My minds is whirling with many thoughts, ideas, reflections, and concerns. No clarity is coming, no place of focus or start. I am uncertain where it will lead, but somehow words need to be formed, ideas collated, so that when words escape my lips in a weeks time they will be reflective on the life and witness of the One who came and the love and grace of the Eternal Creating One.
Perhaps this sermon struggles to be birth as it is for an unknown situation. In the past I have preached in congregations both known and unknown to me, but all within the tradition I am part of. I have preached in settings where I have been the only Community of Christ member present, but in those cases I have known the people I shared with. In a weeks time on the 30 of December the First Sunday after Christmas the words that I am to share are to two congregations I have never met and of a tradition not my own. How will they respond to a Community of Christ sermon? Will I be able to cross the barriers of translation adequately enough that those two United Methodist congregations can with the Grace of the Eternal and assistance of the Holy Spirit gain a glimpse at that grace, love, and peace of the peaceable kingdom I am called to share and call people to as a disciple of Christ?
It will be an interesting experience, and my hope will be, as it always is when I preach, that the message formed by the words that escape from my lips is a message that at least one who is present, be it I or another is in need of at that time and place on their communal and individual paths of life and discipleship. Perhaps come Tuesday when it is the season of celebrating the birth rather than anticipating the birth my mind will clear and come to focus?
(The congregations I will be preaching at are the congregations a friend of mine, and fellow seminarian, is the pastor of and are located in Galion, OH.)
Peace be with you in this Advent season,
— Lyle II