nakedpastor

This morning church was crazy. The kids were especially wild. They love the music. Announcements took longer than usual because there’s lots going on in our community right now. Worship went on longer because people were really into it. Break took longer because people felt like hanging out. So I put my sermon aside. I was planning on teaching on the principalities and the powers. I had a gut feeling I wouldn’t get to it this week, and I was right. So I just put it aside, took a moment to encourage the community’s love for one another, and we worshiped some more. We ended with prayer.

“Suffer the little children“, Jesus said. They have a way of upsetting the status quo. They won’t tolerate traditions to spoil their fun. They don’t permit propriety to interfere with relationship. They don’t allow agendas to determine what’s important right now. So I let the sermon go this week. I think it is important to try to discern what’s necessary right now. I want to do what the Spirit’s doing even if it means abandoning my own plot. I want to be like a child and live life fully and joyfully now. Sometimes that does mean teaching what I’ve prepared. But today, it meant discarding it.

The fine art photograph is the creation of my friend Mark Hemmings.