Water Jugs into Wine Jars

Anyone who read the earliest remaining post on this blog was given a link to Jason Boyett's post about "Cognitive Surplus" and being an active participant in our reality. It was the last straw on the back pf the camel that was carrying my excuses for not being more productive in the blogoshpere; a major no-no for the trendy aspiring writer. Unfortunately, any posts this past week would have put me into a "Cognitive Deficit" that would have been pretty inconvinient.

In the absence of our pastor, I am often tapped to fill the pulipit on Sunday morning. It is a task I relish and am known to, often times, throw myself into. With the benefit of knowing when I will be preaching several months in advance would seem to give me an advangtage in the preparation of the sermons. However, I sometimes try to fit my preparation time into the constraints that are placed on weekly preachers to benefit my future disciplines (and congregation). Which is what I tried to do this week. I knew what verses I would be using, and a vague sense that I needed to speak, to some degree, on the idea of purpose as it relates to our identities and our assurance as believers.

I began the week with just that basic level of knowing what message I was going to deliver. I began the week trusting God would deliver the perfect metaphor to draw it out of scripture and push it into the lives of His people, as He always does. I finally had some time wednesday evening to sit and pray about the metaphor He had for us, but didn't get it. I got a little more clarity on the four main things He wanted me to convey, but no metaphor. Thursday came and went with little down time, and even less inspiriation. Friday was some more of the same. As saturday morning gave way to saturday evening and night (spent at my full time job), I became a little nervous.

As I sat, near midnight, staring at a page with the four concepts I had written on it a few days before staring back at me, I was nearing desperation. The week before had sapped much of what I had in me. My mental exhaustion and physical fatigue were coupled with a spiritual malase that was not my norm. So I put my earbuds in and sought inspiration from my ipod. As I sat, listening to Tullian Tcivigian teach, I got distracted by my dog and cat playfully wrestling their way through the livingroom. It was like a switch going on. Every one of the four things I felt called to expose from the text was embodied by my dog and her journey from being a wimpering APL mutt to the joyful border collie/lab mix she is today. From that point on, the sermon wrote itself.

I can't speak on how it is with other preachers, but this is becoming more and more indicitive of how He and I relate as I move forward in the preaching area of my carreer. It has me very much feeling like I am one of the containers of water at the Cana wedding. I carry around the watered down, basic ideas (themselves put there by Someone else) for however long. At the last second, Jesus steps in and makes something just-other-enough to be seen as special out of what I've been carrying around, sometimes for months. In this way, these last minute fits of inspiration, I am blessed to feel the humility of knowing that the message is not my own. I am spared the burden of pride. I pray it has allowed me to receive the compliments with the proper mix of glory-giving and appreciattion for what God has done for me, both in how He has gifted me and choosen to use me in my oft broken state...