Preparing to Begin

I am preparing to love and lead a new congregation.   This verse sounds like a very good place to start.  

A Scripture to Begin   I Corinthians 2:1-5 

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. 

A Favorite Quote:

Maybe the best thing that could happen to the church would be for some great tidal wave of history to wash it all away – the church buildings tumbling, the church money all lost, the church bulletins blowing through the air like dead leaves, the differences between preachers and congregations all lost too.  Then all we would have left would be each other and Christ, which was all there was in the first place.

Frederick Buechner, The Clown in the Belfry, San Francisco: Harper, 1992. 

Monday Morning

The sun is up and so am I - which is unusual.   I am less and less a morning person but when I am up  - well it's kind of nice.  Quiet, calm, in South Louisiana a little moist.  a place to settle my soul before the day begins and this day will have a lot in it.  I am between places.  One place I love deeply and another I am preparing to love.  Things to finish and things to begin. 

Help me to stand in the middle today - one foot each in a new place and time - and even in the middle help me to be faithful. 

Amen

Monday Morning