Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the message I shared with the people of Grace Lutheran Church, Petersburg, WV. The gospel text is Matthew 24:36-44 . How many of us have taken road trips with small children? What is the universal question all children ask? “Are we there yet?” It might as well be an eternity before they arrive at grandma and grandpa’s or whatever the destination. I don’t like to wait either. When Ray and I are on a long trip, we have our GPS on the dash and it displays our expected arrival time at our destination. I must admit that I get a certain pleasure if traffic is moving along and we’re making good time and seeing the time get earlier, even by a minute or two. This is one type of waiting, but there are other kinds that are not as pleasant. It’s not easy to wait for medical test results, especially if something is wrong. We worry and are scared of the unknown. If we can at least name it, we can begin to deal with it. It is the unknown that is so hard to handle. Early in this chapter of

The semester is nearly done. I have two finals, then we're off to be with family for Christmas in Rochester, NY and New Years in RI. When we return in Jan., then I will be spending 2 1/2 weeks (3 Sundays) in Western MD/WV for my Jan. term. Today I supplied at Bender's Lutheran Church in Biglerville, PA, where I have spent the fall semester. The text was Luke 3:7-18 http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=127729731. Most of you know Amity, my husband, Ray’s Seeing Eye dog. She is half-black lab and half-golden retriever. Some of her physical and emotional traits are those of a lab, while others are those of a golden. Now we know she is a cross of only these two breeds, but she often acts as though she has a third breed in her, a pointer. The reason for this is, no matter what Amity is doing, when she’s outside she’s very curious. If she hears a car, sees another dog, or someone she knows, she freezes and stops and looks in the direction of whatever

Because yesterday was part of Thanksgiving weekend, I did not have teaching parish at Rural Lutheran. I love being involved there, but had forgotten how wonderful it is to simply participate in Sunday worship and not be responsible for anything in the service! I enjoyed sitting with Ray and friends. I have heard how important it is for pastors to intentionally make opportunities for worship and sabbath. Though my responsibilities on Sundays are nothing compared to Rural Pastor's, I'm beginning to have a better understanding of why I keep hearing that. After worship, we went to lunch with a classmate and h er parents. It was so relaxing and enjoyable.--and yummy! The day was then crowned with LTSG's annual Advent Vespers which is a beautiful, amazing service. We had a wonderful ushering in of the Advent season. fllickr and Music Gettysburg! pictures

Please take a look at Clint's post on sabbath rest , particularly as we approach Advent. It's a challenging read. What do you do to add sabbath to your busy days? For myself, night prayer, or compline, nicely closes the day and helps me to remember why I'm here at seminary. Flickr picture

Read what Internet Monk has to say about Advent our need of a savior. http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/the-mood-of-advent-we-all-need-a-savior

Here is a link to the lectionary readings and prayers for this week in preparation for the 2nd Sunday in Advent. It's from the Lutheran Zephyr blog. The link is http://www.lutheranzephyr.com/main/2007/12/daily-prayer-ar.html

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the new church year. I have come across an online Advent calendar. This is the URL http://www.markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/adventpictures2007.htm. "The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned" (Mt 4:16).