Claimed, gathered and sent

Today is the last day of my internship in  Petersburg,WV. This is the sermon I  preached today. The gospel text is Matthew 10:40-42.   It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness... (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities ) These are the opening lines to Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, a novel set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. I’d like to take the point and title of Dickens’ work and just tweak it a bit for the purpose of this morning’s message. I call it A Tale of Two Churches. I got acquainted with Church One during my first year of seminary. It was my teaching parish. That’s where I spent most Sundays engaging in a variety of roles--student, assisting minister, and sometimes preacher and teacher. I will never forget my very first Sunday there. The ...

Emotions have been running high for the last week as we say good-bye to so many dear friends. It all started last Tuesday evening at a picnic with a small prayer group we have been a part of for some time. Dessert included well wishes, gifts, and prayers. It was overwhelming. Saturday evening was spent at dinner with long time friends of Ray's and the above process was repeated. By then I couldn't even read the card out loud through the tears. Sunday was the culminating event of the group good-byes, our last Sunday at Emanuel Lutheran Church , our spiritual home for the last five years; since my arrival in RI. The good folks there have encouraged me in the call to ministry and the journey that entails. Before the dismissal, our pastor called us forward so everyone could pray for us. We were presented with a lovely gift box of cards, letters, and gifts from our faith community, followed by a coffee hour in our honor. Again we were owerwhelmed. We had been concerned about finance...