this is no longer my blog

i struggled with writing a sermon for this weekend. i spent a lot of time staring at the computer screen, playing computer games [whilst "taking a break" from sermon writing], lamenting that I had to write a sermon, realizing that due to my schedule for friday evening and saturday morning i didn't have as much time to procrastinate as normal. i was not excited about writing this sermon, and when i finally managed to squeeze one out i was not impressed. i was sure the pastor and the congregation would realize that i had produced something sub-par. i thought i'd just get some polite smiles and handshakes from parishioniers on their way out of the sanctuary.
ain't that funny.
so i was up preaching this sermon, and i thought i noticed kind of a hushed silence from the congregation. all eyes were on me (no one was sleeping, or reading the bulletin, or zoning out [if they were zoning out, at least they were zoning in my direction]). at one point in my sermon i even kind of got choked up, when i was talking about wars and nations rising against nations, because i thought of my brother stationed near fallujah, iraq. so maybe it was that i was preaching with more emotion than normal... i don't know. but i really felt like this sermon was coming from somewhere deep inside as i preaached it.
ain't that funny.
and far from polite smiles and handshakes i got some great feedback. one woman said "killer sermon" and on one of my sermon response sheets, someone wrote that it was one they would have liked to have heard more of. i was stunned. this was not the reaction i was expecting AT ALL. people actually liked this sermon that i was sure they were merely going to tolerate.
ain't that funny.
God works in mysterious ways, my friends... God can speak even through those things that we think are crap. God can take something that we're not proud of, and turn it into something meaningful. i was lucky enough to not just witness that this evening, but participate in it. to be a recipient. i'm pretty lucky.
ain't that funny.....