This weekend we started another session in ELM. We are now in the 'Preaching' section of our education. We spent the weekend with the Rev. Dr. Sue Gallagher. Sue is a retired Pastor of the UCC tradition and currently lives in California. She has been teaching the Preaching section of ELM since the beginning of the ELM program. At that time she was a minister in Iowa, but she is so dedicated to the program that she has continued to come back to Nebraska every three years to share her knowledge on Preaching with a new class of Lay Ministers. Sue is a very gifted teacher and has a razor sharp wit which helps her to bond with people quickly.
During the majority of our next month's class we will be holding a "Preach-A-Thon" at the UCC Church in Hastings. We selected times to do our sermons and I chose to go at 8pm on Friday night. I'm hoping we can work it out so that Gail and Maddie can go along and spend the night with me in Hastings and then drive back home on Saturday morning.
All of the sermons will cover sections in the book of Acts and we drew lots to see which verses we would be asked to preach from. I drew what may be one of the more difficult sections to preach to Acts 1:1-14. I'm thinking at this time that the title of my sermon will be "Why are we still looking up?".
Acts 1:1-14
New Century Version (NCV)
1 To Theophilus.
The first book I wrote was about everything Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day he was taken up into heaven. Before this, with the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus told the apostles he had chosen what they should do. 3 After his death, he showed himself to them and proved in many ways that he was alive. The apostles saw Jesus during the forty days after he was raised from the dead, and he spoke to them about the kingdom of God. 4 Once when he was eating with them, he told them not to leave Jerusalem. He said, “Wait here to receive the promise from the Father which I told you about.5 John baptized people with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 When the apostles were all together, they asked Jesus, “Lord, are you now going to give the kingdom back to Israel?”
7 Jesus said to them, “The Father is the only One who has the authority to decide dates and times. These things are not for you to know. 8 But when the Holy Spirit comes to you, you will receive power. You will be my witnesses—in Jerusalem, in all of Judea, in Samaria, and in every part of the world.”
9 After he said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud hid him from their sight.10 As he was going, they were looking into the sky. Suddenly, two men wearing white clothes stood beside them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking into the sky? Jesus, whom you saw taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go.”
12 Then they went back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. (This mountain is about half a mile from Jerusalem.) 13 When they entered the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon (known as the Zealot), and Judas son of James were there. 14 They all continued praying together with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus’ brothers.
We're getting down to near the end of our ELM process and everyone in the class is starting to feel the sadness of knowing we'll soon be ending this bonding experience that we've enjoyed for nearly three years now. Some of the previous ELM classes continue to have 'reunions' and I certainly expect our group will try to meet again from time to time through the years. It's a great mixture of people that we have and it's been a genuine treasure growing through this process with them all.
Today we woke up to freezing rain which turned to snow (and it's continued to snow all day long!). We had planned to go to Church at 8:30 but Gail forgot to set the alarm when she went to bed and I woke up first, but we didn't have time for everyone to get ready for early Church. Madeline was scheduled to work at 11:00 but I didn't want her driving in this weather so we skipped Church and I drove her to work and then picked her up later to bring her home.
After she got done with work Maddie and I went to the gym to workout. I was a good workout for me even though I have had to baby my shoulders along lately. Currently both of my shoulders are barking at me (I'm alternating ice on them right now) and I have had to scale back my workouts a bit the last few weeks. Today was chest & back night and even with my bum shoulders I worked up to a good heavy 4 sets of 5 reps on Inclines and came within 10 lbs of my previous best on Hammer Strength High Rows. I'm just about to the point where I will scale back for a few weeks before revving up and taking another run at the heavy weights. It's a good thing too, as my body needs the break.
Today I pulled out some reference materials and started reading in preparation of my sermon on Acts. In one way I'm looking forward to ending ELM as I've got a large stack of books which I very much want to read. In spite of having all the books from Jesse I've of course continued to occasionally visit "1/2 Price Books" and purchase more. LOL, I confess that I have a serious problem in that I can't resist purchasing interesting books. The good news is they're all books that will aid me in my ministry in the future.
I hope you all have a very blessed and for those involved in the weather here in the Midwest I pray you all have a safe week as well.
In His absolute and abundant Grace,
Roy
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