Reverend Ref +

CHRISTMAS TRIDUUM

Well, I survived. Christmas Eve, Day and Christmas I over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Next year I'll have vacation time. I think I'm taking the following week off. Three services in three days; three sermons in three days -- one of which wasn't finally written until last night. I know I'm not the only clergy person to go through this, so I won't whine; but I am glad it's over.

When I was in seminary, my homiletics instructor had us give a "serial sermon" based on a particular time of the year. We did this in groups. Senior Jane, Pastor Tripp, Micah, and (I think) The Rev. Susie, combined to preach on Holy Week. My group included The Rev. Heather and we had to preach on "The Bread of Life" series, that really long section from John where Jesus mentions being the Bread of Life something like 4300 times (well, not really, but you get the idea). I decided to co-opt that approach.

Rather than write three distinct sermons, I wrote one really LONG sermon and broke it into three parts. Or, that was the idea. In actuality, I wrote three sermons that stole ideas from each other and hoped that it all hung together. I've posted them in the order preached, so you can kind of get the feel of what it was like had you been to all three services.

I'm so worn out right now that I have NO IDEA if this even worked. And, if you missed a service, you might be left with the idea that I didn't deliver my best. So, it either worked fabulously (if you were at all three), or none of it worked. In which case I either need to be better at creating a serial sermon, or I need to give up on the whole endeavor.

Anyway, feel free to read and comment. Merry Christmas to all of you, and I hope my preacher friends all survived the weekend.

Peace