Claimed, gathered and sent

The last couple of weeks I've had the opportunity to ask myself what I would do with various situations if I encountered these situations as a pastor in my first call. I'm glad that these instances are occurring during internship. Here I have the opportunity to learn from a very wise and experienced pastor as my supervisor.   Good self-care is one of the issues we are working through. I am on my second round of prednisone for my asthma which has been troubling me. I'm not sleeping well at night because of the cough and wheezing associated with it. I have responsibilities and duties in the church and for the members of Grace. When I saw the doctor Thurs., he was concerned about my nasty cough. This week I was scheduled to go to the nursing home to visit members there. I knew I wasn't contagious, but was uncertain as to whether or not it was a good idea for me to go there, so I asked him. The last time I was at the nursing home, there was a lot of respiratory stuff goin...

We may have our plans and schedules, but then there are God's. Internship continues to be simultaneously a delight and challenge. My supervisor has been called upon by the bishop to be involved on a part time basis helping out a nearby church. This increases my preaching responsibilities. I imagine there will be other additional duties as well. This is exciting and at the same time makes me cry out to God for wisdom and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. My husband, Ray, and I are football fans. The analogy that immediately came to mind was that of  a backup quarterback in football. My supervisor would be the starting quarterback. Only he needs to spend some time leading a different team. I am being called upon to step up and lead the Grace Lutheran team in a greater measure. Of course, this is what daily ministry consists of. We have one idea of how the line up will look, but God has another. God's will and plans for Grace and this other church are good....

I posted this article on Facebook yesterday and got some great feedback from fellow seminarians and recent grads. What do those of you think who are pastors and lay people in the churches? Features February 23, 2010 Enough about me There is no 'I' in preach by William Brosend The combination is toxic, a perfect homiletical storm. A recent seminary graduate comes to her first parish, moving halfway across the country with her fiancé soon to follow. Sermon after sermon includes a story about a seminary classmate, about how much she loves the place where she used to live and how different "home" is from her new community and, inevitably, about how her wedding plans remind her of something in the epistle. In another pulpit, a preacher approaching retirement has disc...