What a week it has been, especially for preachers in the United States, but we know that U.S. elections have affected the whole world community.

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Photo by Monica Smith, 2015

Lectionary preachers, both RCL and Narrative, can find discussions from our site’s Tuesday postings. If you haven’t checked the RevGalBlogPals facebook community, there are several threads where people are working through how and what to preach this week. If you’re not a member, just click “join group,” and the Administrative Team will add you.

In addition, it is stewardship season for many congregations. If that is true of your context, how are you fitting that in?

Share words for children, words for prayers, prayers for each other. And snacks! Share snacks, too.

Monica Thompson Smith is a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister, serving as a pulpit supply preacher in South Central Texas. She is a contributor to There’s a Woman in the Pulpit.

RevGalBlogPals encourages you to share our blog posts via email or social media. We do not grant permission to cut-and-paste prayers and articles without a link back. For permission to use material in paper publications, please email revgalblogpals at gmail dot com.

61 thoughts on “11th Hour Preacher Party: Gathering Thoughts”

  1. It feels like I’ve been preaching the same two themes throughout the fall: God’/ dream for humanity/our place in moving toward it small step by small step; and our baptismal covenant where we promise to try to see Christ in each person, strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being. It seems like this week’s events call for even more of that–Isaiah’s imagery of that dream, Luke’s wake up call of the impermanence of what we think is lasting along with the sacrifices and challenges to which we will be called. Not quite sure where to start…

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  2. I’m struggling. Been up most of the night and have a draft of something, but still don’t feel like I’ve gotten it right. I’m a white woman preaching to a diverse, but mostly black congregation. It’s just so hard to have any idea what to say, to strike the right balance of acknowledging grief and pain and fear and pointing to the hope found in Christ. Without sounding patronizing in any way or diminishing the very real problems and issues and legitimate fears. RIght now, I’m working with the RCL gospel lesson and talking about our loving God, neighbor and each other as an act of defiance against the narrative the world is telling us about what is important. But it’s sounding a bit hollow at the moment. Hoping the Holy Spirit comes along to fix things up between now and Sunday morning so the congregation can hear what they need to hear. Looking forward to hearing what others have to say once the sun comes up.

    All I have to share at the moment is some potato chip crumbs, but I’ll share some pancakes in the morning. I’m sure the little one will be up way too early!

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    1. Have you listened to the Ruby Sales interview with Krista Tippet from Sept. 15, 2016? I found it powerful and gave me some context to understand the state we are in, coming from a powerful black woman. Essentially she speak about black folk raised in black folk religion that taught them they are worthy and good, in a world that enslaved them, they were taught love and value. She sings the spiritual “I love everybody, I love everybody, I love everybody in my heart.” She may give you some integrity into the message of love without trivializing the message and sounding patronizing. I encourage you to listen to it. Tippet also interview BLM people in that same episode.

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      3. Wow. That was some powerful stuff. Not sure where it leaves me for tomorrow, but I’m definitely better for having listened. Thank you.

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  3. baptising tomorrow morning and only having the Isaiah reading from the RCL. also only the early service, so i can stay and have morning tea with the early congregation and the baptism family.
    i have a sermon from 6 years ago that i am using some parts of. looking at it, i wished i had included the gospel reading, then i could have reused it.
    if you are interested, here it is peace and division

    i ma planning on talking a little about Isaiah and the vision of a new world, after the Baptism i will tell the story Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge By Mem Fox. this reminds us that we need other people to help us remember what is important in life.

    a very warm day here, too hot for this early in summer – maximum of 35 C /95 F and at 9.00 pm it is still 30 C/ 85 F
    .
    and i have slated caramel popcorn to share. opened the packet last night while watching a movie and now need it eaten so i don’t eat it all 🙂

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  5. I’m here. I have to write a sermon for Sunday. But like every Saturday these days I have a baptism rehearsal followed by a funeral. Normally I would have written the Sunday sermon on Friday, but my husband was off and well. I am still too broken and too deep in my grief to even imagine preaching a sermon tomorrow. To my congregation who I imagine half of them voted for Trump and half of them voted for Hillary and a couple voted for Johnson. I truly will be speaking into the division that is ripe in this country. But I also live in Dearborn, MI, home a large Muslim population and a place where a lot of work has been done to ease divisions and increase relationships. So, there’s that. I do have some ideas of what I want to say and how I want to say it and I have two baptisms tomorrow – thank God! So I can lean heavily into the baptismal covenant and it’s teaching to respect the dignity of every human being. This may be the hardest sermon I’ve ever preached, and I’ve preach hard ones, hard on me.

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  6. I feel like I’ve been composing this sermon forever….loooong week! I’m in the Chicago area and with the highs of the Cubs win last week, this week has been especially low. After all, we never thought we’d have to deal with end-times this week….since the Cubs won the World Series, Jesus was supposed to come last week!
    Preaching on the RCL Luke and Thessalonians. Weaving in lots on how we treat each other (thanks Marci for your blog posts) and respect for the office of the president, but not endorsing bad behavior of a person. Ouch! Too soon for moving ahead here, too much grief, but using the quote sometimes attributed to Luther (not really found in his writings) “if the world were to end tomorrow, I would still plant an apple tree”. Paul’s warning to the Thessalonians to not be idle…
    Still composing in my head, but going out to get a bagel with peanut butter. Anyone want a bagel? What can I get you?

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  7. I have struggled with what to say. I think the majority of my congregation is happy with the outcome of this election but I know not all of them are. I am trying something different this week. I am focusing on v 13 of the gospel. I am planning on opening up a time for people to testify to God’s continuing presence in their lives. I am using the story from Feasting in the Word about Thomas Dorsey and the writing of precious Lord. We will sing that hymn at the end of the sermon.
    My draft is up http://randomrevhd.blogspot.com/2016/11/testify.html?m=1 if anyone wants to take a glance or offer suggestions. Preach on preaching pals!!

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    3. Nice! I, too, am focusing on verse 13. It was the first thing that caught my attention when I read this Gospel on Monday morning. Blessings on your time of testimony!

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  8. Well, I now have to run over to the church for a long day of both ends of the spectrum – baptismal prep and a funeral. Yeesh. But I have posted a draft of my sermon. I am not sure how much more time I will have to tweak it, so I hope it’s good enough and that I can preach it. I’m calling it broken love

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  9. Good morning. I have a draft and like the rest of you here I am struggling. Had an idea about Luke and how the story is told by jesus in the future, and written by Luke about a past event. There is a timelessness to destruction – it is always going on. And I too am focussing on the opportunity to testify in broken times. Boy, this is not sounding very much like the GOOD news as I write it here… Going to make some pancakes for my kid and the bonus kids in the house this morning, then we’ll see where I’m at.

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  10. Good morning sisters! I think I’m done…God bless you all and know that even when our words seem hollow to our own ears, The Spirit is still working and God still shows up.
    “….we are to stand up for and encourage those who cannot see past fear and desperation. We are to speak hope and life into their lives and stand with and beside them in the face of injustice. And just like the disciples, we will be persecuted, we will be ridiculed, slandered or even worse. But…we can be reassured that even as we suffer for our faith, in big ways, or daily smaller trials, Christ has not left us on our own. Paul reminds us to stand firm…take a breath and to be strengthened in every good work and word….and we have the confidence of Jesus’ words that he will give us wisdom to witness to him and the strength to persevere. “

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  12. Like many of you, I serve a divided congregation. I feel raw, and frightened, and angry. Not a great place to start a sermon. I’ve gone off lectionary and will be using Romans 15:1-7. Particularly thinking of building up the neighbor, living in harmony, and using one voice. I’m going to try something new for me. I’ll present the scripture via Lectio Divina. I hope that the Spirit will be present in this Holy Conversation.

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  13. Hello all–Like many of you, I’ve been struggling this week. I started about four versions of the sermon and gave up on all of them. I’m using the Isaiah reading. I don’t know, to be honest, how the congregation I serve voted–I would guess most of them are very disappointed in the outcome, but I cannot be certain. There’s absolutely a call to justice to be made–speaking the truth to power, not only for LGBT people (the majority of my congregation) but for other oppressed groups as well. And yet our Christian mandate is to work through love, not hate or violence or anger. How do I acknowledge the anger and fear, calling not for resignation or submission, but for watchful determination and readiness for action–while at the same time recognizing the frustration and fear of those who did support Trump (as difficult as that is for me)? I want to stay clear of political questions (i.e. voting third party, lesser of two evils, etc.) and focus on the social justice issue–every human being is beloved of God, and deserves to be able to live in peace. I don’t want the kingdom piece from Isaiah to become the whole “pie in the sky when you die by and be” as a professor once put it—in other words, put up with a horrible life now in order to enjoy heaven later–because I don’t think that’s what what meant. Isaiah was talking about something that could be realized on earht, if humans could only let go of their fears. That’s my focus…every time I start expanding beyond it, it seems to fall apart into a lecture. Sigh. I do plan to have safety pins available–because I don’t for a moment beleive that anyone in this congregation, no matter how they voted, consciously wishes another person harm based on nationality, religion, race, income, gender identity, abilty, etc. It may be a way to offer a bridge, if needed.

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    1. Your focus sounds great. And I’m sure it’s tempting to veer off elsewhere, especially this week. Praying for you and your congregation.

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  14. I’m not preaching this week, but stopped by to offer my prayers for all of you and share a big bowl of couscous. Strength and grace be with you as you sermonize.

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  15. I’m taking my kids’ old stuffed lion and lamb and setting them beneath the table. Using Isaiah (obviously) to talk about our role in making the vision real in our present time. How do we move from alienation (we’re all feeling alienated now) to reconciliation? How do we listen to people’s pain and fear? How do we break down the walls that divide us to become a blessing to all the nations?

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  16. It’s about 4:30pm, and I have about half of a sermon. Thanks to all who shared their ideas and links – I read almost all of them (a couple of broken links) and they have been informing my writing. Starting with Jesus – the people have been unfaithful and so destruction is coming, then moving to Isaiah – after exile, rebuilding is possible. Planning to end with something about testifying from the Gospel, thanks to your thoughtful ideas. There will still be some writing and a great deal of editing tonight, but hopefully it will all come together smoothly.

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  17. It’s 3:15 Saturday afternoon here, and I’m finally sitting down to bring this week’s meditations into a cohesive sermon. Along with the election, its aftermath, and Veteran’s Day in a politically-divided congregation, we held a burial service for a young mom today. Oh, and we announced my upcoming departure. All in all, a weighty week.

    There is a great deal of emotion here– some triumph, some grief, some fear, some comfort from community; but probably little hope. I’ll use Luke (the now) and Isaiah (the not yet fully realized call to living together with God and one another), and our baptismal promises reaffirmed in worship last week.

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  18. Sunday morning worship finished for me, I only led the early service this morning.
    One beautiful baby boy baptised, and his twin cousins were there who were baptised about 2 months ago. The girl twin came and to visited me in the pulpit while i was preaching, so i held here for part of the sermon. She watched me and the iPad screen closely the whole time.
    and there was chocolate cake at morning tea to celebrate the birthday of a 90 year old.

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  19. So strange that a sister RevGal is already finished with her sermon and it’s still Saturday night struggle for me! I am supply preaching and talked to the host pastor. Her congregation is rural but relatively diverse, some gay folks, some people of color. So basically all over the map as for many of us.

    My prayer is that I can use my fill-in privilege to lift up a strong word of justice, and end with that Jesus is present with us whether stones are built up or broken down, because that’s what I need to hear too.

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    1. I imagine lots of people are preaching to themselves this week. There is significant freedom in supply preaching; I’m glad you’re using it well. Prayers for you and those who will hear your words.

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  20. I’m just getting started with the RCL Gospel as my main text. It has been, frankly, a very long week: three deaths in the congregation, two of them including an abundance of free-ranging emotion among family members; the election (of course); and a handful of other things.

    My plan, I think, is to share in the most general terms some of the stories I’ve heard from friends and church members after the election, and then invite them to join me in looking at the day’s texts to see if there’s something that speaks to us. So I’m going to dive in and do a little reading, a little writing, an hopefully stop back soon with a draft of a sermon.

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    1. Thanks for coming to the party. There are some good thoughts in previous comments about the Luke text, if you want to browse for ideas. Prayers for you, and your grieving families.

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  21. I’m here–9pm central time, 0 words on the page. Spent some time wallowing this week and now feel behind on a number of things on both the home and work fronts. I’m preaching Isaiah 6 and considering starting with 2 Chronicles 26 to note that Uzziah was a good king, “until he got powerful” at which point he ceased caring about people who weren’t him or seeing things his way. The last year(s) of his life were fraught and the transition to a new king doesn’t seem to have been smooth…and Isaiah does not appear to have been as active as perhaps he should have been in the midst of the drama. I like the idea of him seeing this vision and offering his confession that he hasn’t used his voice in ways he ought to have done, and then essentially being re-dedicated to his task. Subtext may or may not be about how we did not speak up when we saw power being misused, but now we have a second chance…

    It’s stewardship commitment Sunday, which means both that people turn in their monetary pledges for next year AND that they pledge their time to a season team for next year…we have special music involving a steel drum player…I don’t think I have much time, really, so I need to say whatever I’m going to say in about 800 words. Or fewer, if I can. I have no idea how to get all the things in.

    It’s a little chilly tonight so I have caramel apple tea to share. caffeine free, for those who plan to go to bed tonight…

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    1. I love the idea of going back to Chronicles, but with your tight time frame, that’s a lot of unfamiliar (I assume) backstory to explain. Prayers for you and your congregation. (And slightly jealous of drums)

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  22. It’s nearly 10pm, I have a plan for the children’s sermon and a draft of the grown-up sermon. There will be at least one more round of editing tonight and probably another read-through in the morning, but I’m calling it close enough for now. Blessings to those still writing!

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    2. I’m stumped on what to do with my children’s message? The text is Isaiah 65:17-25, is that what you are using too? Would you be willing to share any ideas with me?

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  23. Preachers, I’m headed to bed. Stay here and party as long as you need to. I’ll check back when it’s morning in my time zone.

    Prayers for each of you as you carry out this good and difficult and heavy and blessed work.

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  24. I’m late stopping by, but I do have a sermon to share, on the RCL Luke reading. This is my chance to speak to the vote the congregation will take next Sunday, because unfortunately they meeting was scheduled for a week I will be preaching elsewhere. It’s all part of letting go of this overlong interim, and it’s good that I won’t be there in terms of moving forward for everyone, but it also means I’m putting a lot of weight on this week’s words at a time when there are too many things to talk about even without considering the local situation. https://marthaspong.com/2016/11/12/falling-upward/

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  25. 11:20pm and I have a sermon that I think will work. Maybe. It’s about 200 words too long and I might just be okay with that.
    I went with almost an extended meditation on “who will go?” …to offer comfort, to offer challenge, to live as if the good news is true, to both feed the hungry and ask our leaders why there are people who are hungry, to stand up for those who are hurting or being abused, and to stand aside to allow other stories to be heard….etc.
    I also modernized my imagining of Isaiah’s confession:
    “When the man full of pride and power used and abused people, I was silent.
    When the man who accumulated the wealth of surrounding nations turned his back on those who had built his cities, I was silent.
    When the man who believed his position allowed him to do anything actually did unspeakable things, I was silent.
    Instead I spoke in generalities, I spoke to others rather than to him, I spoke of happier topics, I made excuses, I spoke in cryptic metaphors meant only for the few who were already in the know.”

    and, somehow, at the last, got from there to a sentence of stewardship. oh yeah.

    clearly time for bed. 🙂

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