Positively Substituted but Still Sure of Grace

Jane Els here. I am being punished for remarks I made that Nancy had fallen into bad habits and wasn't posting on a daily basis anymore. She came up to me in the middle of the Passing of the Peace yesterday and said something about did I want to be Positively Indecisive while she went out of town.

To start with, a person should never agree to anything presented to you in church. You are far too full of the Holy Spirit and agreeable in the house of the Lord. But it's always so hectic at church that I wasn't really sure what I had agreed to until she emailed me the password to this blog. Apparently I am to start immediately and continue until "Tuesday." This Tuesday? Next Tuesday? Tuesday Weld?

I can do the writing part in a half-assed way. I do that all the time. It's the Praying part that Nancy does here that will be new to me. Maybe that's the first prayer: Lord, give me words.

The sermon yesterday was a great one to comment on. I had the added benefit of hearing it twice at two different services. And I DO mean different. We have an alternative/experiential worship at 8:30 and traditional at 11. (Except it's not really 11, it's 10:50. Who on earth came up with that time, anyway? It makes no sense. But I digress.)

Anne set the stage very vividly for Christ's entrance to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. As he entered on a donkey through the East gate, Pontius Pilate's army entered by the West gate. Anne's question at the end of the sermon was "Which procession did we want to be part of?"

The humble, meek and non-violent procession or the powerful military procession? But then she also threw a bunch of facts out to confuse us. The truth is that the world's future is changing and the people who used to be in charge won't be much longer. The minority will soon be the majority. The last will soon be first and the first, last. Does that change which procession I march in? Where do I line up and what if I get in the wrong line?

Dear God,
Put us in the line you want us in. Help our congregation grow the way you want us to grow. When we get confused help us to understand that we don't really have to understand as much as love. And, please, dear God, give me some words to use until Nancy gets home.
Amen.