How nice to fall asleep so early last night. How nice to have a few hours of quiet at home after waking. How nice to study scripture with people in my congregation. How nice to plan worship and to strategize some resources for youth ministry. Now nice to have an hour for research on an important topic. How nice to remember supportive colleagues. How nice to meet with volunteers and to witness them working on and for the congregation’s ministries. How nice to pause as the day ends and to remember how nice this day was. Thank you, Holy Oneness, for this nice day. Amen.
Thank you, Loving One, for all the ways you have held me and nudged me and inspired me this week. Thank you for giving me opportunities to do important ministry and then guiding me along the way. Thank you for helping me let go of unimportant things and for encouraging me to bend when flexibility was called for. And thank you for giving me that simple insight I needed to connect one thought to another in tomorrow’s sermon. Amen.
It is an honor to walk with families as they grieve, as they say good-bye to loved ones. Thank you for entrusting me with this honorable duty, Holy One. Amen.
All day, it’s felt like it couldn’t possibly be the second of January. It’s felt like it has to be the third, at least, or maybe the fourth. But, God, it’s only the second. I hope this isn’t an omen of how the year is going to unfold for me, God. I don’t think I have the stamina for a year when each day feels like it has lasted two.
All that aside, I sure am grateful that you have been helping so much with the clarity of thought I’ve been needing. For that, thank you. Really. I don’t know who I’d manage without you. Amen.
There are lots of loose ends, God. I keep moving forward. I keep planning and thinking and writing and pulling things together—and there are still lots of loose ends. Thank you for the help with the progress I’ve made, and watch over me, encourage me, inspire me as I continue. Amen.
God, I know a lot of people have been looking back at the year that is ending and looking forward to the year that is ahead, and I’d join them if it felt like the end of a year to me—but it doesn’t. It feels like a slightly unusual Tuesday (unusual because there was not Chorus rehearsal tonight), not like the end of the year. It feels like another work day with many things on my mind and much work to do in the days ahead, but not like the end of the year. So, rather than offer up some profound reflections about the arc of the past 12 months or a thread that seems to have run through them, I’ll offer my thanks to you for walking with me through another day and for your faithfulness to walk with me through tomorrow. Amen.
It’s going okay, God, thanks to you. Today’s funeral went well. I’ve got a strong sense of direction for the next one and a good foundation for the one after that. And, really, I think that’s only possible because of you. So thank you. Amen.
Thank you, Holy One, for the spiritual practice that is preparing a sermon. Thank you for how it informs me. Thank you for how it challenges me. Thank you for the creative outlet it provides. Thank you for how it helps me grow in you. Amen.
