary].
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Oh, Maggie, I so agree that sometimes the idea of the picnic is far sweeter than the actual picnic lived out. Strawberries and pistachio topping on vanilla sounds delicious.
You have a busy week looking at you. I hope you will be able to relax this weekend.
Vanilla gets another point: Vanilla 7 – Chocolate 4
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lots of other peoples words here, risking the yoke of Jesus
I am blaming my lack of energy, and focus, on 3 funerals in 3 weeks – which is lots for me. last one before that was about 12 months ago. time to finalise the service and go to bed.
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Be gentle with yourself and get the rest. That’s a lot of funerals for anyone to have back to back. I’m looking forward to reading your sermon.
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Good morning from sunny and unseasonably cool Binghamton, NY, where yesterday it never got above about 70 F; right now it is 63 F, with an expected high taking us near 80F later on.
Chocolate Ice cream with caramel sauce is just about my favorite, and the darker the chocolate the better.
I’ll picnic anywhere with the ones I love. But I grew up at the Jersey shore, so my favorite is to picnic on the beach at sunset.
I started the Narrative Lectionary Ten Commandments series a week later than everyone else, but I’ll catch up today as I write a communion-length homily (read: short-ish, for me from 900-1200 words) that brings together the last two suggested foci: the 6 commandments of the second table, zeroing in on coveting, which the Working Preacher folks suggest is the source of trouble that causes us to break the other 5. That sounds fair.
I’ll be stopping in from time to time. Nothing but the most general ideas so far. Good thing I have leftover sweet corn (cut from the cob with butter and freshly snipped chives) and balsamic vinegar potato salad (with more fresh herbs from my ‘garden’ of pots). Fresh local strawberries too, which I just had for breakfast. Plenty to share!
Happy writing and preaching to all.
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And now I’m thinking I’d just like to read Rolf Jacobson’s commentary aloud and say “Amen!” It’s that good.
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Hello, Pat! I used to live not far from Binghamton (Bradford County PA) and it is so gorgeous there in the summer. Do you still get back to the Jersey shore?
I also wonder what it would mean to be in a coveting mode approaching the Communion table.
Thank you for going up to the plate for chocolate ice cream. It could be the beginning of a rally, with the score still favoring Vanilla, 7-5.
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Sharon, we sold my dad’s house at the end of 2012 (he died in 2013), so I now am living what a member of my congregation once said to me: “No one tells you that when your parents die, you lose your hometown.”
That said, I’m hoping to sneak down to Ventnor with my daughter when she gets home from her summer internship (first week in August).
And yes, wow, an angle on the coveting I’d not thought of.
(And also: go chocolate!)
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Yes, Pat, that is so true about losing your hometown, and that no one warns you! Thank you for sharing that. I haven’t been able to answer the “where are you from?” question since my father died and I sold the family house. (Also I’ve moved a lot in my 30s and 40s, which makes it a more complex question.)
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Cloudy but fairly warm here in London – I went out earlier and didn’t need a coat or jersey. It depends on the ice-cream, to be honest – I prefer a good-quality vanilla ice-cream to a cheap chocolate one, but wouldn’t choose vanilla in a gelateria – probably coffee, or salted caramel, or hazelnut, or something like that. But vanilla is lovely with a blueberry muffin, or fruit compote, or…..
Sermon is all written and printed, and on my Kindle Fire, but I am devoid of inspiration for the Intercessions this week. Don’t like any of the ones I’ve found so far, but think I’m going to use the ones in the book, and work from there. I had hoped to use the ones I did 3 years ago, but one of my pupils seems to have done them that week. Bother!
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Mrs.RB, it’s so nice to be able to go back and use good things done three years ago. Except sometimes it’s not there! I’ve had that, too.
I hear yours as a vote for Vanilla so you and the other Vanilla-lovers are in the lead 8-5. Although it could be a vote for high-quality chocolate. Yes, I think I will rule that as a vote for high-quality chocolate: Score: 7-6, with Vanilla holding onto a narrow lead.
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Definitely high-quality chocolate.
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Scottish contingent out in full force so far…*waves to Julie and Maggie*
Greetings from alternately sunny/cloudy Fisherrow by the sea where it is allegedly 17C at the moment – slightly different micro-climate to Maggie, above, who lives 6 miles away 🙂 I believe we may even reach the dizzying heights of 19C in an hour or so – w00t!
Ice cream: cookie dough, which is heaven in a cone.
I’m more a barbie [BBQ] person – the beach is about 100 yards away from my front door and that is very much my ‘go to’ place.
As with Maggie, I’m not preaching tomorrow, but do have 2 nom com’s apparently turning up next week to have a wee look-see if I might be ‘the one’. However, what I’m working on this afternoon is… the Harvest festival service for end of September. As one does when working with a worship group and having summer hol’s in the midst.
I have a happy stash of strawberries to share and some very lush nectarines – do tuck in! 🙂
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Yea for the Scottish contingent!
Judgment call on the (always delicious) cookie dough ice cream: It’s Vanilla needing an assist from Chocolate, so chocolate gets the point. Score tied: 7-7!
Every blessing and tons of best wishes as you are “looked at” by nom coms. So happy for you!
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Good morning! It’s a gorgeous 68 degrees F here, with a predicted high of 82 and humidity in the 40+% range. This is miraculous, and much appreciated, as I am officiating at a backyard wedding this afternoon. The couple has been together 30 years, and never thought they could be married to each other. One of the gifts of being unaffiliated with a church now has been the freedom to say “yes” to weddings now that the law has changed in Pennsylvania. My Presbyterian and UCC colleagues are living in the “in between” after the court decision, and for the PCUSA-ers the Authoritative Interpretation, still in conversations with local church leaders about these matters.
I’m also supplying at a Presbyterian church on the other side of our sprawling town tomorrow, at a contemporary service that includes Communion, and thus numerous complicated and unaccustomed things to handle. I’m preaching on the gospel lesson and Psalm 145:8-14, about the words that express God’s faithfulness, how different ones may sustain us under varied circumstances. Amen. (Because that’s all I have so far.)
For now, i covet my neighbor’s sermon text. Ahem.
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Oh, and vanilla with Oreos, either already in there or added separately. And picnics are okay, neither a “love” nor a “loathe.” Thanks for hosting today, Sharon! For this virtual picnic, I can share a cucumber salad dressed with dill/yogurt/sour cream.
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“And who is your neighbor?” she asks. 😉
Great day for a wedding. Great weekend to be preaching. So happy that you get to enjoy these opportunities, and that they get to enjoy your many good gifts.
That cucumber salad is one of my favorites.
This time, I’m giving the Chocolate-assisted Vanilla point to the Vanilla team, taking an 8-7 lead over Chocolate. Chocolate, nonetheless, is high-fiving that those Oreos are unquestionably playing on the Chocolate team.
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Good morning from the Ohio Valley. It is a beautiful 67 degrees F in Dayton, Ohio. After a long evening of loud fireworks and a terrified dog, it is nice to have the morning quiet.
I don’t like ice cream! 🙂 But if I were to choose flavors I would go with vanilla.
Working on Matthew 13 passage for a communion Sunday, with a little bit of July 4th (little being the operative word).
Blessings to all!
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Hello, Kelley!
Fireworks and dogs don’t mix well, I hear.
The last play involving Oreos and Vanilla has been reviewed by the refs, and that point now goes to Chocolate. We all knew that replay reviews would have some tough moments.
With your Vanilla, Kelley, the score is now tied 8-8!
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I’m not preaching this weekend (I’m currently getting ready to spend the day at Noah’s Ark, the world’s largest water park, in Wisconsin Dells), but I had to stop by to vote on ice cream!
so…it’s currently partly cloudy, cool but with temperatures headed for close to 80, also known as “the perfect weather for a pasty white girl to go to a water park.”
I love picnics and carry blankets in my trunk at all times just in case I need to have one.
And for ice cream, the correct answer is obviously Mint Chocolate Chip. 😉
(that’s right, since i’m on vacation, i don’t have to stay in the confines of the church or the question, hahaahhaha!)
I’m in a hotel with free breakfast, which means waffles for everyone! happy writing, friends!
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What a fun weekend, Teri! Will there be water slides involved?
Waffles, yum!
Mint Chocolate Chip serves up the go-ahead point: 9-8 with Chocolate taking the lead!
(Shh! Don’t tell anyone that this question truly has no confines!)
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1. Here on the shore of Lake Superior in Canada, it’s 20C (68F), and we’re in between thunder showers, which are expected to continue throughout the day.
2. Vanilla.
3. I like picnics, especially near a lake or stream.
I’ve got zero accomplished in sermon-world. Two weddings (one yesterday, another today) along with rehearsals for both and pastoral visits mean I’m way behind on sermon prep. Ack!
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Hello, Sue on Lake Superior. I hope you are enjoying your thunder-shower-y day.
That’s a lot of wedding stuff in a weekend.
Vanilla ties the score: It’s 9-9
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1. 71F here in Ann Arbor, Michigan – another lovely day.
2. Vanilla, with coconut, almonds and chocolate added in…
3. I love picnics. Usually out on my deck these days, but my favorites are in state parks near Lake Michigan.
I committed (via bulletin) to preaching on Matthew RCL passage and a title of “No Win”, which is what struck me as the summary of Jesus’ words in the first half. Hope to tie in the Romans passage and focus on the paradox of our faith, where winning is losing and losing is ….. the reason why it’s an easy yoke, light burden, a path of rest. That may or may not end up being the skeleton – still working on the rest.
It’s Michigan blueberry season here, so that’s my Saturday morning offering to you!
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Hello, Jill!
I’m very intrigued by your title and idea for the sermon. We go for the win. “Winning is everything,” right? Keep us posted on your progress.
Blueberries are yummy this time of year.
Vanilla 10 – Chocolate 9
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A few thoughts on Matthew, in case they help 🙂 I’m sharing the sermon with 2 other preachers this week, which means I’m only preaching on that last few verses of Matthew. But in our brainstorming, we came up with some very similar thoughts to what your sermon title seems to imply for the first part of the passage. My colleague will be talking about about we’re so focused on ourselves, getting ahead, taking things for granted, that we don’t acknowledge the work of God in our lives. This is what makes us an unresponsive generation. When we recognize God’s grace that is freely given to us, and when we accept its ability to bring us into relationship with Jesus (it’s not a one-time gift), we are given rest beyond measure! And the “measuring” of the world doesn’t matter any more. It’s not about the size of your yoke, it’s about who is sharing its weight with you.
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It’s a little worrisome that the Other Preacher is typing furiously and my sermon document consists of a title and subtitle (church, date, texts), but at least I’ve done all the fiddly preparations for the wedding including getting the right stole on the hanger with my robe. That’s good, right?
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It is very good. Carry on.
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I thought you were ahead of me so I just started typing my packing list for NEXT Sunday.
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Oh, Lord. No. Two more sermons to go before a packing list, one for the 13th and one ahead of time for the 20th.
Packing list, pah!
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for the 20th you should feel free to recycle anything, because, hey, it’s a laid back crowd, and I don’t want you to worry about it. whatever you preach will be really beautiful.
jus’ sayin’
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It’s a LOVELY 70 deg F here in Providence RI, USA, forecast to hit 79. But the humidity left w/ Arthur–TBTG!
Vanilla ice cream + strawberries. Actual favorite flavor is coffee. Or, if homemade, banana. Have just found favorite homemade ice cream shop to visit on days off if I head towards the beach–a place which has about 20 delectable flavors.
Am a picnic person, but haven’t gotten a favorite spot in RI yet–this is my first summer here.
Am going to go to the farmers market in a bit then dig into sermon. Am thinking of focusing on last week’s and this week’s (RCL track 2) Romans passage and addiction. and true freedom and independence. But that last bit of Matthew would sure be fun to work with. Most weeks there is too much good stuff to preach on!
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Hello, Gillian! That is the biggest challenge for me, too: narrowing the focus. Usually, I cut more than I keep. Many blessings.
Coffee ice cream is definitely a favorite among this group. Who could have guessed that would be case among coffee-loving pastors? Or is that an inaccurate stereotype?
Vanilla 11 – Chocolate 9
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Mid-90’s forecast today in So Cal, and it feels humid to me but probably wouldn’t to most of the rest of you!
I used to be chocolate all the way; however, as the years go by, I am becoming ever more likely to scoop up something else as well (give me that double dip!).
Picnics: the beach, as long as someone else will wash the towels, vacuum up the sand, and do the clean up after 😉
No preaching for me tomorrow, woohoo! Due to family demands, I am running behind in my summer work, so I may need to go into the office for a bit anyway, though I haven’t quite decided yet. Still have to finish digesting last night’s enormous dinner with friends…so delicious!
They didn’t grow in my yard, but I got a great deal on raspberries yesterday so I’m glad to share those around. Cherries and grapes, too.
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Betsy, great to see you here today!
Beach picnics are messy, for sure. Thanks for the fruit, which goes great on . . . ice cream!
Chocolate answers that last Vanilla point with one of her own: Vanilla 11 – Chocolate 10
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I’ve been making a delicious chocolate frozen yogurt with dark chocolate chips lately; if I switch to that, can I get two points for chocolate?? 😉
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NV: hot, in the 90’s, but the church in Benicia is on the bay, so it stays cooler!
Chocolate anything. Chocolate ice cream with fudge sauce on top!
Picnics are fine, but I probably prefer my deck, where there is a BBQ and kitchen handy.
This weekend I’m in Nevada, taking care of my Grandmother, but next week I’ll preach my first sermon as the actual pastor of a church for the first time in about 15 years. I’ve done plenty of filling in, but this will be different. I am now the interim pastor for Heritage Presbyterian Church in Benicia. It’s exciting, but I also go in with fear and trepidation! Looking forward to participating with this supportive community! Hi, Sharon!!
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Hello, dear Natalie!
Many blessings upon your new ministry. You will be awesome!
The enthusiastic chocoholic hits a home run to tie it up at 10 points for each!
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73 degrees in late morning in western Ohio; the forecast is for another sunny day in the upper 70’s.
I love chocolate! w/Natalie, pretty much chocolate anything. As if there is a choice 🙂
Picnics are great, in fact we are going on one tomorrow night (well, picking up bbq carry out and eating at a park) before we see Earth, Wind and Fire w/friends. Here’s to dancing the evening away!
Sermonizing…oh yeah. The good news is I don’t have a children’s message – the VBS co-director is doing it to preview Weird Animals. I’m preaching on Romans 7 – the third in my Romans series. My image is being in a straight-jacket…not sure if I’m going to use it, but when I think about that feeling of being trapped, by what I don’t want to do, and by not doing what I want to…trapped by refusing to see myself, and by my selfishness – trapped by sin, the straight-jacket image comes to mind.
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Powerful imagery of being trapped. If it speaks to you, that’s usually a good sign that it will speak to others. The picnic will be so freeing!
Yea, Chocolate’s fans have come through. Chocolate goes ahead of Vanilla 11-10!
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Good morning from Upstate, SC- its supposed to be mid to upper 80’s here today.
Jamoca ice cream with marshmallow cream and chocolate jimmies! (That creation came from years of Baskin Robbins employment!)
Picnics by a lake, preferably in the shade!
Preaching on Matthew text tomorrow for a communion Sunday.
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Working at B-R would be so sensational: the smells, the tastes, the happy ice cream crowd.
Sundaes for everyone, thanks to you!
Chocolate gets another point and commands a 2 point lead over Vanilla: 12-10
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Hello, all!
Two things… I am working on the last commandment ‘Thou shall not covet’ and I’m using this article about the writer of a story popular in urban legend I found here: http://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-man-behind-the-window
In slightly less helpful news I just typed this: Whether it’s Biblical truth, campfire lore or our own modern day challenges, the desires of the ‘hard’ can lead us astray.
While true, I believe I’ll exchange ‘hard’ for ‘heart’ as originally intended. 🙂
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We should have a RevGal Wiki entry for profound typos like this one. Also funny ones.
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Best typo I ever did anywhere was when preparing a newsletter for the then Brixton Council of Churches and this was an article about how homeless people were squatting in a recently-closed children’s hospital (with the encouragement of the BCC); I typed that many of them “were propping up the failings of St Mark’s Church”. I should, of course, have typed “the railings”
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Oh, and the time when I typed that Jesus “was tempted as we are, yet without winning.”
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That is a good one!
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My forecast is same as Liz above – also giving thanks that heat has not risen to 100F yet. *knocking on wood* With quality being the equalizer, I prefer chocolate. Dining al fresco is great with me if there is a nice breeze & shade, but not too windy. Wow – I’m picky!
Not preaching this weekend, just checking in. Off to the Episcopal Youth Event at Villanova in Philadelphia this coming week & really looking forward to it. Teaching Praying In Color as a Workshop twice, so I am gathering materials and paper today.
For your procrastination needs, I offer up:
http://stuffchristianslike.net/2014/07/05/everyone-vacation-anything-goes-church-service-aka-tomorrow/?utm_content=bufferc8278&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
The language is very male-centric for pastors, but it is a funny post about services on Holiday weekends.
Love you all! Blessings as you prepare and marry and preach!
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Thanks for checking in, Amy! Nothing wrong with a picky picnic. 🙂
Lucky thing: Good quality Chocolate beats good quality Vanilla. Putting another point on the board for Chocolate, who leads 13-10.
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A cloudy day after a gorgeous 4th. Youngest son is in town for the weekend. I have vanilla bean, fresh raspberries and peaches. A loaf of homemad bread just delivered to my door by a parishioner. After two weeks of “Tough Tales” from Genesis, I’m going with the Gospel but not sure quite where. Can I speak to the comforting words–“Come unto me…my yoke is easy…you shall find rest” of the Gospel and the Psalm “you open your hands and satisfy the desires of all living things” and how these seem so at odds with human challenges (biblical and in our lives)?
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What a good and comforting word, Gloria, amid all the challenges that we all face. Your congregation will be blessed.
Adding a point to the Vanilla team: 13-11 score still favors Chocolate.
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Definitely worth acknowledging that we don’t always experience the rest or the lightened burden in real life! One analogy I used is that if you actually imagine a yoke, and you’re supporting one end of it, it’s almost impossible to carry by yourself. With Jesus as your yoke mate, the burden is greatly lightened. With an entire church community to shoulder the burden, each person’s share is so small as to almost be weightless.
A little stretch of the text, since Jesus asks us to take up his burden, not to asks for his help with ours… but I think it’s a helpful analogy in acknowledging that sometimes our heavy burdens don’t just disappear. This doesn’t mean that the promise is invalid.
Happy preaching!
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Monsoon season in SW US so it’s relatively humid, temp in the 80s here in New Mexico. I’m preaching from the alternate OT lesson, the Palm Sunday donkey-riding text, and keep getting distracted by a mental image of the adorable burros (fuzzy little donkeys) that live at Ghost Ranch.
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Oh, Patricia, aren’t the burros so adorable? I hope that image will inspire you as you work on your sermon.
Yum, Bluebell Homemade Vanilla is tempting to this chocolate lover, too. Your Vanilla team is now trailing by just one point: 13-12.
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Oh yeah, a vote for Bluebell Homemade Vanilla, and I’m neutral about picnics–the bugs annoy me but I enjoy the company and being out in nice weather at a pretty place.
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All right, I posted via my phone which obviously didn’t make it thru the 4g and inter web networks.
It’s almost 3 and I am just sitting down to nothing. But it’s been a fun day–big walk in the park with doggies and balls, buying my love a bike and accessories, burritos for lunch, and a little yard work post storm clean up. And of course, I had to get a pedi before I could even concentrate. But now, I am ready for nap!!
At Starbucks, though, and won’t leave until I have a sermon.
It’s sunny, breezy and 74 degrees. Picnics on the water, and NO BUGS. Ice cream. I do love coffee with caramel topping. But since my choices are chocolate or vanilla, my ice cream needs to be vanilla based, with all kinds of whatever mixed in. Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby I very much like but haven’t had that in years.
Off to write about burdens and yokes and beauty.
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Hello, dear Karla! What a marvelous day you have had. Happy sermon-writing to you!
Your vote for Vanilla as a decent sub for coffee-with-caramel ties us up: 13-13!
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Back with a 1335 word draft that can use a little trimming– which I do best in the morning. I’m off to buy some groceries and drive around on this glorious day. Love to all!
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Way to go, Rev. Pat! I’m a morning trimmer myself most Sundays. Any chance you are getting us some ice cream?
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76F here in Madison WI. Feels a bit cooler, with mostly cloudy skies and some wind. Not bad weather for sermon writing from the deck!
Given the choice between chocolate and vanilla, vanilla definitely wins. Butter pecan and mint chocolate chip are my favorites, though (but not mixed together).
Picnics are best enjoyed on the Capital Square in Madison, with free live music from the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra – Concerts on the Square run for 6 weeks each summer and I love them!
Ecumenical worship in the park this week. The 3 pastors are sharing the sermon, so we’re each supposed to preach 7-8 min, which isn’t too hard for the two ELCA pastors in the group but always a challenge for the Baptist preacher. I come after him, so if he goes long (as expected), I might shorten my bit. It could be a challenge to keep attention the whole time, but here’s hoping!
We’re preaching on Matthew 11 – first section on this overcritical unresponsive generation (the human condition), second section on responding to God’s call to be in relationship with Jesus, and third on the blessing/promise of rest and lighter burdens. I get to proclaim the Good News! All I’ve got so far is comparing rest in Christ to the very end of The Giving Tree – sitting down to take a load off, let someone else help you shoulder the burden. We’ll see where it goes from here, but at least shorter is better this week 🙂
I have strawberries to share – bought too many and they’re starting to go bad, so hurry over and help yourself! They go great with all flavors of ice cream 🙂
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Ok picnics and music…how could I have forgotten that when I said the beach? The Hollywood Bowl is better still, and much easier clean up! I’ll join you at a picnic concert any time.
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Oooh . . . sermon writing on the deck sounds nice. So does the ecumenical service in the park with the other churches.
A spoonful of strawberries on that Vanilla ice cream put your team ahead of Chocolate: 14-13.
C’mon Chocolate, we need to go for 2 points!
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I really got nothin’.
glad it’s communion Sunday.
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(((you)))
I’m pretty sure you got somethin’. You just don’t know it yet.
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It is a beautiful 74 degrees and low humidity here in NY. Exceptionally nice weather for those of us who wilt in the heat.
Chocolate anything is always my favorite. Especially when mixed with a little peanut butter.
Picnics!! Love, love, love picnic food..have even been known to do indoor picnics intone winter.
I have worked on my sermon a little..letting gone commentary from Homilectics sink in that the cond to me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest is a comment in the Sabbath observance.
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Thanks, Sue for checking in. Picnics in winter would help during the darker, colder days.
Chocolate *ANYTHING* is about where I am too. That’s a tie at 14-all.
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Coming to the party late afternoon…it feels like 96 with the humidity here in northeastern Kansas…
Chocolate is my favorite flavor of most anything!
I love a picnic especially on a beach or on a boat on a lake – except that I don’t love bees and flies! So, give me a little breeze to keep the aforementioned insects away and I’m happy!
Preaching on the Matthew passage – working with the concept that a burden/life can be lighter and “easier” when shared with another, especially when life is lived in relationship (yoked) with Jesus Christ.
Using the Clydesdale horse as an illustration – a single Clydesdale can pull a load of 7000 pounds – so we would expect that two Clydesdales could pull 14,000 pounds together. Yet, when two Clydesdales are yoked together they can pull a load of 25,000 pounds!
Also thinking about how we choose to whom or /what we are ‘yoked’ and how that choice affects our lives…
And…thinking about the structure of the yoke and what that requires – walking alongside rather than ahead or behind, moving in the same direction, trusting and depending on the other….
Don’t know yet where all this thinking will lead! lol
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I love the Clydesdale illustration! Thanks for sharing it
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oh yeah, I totally love the CLYDESDALEs. Thanks!!1
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Yea, RevS! Thanks for the Clydesdale illustration. You just made some sermon burdens a lot lighter. That’s what this party is all about.
Well, and ice cream. Two votes in a row for Chocolate *ANYTHING* makes me want to give Chocolate a bonus point. Trying to be fair, the ONE point awarded pulls Chocolate ahead of vanilla by a point: 15-14.
(But if there are three Chocolate *ANYTHINGS* in a row, that’s what’s known as a triple scoop and worth an extra point. Now to look and see . . . )
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If it’s 4 in a row is it a triple scoop with sprinkles???
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I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!! Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate! or any kind of chocolate or if I can get two scoops, one coffee on top with chocolate on the bottom so I end with my favorite.
I once was asked “Why do you come to Baskin Robbins with 31 flavors and get just plain chocolate?” My answer was, “I looked at all the other flavors and chocolate was still the best of the 31.”
I’ve been to our outreach event twice today. I have 1208 words in a sermon that is not quite a dog (does that make it a puppy? no, it’s not cute enough to be a puppy) but it’s not that great either. So it must be time for a nap because that is more than long enough for communion Sunday on a holiday weekend
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And the Vicar scores the triple! Extra point is awarded to Chocolate (“any kind of chocolate”) and gives Chocolate a commanding 17-14 lead. Funny how no one ever says “any kind of vanilla.” Just observing . . .
Yep, a nap is definitely in order. Thanks for checking in, Sarah.
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That’s because there are some kinds of vanilla that are not worth having … chocolate, however, rarely misses.
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Dugout brawl has commenced!
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75 degrees in Cleveland, chocolate, and anywhere near a body of water!
Off lectionary and using a couple of psalms to preach-teach about prayers of adoration. Sermon entitled “Wow!” with a nod to Anne Lamont.
Yesterday I finally got the back yard into shape and today my daughter and I worked on all the stuff in the room she vacated — oh, nine years ago. I need a day of sleep!
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LaMOTT! Can’t correct!
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Robin, sounds like you need a good ole sleeping Sabbath. I hope you get one soon.
Chocolate is running away from Vanilla: 18-14!
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Back from the wedding, which went very well and included a really nice barbecue after the fact. Kathrynzj saved the day by getting the wedding couple’s neighbor to shut off his lawn mower. Her sermon is basically done, but I used all my mojo for the wedding and have miles to go before I sleep. .
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Nice day! I have a picture in my mind of Kathrynzj getting the neighbor to quiet down.
Praying for mojo renewal for you — just enough to get you through.
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The Community Theater that is housed in our church building is currently running a play — “Say Amen!” — which is an original piece by the theater’s director. I have the chance to go this evening, so I’m headed there for a while.
I will check in later and spend a little time with the late late night preacher preppers.
Have fun while I’m gone!
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Preacher Preppers makes me laugh – what would we hoard? Lectionaries, Ice cream of both flavors, Ticonderoga Pencils, Moleskine notebooks, __________________
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It’s 5:00 pm in Albuquerque. 90 degrees. 30% humidity and 30% chance of thunderstorm. Monsoons have returned. (And so has the dog–to barking at every clap of thunder.)
Vanilla.
Picnic tables in town parks perched high over a river (the Mississippi or the St. Croix) or by the side of a Lake (preferably Superior).
Just starting to think through my sermon but intrigued by something I read in a commentary (Holy Textures, I think). In Jesus’ day, “Yoke” was used as a metaphor for “Torah”
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I found that little nugget in Progressive Commentary–not Holy Textures. Here’s the link:http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2011/06/lectionary-blogging-matthew-11-16-19-25-30.html I found it very helpful.
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First time commenting–but THANK YOU for this. Just what I think I needed.
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What lovely picnic scenarios, RevAlli. So happy you were able to stop by.
Vanilla sneaks back into the game and we have a score of Chocolate 18 – Vanilla 15.
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I’m back from the water park (largest waterpark in America, apparently…which just makes me wonder if there’s a bigger one somewhere else?) with a sunburn and also a burning desire to know whether chocolate or vanilla is winning. I can’t even believe that there are people who think “any kind of chocolate” ice cream is better than vanilla. I’ve had some truly blah chocolate ice creams, people. Just saying.
Also, I definitely had vanilla with strawberries at the park. 🙂
taking my sunburn to dinner, then pondering the eternal question: does drinking wine make a burn hurt less or more?
Keep up the good work, fellow preachers! May the sermon fairy fly as fast as a water slide.
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Aloe Vera with Lidocaine is a magical potion you can get for cheap at any walgreens/cvs in the sunscreen section – keeps it from peeling as bad also
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In hopes that your sunburn cools quickly — and ignoring the snark about Chocolate — I’m adding a point to Vanilla (because I can). It’s 18 – 16 with Chocolate in the lead.
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Absolutely magnificent day in Detroit! At 9 pm and it’s a pleasant 75. Ice cream favorite is Whitehouse or Cherry Garcia; picnics by the water with a soft breeze. Enjoyed lingering at the Eastern Market today and have fresh corn and tomatoes to share. Also bought some lamb kafta from the hallel market and grilled it for dinner. Yum! Just finishing up the dishes and ready to give Romans 7 a whirl. Read an interesting Cherokee story about the warring wolves inside us. Which wolf will we feed? Twist on the story – feed both! (reminds me of the tale attributed to St. Francis, The Wolf of Gubbio).
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Paula, I read that “feed both” story, too, and it was so rich with meaning.
Assuming that “Whitehouse” may have something to do with Vanilla — another point is awarded –and it’s still Chocolate in the lead 18-17.
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Hello, Folks– very late to the party, here.
It’s been in the upper 70s here in Southern Maine, with a lovely strong breeze that keeps the bugs away. I vote for Vanilla–best is my grandmother’s recipe, made in the hand-crank mixer, but in a pinch I’ll settle for Breyer’s natural vanilla, with the little vanilla bean flecks! And I LOVE picnics. Last Sunday, on my day off, I made fresh spring rolls with nasturtiums in them, and we took them to a botanical garden. It was like eating wee stained glass windows!
I’m preaching on the Matthew text, and using a story from Susan Orlean about an old farmer in Cuba who kept using oxen while all his neighbors converted to large-scale tractor farming with cheap subsidized fuel. All the other farmers ridiculed him for his foolish, backward ways. Then, a few years ago, when the gasoline subsidies were cut and the Soviet-made tractors began to break, (and the soil on the big farms had been terribly compacted by the tractor wheels), the old farmer suddenly found himself surrounded by the same farmers who had mocked him–only now, they were humbly and desperately asking him to teach them all about farming with oxen! You can find the story by doing a websearch for “Carbonaro and Primavera.” (Those are the names of the yoked oxen that the old farmer uses.)
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MaineCelt, what gorgeous weather! The oxen story is perfect, isn’t it?
Vanilla lovers — and you know who you are! — adore you because you just tied it up at 18-18!
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I believe I have just finished writing the worst sermon ever. The separate parts of it are maybe okay (some of them) but really, it’s dreadful.
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Martha –
I feel like a dreadful sermon by you could also be called “Amy’s best” 🙂
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No, I really mean it this time. Bleh. It’s another “I don’t know these people, what could I possibly have to say to them?” situation. I would love to rock it. But that’s not the sermon on the page at the moment.
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I had a colleague who preached fairly “bleh” sermons consistently, when they weren’t worse than that. When I am having a night where my sermon feels like uncomposted crap, I always tell myself, “At least it’s better than [Person X]’s sermons.” Then the next day, after I have preached it, people tell me how very meaningful it was.
Holding you in prayer . . .
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