I got more positive feedback on yesterday's sermon than on any I've preached at Faith Lutheran Church. It's about Mary and Martha and the different ways we serve, while stressing that Martha is doing important work, diakonia, the work of the church. Yet she is still distracted by many things, and Jesus invites her to be free of her worries and anxiety. He offers that invitation to us too.
You can view it here.
If you'd like to read along, the manuscript version is in this blog post (but the end is slightly different--there are several extra sentences in the recording).
I was intrigued that it spoke to people in different ways--I'm always intrigued when that happens. My hope, of course, is that God speaks to people through the sermon, that they come away with connections.
We had a special guest, although I didn't know who he was until the end of the service--it was the pastor that served as interim before the interim that was before me. He stood up during announcement time and talked about what a treat it was for him to visit and get to hear marvelous preaching. I don't think he was just being nice/polite.
The sanctuary was filled with a positive energy all morning, and that doesn't always happen. Happily, it's rarely a negative energy, but I can often tell when people are tired or subdued.
Yesterday was not one of those lower energy days, and I returned home happy that all had gone well and that people are still happy to have me as their minister, two years and two months into this adventure.
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