So much to do, so close to Le Tour..

Right, so I have not just one, but two sermons to write. And I'm the only priest from my parish in town at the moment, so am on call in case of "pastoral emergency" (such as the ding-dang fire alarm going off at the church again...), but what I just realized is that it is only ONE WEEK to the start of the Tour de France. Woohoo! Here's how to have a perfect July day:

1. Wake up early
2. Make Coffee and put it in the carafe so it doesn't get all burnt tasting
3. Settle in to the best spot on the couch
4. Tune TV toVs. (formerly OLN) and watch the early, live, coverage of the Tour
5. When the stage is finished, go to beach or pool

Really, it doesn't get much better than that. OK, right, actually being in France for the race would be better, but isn't terribly likely in my world right now, so this is the best I can do. Biggest challenge of the month? Rest days! Yuck, no Tour. Those are really great days for sleeping in though...

And about those two sermons, well I'm actually not as far behind as I thought I was. The Revised Common Lectionary (see here for an explanation of that strange term) is quite handy in that it keeps blocks of text together, and works through the Scriptures in a much more continuous way than BCP did. It's more like the Daily Office readings, and offers the chance to experience the stories in context. Of course, that's only true if you actually stick to the lectionary and don't keep inserting texts that you like better. Not that I know anyone who would do that...

So, here's a preview of what I'm thinking to preach about tomorrow and next week. (You can stop reading now if this is of no interest to you, I promise I won't be offended. Really.) This Sunday's Gospel is Luke 9:51-62, the very end of Chapter 9. And it starts off with a bang--Jesus set his face to Jerusalem. Doh! Don't you just wish he wasn't so dag on clear. Setting his face--what's up with that? All singularity of purpose and what not. The Jesus we like is the one who just meanders around being nice and doing miracles (we're particularly fond of the ones with wine and food, thank you very much!). This dude is headed right into trouble. Jerusalem! Hey--that's not where you want to go, do you know what happens to prophets there? Oh, what's that, you do know? Oh, OK. Alright then, sign me up. I want to follow you, but could you just wait a minute, I've got some things to see to. And so it goes--Jesus lays out the mission and calls us to follow and we really and truly want to go along with him, but, being good humans we can always find something to hold us back, some really good excuse why it's just not possible right now. That's this week.

Next week, is the opening of Chapter 10 in Luke's Gospel, wherein Jesus commissions either 70 or 72 missionaries (bit of a translation issue there...). Having dealt with our lack of commitment in the previous passage, he now gives us marching orders. Mission is clearly defined for us. A commentary I read said this

"The sending out of the 70 (or 72)...reminds us that Jesus sent out not just the Twelve, but perhaps all of his followers. A few churches still send out members on mission, sharing their faith door to door, but most churches have abandoned that practice. More than ever, therefore, the church must struggle with its understanding of its mission. Having abandoned one traditional form or expression of that mission, has the church abandoned its mission entirely?" (New Interpreters Bible, Volume IX)

Ouch. How are we responding to the call on our lives?

OK, now to actually write the sermons. And get ready for the bike race.