Ruminations about hermeneutics, theology, theory, politics, ecclesiastical life… and exercise.
Not my colleague the Hebrew Bible scholar, but the day I will be devoting time to my conference paper on ‘John, Jesus, and Jolene’ for this year’s BNTS conference in Manchester. I woke up and ran, another average day. Fruit and coffee, shower, Morning Prayer, coffee and toast, then research and write on the problem of the Samaritan woman of John 4.
Satisfactory run this morning, still improving my rolling average (though that’ll end next time, since this morning’s average run displaced a slow morning five runs ago); coffee and fruit, showered and dressed, Morning Prayer, public office hours at R&R in the market square, morning email and digital paperwork. Nothing timetabled for the afternoon, so I’ll see about knocking out some more words for my essay (presentation is doing well enough pro tem.
One of my axioms for student preachers is always to remember to preach about death and other hard circumstances in good weather, when things are going smoothly. No one has ears receptive to catechesis when they’re grieving; the time to lay foundations for themes to which you’ll return when needed is at a time when there’s as little stress in the congregation as you’re likely to encounter any time. Some clouds hover over dear brethren at St Helen’s, but this seemed as sunny a Sunday as I was likely to see in the near future, so I undertook a sermon that I deposit as savings against a spiritually rainier day. The sermon itself appears below the fold, as it were.
Continue reading “The Sun Shining”
Good morning run, better time than average for the second day in a row (dragging my rolling average to a faster time), fruit and coffee, shower and dress, coffee and toast, once-over for the sermon, and off to church for the 10:30 service.
Beginning this afternoon, I have no extra ecclesiastical responsibilities till Friday, when I deacon for Friday Paul at the Mass for the Assumption at St Michael’s. This past week, four sermons in eight days with a funeral and wedding; this coming week, smoother sailing.
My run went all right, anyway. I have a wedding this afternoon, and before then I will burnish the homily for the wedding, and (and I hope not also ‘after the wedding’) prepare tomorrow’s sermon. I think that will be enough.
Having been offline for most of the summer, I wasn’t able to post here my acknowledgements of Jim Parkinson, one of the great men of letters of our time, and Bishop Peter Elliott, a great Catholic liturgical teacher.
And today is St Dominic’s Day, and as well as honouring the spiritual figure whom I so admire for catalysing a unity of scholarship and proclamation I try to uphold, the day reminds me of the last Van Morrison album that really comprehensively sank into my spirit (Moondance, His Band and the Street Choir, and St Dominic’s Preview; Tupelo Honey just didn’t register with me…).
Very good run this morning, well faster than average without pushing. Fruit and coffee, clean up, Morning Prayer, check messages at the parish centre, work on homilies, wedding rehearsal… I think that’s my Friday.
This is, what, five six big days in a row online? The battle-hardened heroes at Exact have identified an Albanian IP address that seems to want to shut me down. You may ask yourself, Why bother? What on earth would motivate anyone to block a site that gets about twenty-five hits a day (maybe more, I haven’t been checking) (Ouch, I just checked, and it’s closer to just twenty hits a day.)? Such is the nature of human perversity.
Yesterday’s funeral went smoothly. The contingent of bikers probably raised some eyebrows on Park Road, but friends show up to honour their friends, and I think we can safely predict that our deceased brother will not make a habit of drawing his colleagues to more funerals.
Now, to settle a wedding sermon for Saturday and a regular Sunday sermon for the Transfiguration (transferred) at St Helen’s. I’m hav ing a greeat time working on my academic essays; retirement beckons, when I can spend as much time reading and writing as I want, on my own timetable. More than a year away, but glimmering on the horizon!
I did time myself this morning, for another very average run. My legs were stiff, but not unwilling. I’m cooling down with fruit and coffee, then will clean up and go to Morning Prayer. Time will tell whether we go to R&R this morning; the suspense is unbearable.
I didn’t run this morning — dead legs, so I walked most of the way with occasional short tests of my limbs’ willingness (all tests negative). Hot breakfast and coffee, shower and dress, Morning Prayer, finalise and print sermon, funeral at St Michael’s, then home to read and write more. The journey of one essay, one presentation, and a seemingly endless stream of sermons begins with a single word. Two, ideally; or even more.
I did read a good bit and write a few words for my next essay, spent some time thinking about my upcoming paper at BNTS, and wrote some of the sermon for Wednesday, on top of taking the Communion service for Bridge House — so yesterday I had a full dance card.
This morning’s run was practically spot-on my five day rolling average. I caught myself at least once, thinking ‘I should pick up my pace!’, but self-awareness protected me from getting drawn into self-competition. Coffee, fruit, shower, Morning Prayer, then presumably home to work on academic and homiletical pursuits. I’ll also take a minute or two to work on the nib of a pen that’s been running dry.
Yesterday morning’s sermon went all right, and Margaret and I enjoyed a plesant cup of coffee (tea) in the square after church. I did get a tiny bit of work done on my current essay debt in the afternoon, but step by step is how it will get done. The rest was rest and reading and writing a sermon for Wednesday.
This morning’s run came in at a pretty average time. I’m sipping coffee and nibbling grapes, will shortly shower and dress before Morning Prayer, then back to R&R in the square. I’ll stop in at a care home midafternoon….
I haven’t been able to post sermons for most of July, so weeks of preaching are clogging up the pipes. I’ll post several below the fold, as it were (‘“As it was” — we know this to be true from our Prayerbooks’, as my father used to say).
Continue reading “Sermon Backlog”