HELLO!

The lectionary we preachers look at as we plan worship for a specific Sunday offers four different texts, all seemingly connected, with a variety of life-lessons, spiritual food, wisdom for the ages. I pick one that seems to speak to the community where I will be presiding and preaching that day, which is why I spend so much time visiting members of our church and getting out of the office, meeting people on the street. But this Sunday, our text, Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 invites us to step back, take a broader look at our lives…to take a wide perspective of who we really are and who we hope to be. It asks us to consider more existential questions of life and death, of meaning and purpose…about the sort of life we really want to live. The author writes, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. We all have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all.” 

On Sunday I will be reflecting on these wise sayings, inviting us to take stock, to get perspective on what our own name means…not just to other people but to ourselves. Who I am and who I believe God is calling me to be? Some of that work, I consider it spiritual work, is internal…it looks like prayer, contemplation, an honest conversation with ourselves and with God. And some of that work is external…a willingness to approach those who have earned our trust, those whose opinions and choices we value…to ask them to remind us how beautiful and capable we really are and to support us and provide accountability on those things we would like to work on and change. As friends and followers of Jesus, we have his life to consider and emulate as we continue to shape our own

I once led a faith study where I asked participants to write their own obituaries. Though admittedly a bit morbid, I was always impressed how seriously participants took the exercise. The purpose was not to consider death…but life…how the life we live now shapes that which we hope to become…the story that will ultimately be told at the end of our days as our names are remembered and live on. So when people say our name, it brings with it a certain memory and inspiration and meaning. I look forward to learning your names, and what lies behind them…

Peace, Kevin

PS Speaking of names, please join me Sunday at Oakwood Terrace at 230 pm, the choir and I will be leading worship, meeting new faces/names.