Today I preached for the first time.
It still is hard to comprehend, but I knew it was going to happen eventually. The whole thing took me by surprise.
Last month Melissa asked me if I would give an approximately 2 minute talk about ALT at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. This is the congregation of family friend Jim Wicker. I said of course! Jim is great and it has been a while since I have heard him preach/lead worship.
Weeks passed since my conversation with Melissa, when I receive a Facebook message from Jim:
It still is hard to comprehend, but I knew it was going to happen eventually. The whole thing took me by surprise.
Last month Melissa asked me if I would give an approximately 2 minute talk about ALT at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. This is the congregation of family friend Jim Wicker. I said of course! Jim is great and it has been a while since I have heard him preach/lead worship.
Weeks passed since my conversation with Melissa, when I receive a Facebook message from Jim:
"Hi Elizabeth. Are you the one for sure coming to HT on the 29th? If so, I have a proposition. Would you like to bring the message and incorporate ALT into that? You could choose your own scripture. It is the 1st Sunday in Advent. I would just need to get a peek at the message a few days before ;)"
I was so surprised that I waited till the next day to respond (it felt more like a week).
Now that I had excepted the offer I needed to choose the scripture and then write the message. Many of the Lutheran churches in the Toledo area use the Narrative Lectionary. This particular lectionary takes a congregation from Creation through the early Christian church. The text appointed for today, November 29, was 2 Kings 22:1-10 (14-20); 23:1-3, which is about King Josiah and the finding of the book of the law.
To be honest, the first time I read this text I had no clue what was going on. I was going to use this text over the summer when I was leading bible study for a summer program, however I did not know how to translate it for 4 -15 year olds. Reading it again though, I had a better grasp of the message Josiah's story is giving. Mind you it helps that I have a study bible and thanks to the internet we have great resources like Working Preacher which helped me with settling on the theme of discovery.
For about a week and a half I listened to the podcast on Working Preacher like a crazy person. I wanted to soak up everything they had to say; every once in a while pausing and rewinding so I wouldn't miss a thing. I wanted my first sermon to be perfect so I needed to listen to podcast at least 2 to 3 times a day. This helped me to actually begin writing the words I wanted to say.
I am person who takes pride in everything that I do and because of that I am my worst critic. Throughout the process of writing my sermon, I kept thinking, "Does this even sound good? Is it flowing well? Well that transition is horrible." It felt like being back in college writing a paper for one of my classes. The difference being I had easy access to my Dad who read my sermon throughout the process and kept on encouraging me. I honestly don't know what I would do without him.
So this morning, as I walked up to the pulpit, I kept in my mind that everything was going to be okay. Before I began I took a deep breath and thought of all the people who were praying for me. Yes, for a good chunk of the message my hands were shaking, but that happens. Why do you think pulpits were made?!?!?! So that you could deliver a message to the congregation clearly while expressing your nerves through hand shaking or wobbly legs with nobody else knowing!
Once I finished and walked back to my seat, I felt like I was transported through time to when I was 9 years old; the first time I had read the lessons at church. When I was going back to my seat, I couldn't help but smile and there was no way to hide it. The same thing happened this morning. I hope that feeling never goes away.
Now that I had excepted the offer I needed to choose the scripture and then write the message. Many of the Lutheran churches in the Toledo area use the Narrative Lectionary. This particular lectionary takes a congregation from Creation through the early Christian church. The text appointed for today, November 29, was 2 Kings 22:1-10 (14-20); 23:1-3, which is about King Josiah and the finding of the book of the law.
To be honest, the first time I read this text I had no clue what was going on. I was going to use this text over the summer when I was leading bible study for a summer program, however I did not know how to translate it for 4 -15 year olds. Reading it again though, I had a better grasp of the message Josiah's story is giving. Mind you it helps that I have a study bible and thanks to the internet we have great resources like Working Preacher which helped me with settling on the theme of discovery.
For about a week and a half I listened to the podcast on Working Preacher like a crazy person. I wanted to soak up everything they had to say; every once in a while pausing and rewinding so I wouldn't miss a thing. I wanted my first sermon to be perfect so I needed to listen to podcast at least 2 to 3 times a day. This helped me to actually begin writing the words I wanted to say.
I am person who takes pride in everything that I do and because of that I am my worst critic. Throughout the process of writing my sermon, I kept thinking, "Does this even sound good? Is it flowing well? Well that transition is horrible." It felt like being back in college writing a paper for one of my classes. The difference being I had easy access to my Dad who read my sermon throughout the process and kept on encouraging me. I honestly don't know what I would do without him.
So this morning, as I walked up to the pulpit, I kept in my mind that everything was going to be okay. Before I began I took a deep breath and thought of all the people who were praying for me. Yes, for a good chunk of the message my hands were shaking, but that happens. Why do you think pulpits were made?!?!?! So that you could deliver a message to the congregation clearly while expressing your nerves through hand shaking or wobbly legs with nobody else knowing!
Once I finished and walked back to my seat, I felt like I was transported through time to when I was 9 years old; the first time I had read the lessons at church. When I was going back to my seat, I couldn't help but smile and there was no way to hide it. The same thing happened this morning. I hope that feeling never goes away.
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