Back from vacation

I have returned from vacation and from meetings the last two days. During the time that I was off, Nancy and I had the opportunity to visit other churches in the area. One was at Syracuse where Rev. Tony Dawson is appointed. Tony was one of the pastors who pushed me to consider being a pastor. His sermon dealt with letting our light shine. What was great was the idea that even in the most of the difficult times, we need to continue to remember what we should be thankful for and to appreciate those around us. I always find it interesting how the Spirit works as we went to Faith Westwood the next Sunday and Dr. Doug Delp was preaching on Living life passionately. He was using a resource to help shape his sermon series One Month to Live. He presented the ideas what would you do differently if you had only one month to live. Would you do things that you have been putting off? There is a book of daily meditations that deal with this topic. What would it take to live that way now rather than wait?
Interesting questions and insights from two very well done sermons. I found that there was a comfort in what both Tony and Doug had to offer in my life. Especially in today's economic crisis it would be easy to fall prey to worry and anxiety. I am not saying that there should be no concern about what is happening and there is a need to manage one's finances better. Yet, I wonder if that is the whole story of our time. Have we gotten so concerned about money that we have lost sense of paying attention to what God is doing now. I am also reading a book on Leadership and Self-Deception that talks about the way we live our lives in boxes that create problems with perceiving things that happen around us. When we do live in the box, we tend to be only concerned about ourselves and not others and when things go wrong or don't follow the way I believe they should go, I will blame everyone but myself. That way I can continue to justify my attitudes and behaviors.
Tonight I plan to speak to the fruits of the Spirit. We started with Love which is foundational. With listening to the sermons and reading the books that I am reading, this is more important than ever for us to model and to remember that God does Love us. Tonight we will be looking at Joy which arises out of love. This weekend at the services we will be looking at Psalm 90 and examining what can we count on in our lives.