T minus 19 hours

Saturday morning, wrestling still with the rich fare of biblical texts. Sometimes it is easier to preach from a sparse or difficult passage. It's the ones that are so clearly already complete in themselves that as preach I feel almost as if I'm trespassing; certainly guilty of guilding the lilly. Abundance! God's love, God's boundless generosity! The hope and abundance of Messiah, springing forth from God's love... It's all right there already in the text. It is as challenging as describing something beautiful you've seen, or describing a perfect meal. I suppose, to answer my own anxiety, that in this case we will all be sharing the same perfect meal, we are already seeing that beautiful sight.

So a break from reading my notes and half-starts and mining the words from the great hymns that Bic has selected. 'za and I are sitting in the Brugger's Bagel's near Messiah; it is the nearest coffee shop with WiFi we could find. And we are definitely in New England -- not an espresso drink to be seen. Earlier this week, we walked into a Dunkin' Donuts and 'za ordered a latte. The woman asked, "How do you like it?" 'za and I first thought "Don't know. Haven't got to drink it yet." Then I thought something along the lines of "half-caff skinny double tall." Turns out she wanted to know if 'za wanted whipped cream (!), flavoring, possibly sprinkles. Ah, such coffee snobs we've turned into.

We also got to walk around the neighborhood, starting with admiring the flowers planted around the church. It's a quiet residential neighborhood -- no one is at home on a sunny Saturday, and I wonder where I will be able to go to meet neighbors, strike up conversations, and get a latte. We strolled a bit through Lasell College as well; there's a history there I need to learn -- we've held services there a few times, though not for decades. 70% of undergrads at Lasell live on campus, which is something to put down in that idea book.

Part of the reason I have an idea book is so that I can write things down and leave them alone for a while. There is a whole, vibrant community at Messiah, and we need to get to know each other -- and to keep doing faithfully the work already before us.

Speaking of which, I better get back to that sermon.