Sunday 12/19/10

As we move to the end of Advent we also move to the end of the extra church services I'm leading. It's been a tiring time. In fact, with a lot of travel during the Thanksgiving week, I frankly feel like someone who has been working seven days a week since the start of September.  But tomorrow we reach the end of the sermons about the O Antiphons. We also reach the last of the many many consecutive work days, as my school classes are on vacation for the next two weeks, I don't need to travel anywhere, and will have some down time for the next couple of weeks.

Because we had a cancellation last Sunday evening I get to use my sermon planned for that time tomorrow morning. As we consider "Rex Gentium" we'll imagine what life would be like if we lived in a world without God. It would be a confusing place indeed.

During the afternoon we'll be on the run pretty hard. Lots of fun to be had but we can expect to be worn down. There's a pizza lunch, a rehearsal for Friday evening's service at St. Paul's (which will be a different service than the one at Trinity), taking communion to a shut-in couple, caroling at a nursing home, a choir concert to catch as a spectator, a soup and sandwich supper at Trinity, then an evening service at Trinity.

In the evening service we reach the last of the O Antiphons, "Emmanuel." Jesus is God with us, exactly the one we need. We'll sing all seven verses of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, in the order they are traditionally sung on Christmas Eve. In that order, the names of God have initials spelling out ERO CRAS - "I will be (there) tomorrow." 

I'm so glad I've been able to spend the last four months bringing God's promises to these congregations. In the next couple of months they will start seeing people they may wish to call as their permanent pastor. I hope I can leave that pastor with congregations which have been nurtured in their faith, holding joyfully to God's promises. As we move into January I'm looking for links in the appointed Scripture passages to encourage the saints in their relationship with their new pastor when he arrives.

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com