Preparation

 A few weeks ago, I was sitting in my living room, drinking a cup of coffee, relaxing on a Sunday morning.  I hadn't started getting read for church - it was just a quiet time.  I had agreed to read the scripture for the day, and was thinking that I needed to pull it out and prepare it for worship. 

A text arrived from our lay leader.  She said that our pastor was sick and was unable to come to worship.  Would I preach?

I've always said I could do almost anything in worship (not musical) without much warning except preaching.  I have hoped to not be asked to preach on short notice (and this was a little more than 2 hours of notice), and yet that is what was happening.  I told her I would do it. And then I started looking for a sermon.

I wanted to keep the scripture the same.  It was an advent Sunday, and it seemed important to use advent scriptures.  The problem is that I am rarely asked to preach during advent because pastors want that time with their congregations.  Summer sermons, fall sermons - I have those.  But not advent sermons. 

I keep my sermon texts organized on my computer by scripture.  I looked through the directory.  Nothing there.  I pulled out the commentary I often use and started reading - resigned to the idea that I needed to WRITE a sermon in what was now less than 2 hours - and also get ready and drive to church.   I sat down at the laptop and pulled up the blog - would there be anything here that could be developed into a sermon?  I found three posts based on the scriptures we were reading that day - Isaiah 35 and Luke 1.  What was this sermon?  Why had I not found it on my laptop?

I went back to the laptop and search for it by title.  There is was.  Saved with the scripture names Isaiah 25 and Matt 1.  I had not remembered that I had been asked to preach in December of 2019 (three years ago - same lectionary year).  I edited the sermon for my church, got dressed, and went to church. 

This is a long story that I'm telling you in order to make one important point. God prepares us, even when we don't know it.  A few years ago, I would never have had said yes to preaching with 2 hours of notice.  I didn't really even hesitate last month to say yes.  The work we do, the times we agree to ministry, the classes we take, the Christian Conversation, the grace of God all prepares us for what may come next, even when we don't know what that is - can't imagine it.