Priming the Pump

So the past few years I have been something of the understudy at the parish I serve. I was hired as a layperson after seminary, granted an exception to the rules to serve as Vicar, and then called as associate pastor after ordination. At Christmas time, I always took a back seat. We have three Christmas services, and I was always asked to preach at the early, kid-oriented service. This year, I was asked to do the other services, including the 11:00 pm service, where I will preach and preside at the Holy Eucharist. I am really excited about this!

So today is my normal work from day, and I am sitting here in the home office listening to the Akathist hymn and trying to write a sermon. I figured I needed to do a little pump-priming to get the writing going, so here I blog.

This weekend ended up pretty nice. We went to the Christmas party Friday night which wasn’t as rough as I thought it would be. There was good wine and good food, and we all seemed to enjoy one another’s company.

Saturday was exceptionally good. Mrs. LP and I had a day alone. We drove around for a while, ended up at a Greek place for lunch, and had a great time just being together for change. Work never came up! We talked and lingered which is a rarity indeed. We then headed over to Ikea and picked up the laminate flooring that I am going to install after Christmas (please pray for me…I’ve never done this before). We were also looking for a new sofa. At one point in our massive sofa sit-in, I looked across at her and remembered how fortunate I am that we ended up as a family. Even shopping furniture was somehow exciting, because I knew it was going in to our home. To top the evening off, I bought a compound miter saw with laser sites.

Sunday was pretty good as well. We did the church thing, I had a couple of meetings, took a nap, and then went back for youth worship. We do youth worship about once a quarter. Last night probably fell into what we would call an emergent style of worship. The music was contemporary yet meditative. There was lots of candles and incense. At one point in the service, the youth were invited to light candles at an icon table and say prayers of preparation for the coming of the Feast of the Nativity. I gave a short sermon, and we celebrated Holy Eucharist in a smoky, candle-lit chancel. I found it meaningful personally. It was very contemplative. Then the family went out and had Mexican food, and returned to watch cartoons.

So here I sit today, thinking about preaching on Nativity, and trying to put together a collection of stray thoughts. At this point, all I know is that CS Lewis seems to be occupying a prominent place in my brain, and will undoubtedly be in the sermon.