Verbatim

"Verbatim" is the method I am supposed to evaluate one area of ministry each week -- it's the method I chose from all the selections -- we'll see how well I do it..... Worship today was wonderful -- I played the flute twice during worship -- I don't think I have ever "performed" in church -- but now it's not about me anymore (not that it ever was), it's about God. What a concept. I can feel my perspective changing constantly. My daughter sang with me during one of the songs -- that was a special time too. I just wanted to enhance the worship experience for everyone, instead of worrying how well I would do or what they would think of me. I haven't played the flute in years, let alone in church. It was a great day. Right now some of my family is hiking, and some are on play dates, and I am supposed to be studying (Greek quiz tomorrow and projects due Tuesday and Thursday). I did some housework and some pleasure reading (A Cafe on the Nile) instead -- shocking! I needed a little time to myself after a busy weekend (see below).

My verbatim has to do with prayer. The morning prayer leader had been to a prayer workshop yesterday, Saturday (the day before worship, and our pre-worship prayer time), and she had a lot she wanted to share with me. She told me about breathing in and out very deliberately, and holding one thought in mind (the same thought) with each breath. Then she showed me a few of her handouts from the workshop, which named this practice Emptying and Centering Prayer. I had been trained in this a little bit at a workshop I attended at a monastery last January, but I didn't not offer any of my input or experience to this woman. It is important for me not to be the expert on everything. And it's good for me not to feel I have to challenge or prove myself to another, that sometimes their knowledge/expertise is enough. This woman needs to feel like the expert in this arena, and I need to let her. I enjoy bonding with her and praying as her follower, not her leader.

Yesterday I went to a seminar on risking hospitality for the stranger led by Dr. Martin Marty. It was good. He is a smart man but has a difficult voice to hear, even with a microphone. It was fun to be back at the church I had been confirmed in, ordained in, married in, oldest child baptized in -- saw some (older!) familiar faces and it was fun to catch up. I truly am happiest when I'm in church!

Everyone is on their way home now, I've heard by phone, so I need to sign off and get to work and plan what to do this evening: preaching exegesis, Hebrew exegesis, and definitely Greek!