Toward the end of an eventful week (or not) . . .
While I am avoiding writing my sermon (and I might add, "successfully avoiding"), I'll tell you about the grand highlight of the week - a trip to Missouri on Monday and Tuesday for the CBF of Missouri Pastor's Conference. I had been looking forward to this one all year, for the speaker was our dear, wonderful Bishop Will Willimon.
He was tremendous. Tired, but tremendous. His luggage didn't arrive until Tuesday, and he was running on about 2 hours of sleep when he started lecturing on Monday afternoon. But still, with half his brain tied behind his back, he was magnificent. And who knew he was so funny. He kept us in stitches.
Willimon did something for me. Commenting consistently about Mark's gospel (since we're in year B, and the gospel is Mark), Willimon "desanitized" Jesus for me a little - uncovered some of the "earthiness" of our Lord, and generally gave me the idea that if the clergy feels beat up by the congregation, they have no one to blame but themselves.
My favorite line from the sessions was from his story about a student who stopped him to express concern about a theological point she was struggling with. His response - grasp her by the elbow, and say, "Thank God you came to a liberal, mainline minister with this concern." I think I'll put a derivative of that on the back of my business cards - in italics. "Thank God you found a liberal, mainline minister."
posted by the sojourning pilgrim @ 10:51 AM
3 Comments:
Thanks for the report, Sojourner. Wish I coulda gone, but my wife had surgery. I needed to be with her. She's doing fine...
17 days.
Consider yourself swiftly kicked ii your pants.
I've lost count.
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