Monday morning

Unlike most people, I love Monday mornings. That song by the Mamas and the Papas is a classic, but I just don't share the senitment. That's probably because I don't work on Mondays - one of the things about working for Habitat where Saturdays are the busiest for me. Today I'm especially happy because I got thru church yesterday without any mishaps. YAY! :) I have a lot of people to thank for that and thought, "why not do it on my blog where they and other people will actually see it so they get the recognition?"

First of all, thank you to trouble for proofreading, bolstering my self esteem, reminding me to breathe and actually sitting thru church when I know there were at least 3 other places she would have preferred to be. I love you, honey!

Secondly, thank you to RevHipchick (she is no longer seminarymamma since she graduated almost a month ago). Not only is she one of my best friends, she's also a great ear for my sermons. This is not the first time that she's listened to my writing and offered great advice to make it a sermon I was okay claiming and proclaiming. She's also one of the people for whom I was filling in this week and had several conversations with me about all the detailed questions I had (because that's the kind of person I am). She walked me thru everything and helped me feel more comfortable, even taking the time to have a long phone call the night before while she was out of town. Thanks, chica!

Thirdly, I have to thank PastorRed since he was the one who actually asked me to cover Sunday morning. He's the interim pastor for this congregation and I know he's still finding his rhythm there. While he was going to be at annual conference he could have asked other people, including retired ministers in the congregation, to cover the pulpit. Not only did he ask me, he gave me time to mull it over. Believe me - I did not say I'd do this very quickly! Thank you for your patience and confidence in me. :)

Lastly, but no means leastly, thank you to the rest of you out there who offered advice, support, encouragement, etc. Some of you are in the blogosphere, some of you are personal friends here in KC or from OKC, and some are family members who are still figuring out how I of all people managed to become someone who would be seen as any kind of spiritual leader. I've always known that I had good people around me and it's in times like this that I'm most thankful for the community God has allowed me to build through the years.

I know some of you have asked what I was preaching about - the lectionary text was Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 and then I added Hosea 6:1-6 since Jesus quotes it in the Matthew reading. For some reason this congregation generally is only using one text each week (which I have theological issues with, but I worked around it). If you want to read a copy of it, I can email it to you. Just leave me a comment or send me an email. The title was "What do you see?" and generally talked about how we're called to show each other love and mercy because that's what God has already done for us. A basic idea, but one that needs to be heard repeatedly. :)