Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said to them, 'Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.'
My wife and I are going out of town for a couple of nights of quiet. We're headed to Galena. Neither of us have been. Being the thoughtful sort (ha!) I have booked us at a place with a spa. I see a massage in my near future. Decadent? Yes. It is. What's your point?So, I will not be preaching at Community Church this Sunday. In stead, a friend of mine will be our guest. It should be a lot of fun. She's a good preacher. Slide on by CCW this Sunday and find out who it is. She's preaching on the place of doubt in our lives of faithfulness. I'll look forward to listening to it when I return from our sojourn to the Land of Bed and Breakfasts.
I'm still ruminating on disillusionment, forgiveness, and our life together as church. Thank you for your comments. I appreciate the concern for my emotional, spiritual and theological well being. All are likely facets to my exhaustion. And, fortunately, I anticipated this to some degree and scheduled myself to be away from CCW this weekend. It was the right move it seems.
Disillusionment is a gift. Forgiveness is the reason for community. Our life together as a church depends upon these realities to be healthy and true to the Gospel of Christ. Thomas is witness to this as well...somehow he exemplifies the desire for faith to become flesh, real, true. Faith cannot be a distraction from reality, but firmly grounded in life. A spiritual life is an embodied expression of God.
It's supposed to snow this afternoon. It should amount to just a couple of inches and likely be gone by tomorrow afternoon. Ugh. More snow? Yay. The good news is that I am going to have a meal with a good friend from seminary who is in town from West Virginia and then this afternoon I'll sit down with another friend and watch a couple of bad movies with another friend. It should be a good day.
I hope you all have a great day.
Posted by tripp at March 27, 2008 06:30 AMI'm glad to know that you will be somewhere with your beloved taking a well-deserved break. And don't be so down on the snow! If the sun comes out afterward there will be a lovely light bouncing off of it. Did you get your seasonal disorder light yet? ;-)
Posted by: susan Hedges - Dave's Mom at March 27, 2008 11:44 AMThe Sunday after Easter is always an ideal time to take off. I'm waiting a couple of weeks for my break. Enjoy.
Posted by: Travis at March 27, 2008 02:27 PMSafe travels! Enjoy your massages.
Posted by: Megan at March 27, 2008 04:44 PM