Internship Update

Since shutting down my other blog - which was getting too personal even for my close friends - there is no where to get info on my internship. Admittedly, I am not above emailing a whole whack of people to tell them how it is going, but really if people want to know they will ask. So if you are one of the few that care he it is:

I did my first real sermon last week. Sermons are weird. If the congregation likes it you are as likely to have done a poor one as a good one. The sermons that some churches need to hear would really piss off the regulars. So don't read too much into the fact that I got very good feedback from my sermon. We are taught to give sermons that focus on the positive rather than the negative. I'm more of a fire and brimstone person so I really hate doing that. But this congregation is so perfect I was having a hard time imagining ever calling them to task. So I did one of warning. I think God would be satisfied with my attempt - its so hard to say.

Today I was supposed to do the children's message. There were only two children and neither of them looked old enough to understand my message on hope and neither looked to excited to come and sit up on the "stage" - I gotta find out the churchy name for it. So I led the congregation in prayer over them that children this young would not know despair for some time and therefore not need to long for hope. And I extended it out to the children who have grown old too fast. This is the other weird thing about leading worship. Something that is off the cuff and not planned out speaks to someone. The person leading worship today commented before the congregational prayer that my words really spoke to him and helped him. This is why you can't measure a sermon. The Holy Spirit helps people hear what they need. I have no idea how this person connected to what I said but luckily it is not all up to me.

So, I am having a good time. It is the perfect church which is supposed to be a myth. I have a friend who told me Living Hope in Peterborough is also a perfect church. So there are two out there. I have decided to prepare for seminary. I am taking Greek next year on the off chance I get a job in ministry and can go to Sem part time (the Greek will allow me to do that more easily).

Thanks for reading!