Empty Thursday

 So, he who will not be named, won in New Hampshire but not by much.

And a Fox News survey (of all people) found that 35% of Republicans will not vote for him in the general election.

Amazing and bad news for what's-his-name.

Biden was not on the ballot, but write-ins gave him as many votes as the former president with a dozen people 'on the ballot'.

I'm feeling better but not relieved.

I'm still worried about democracy and this crazy orange guy who wants to be a dictator.

Pray for our country.

Please.

Fly me to the moon

Some mornings I wake up with a song in my head.

This morning it was "fly me to the moon".

It was written by Bart Howard in 1954 and recorded by  Frank Sinatra.

I know that because I looked it up on my computer.

 What I don't know is why I woke up with it zooming around in my mind....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Week's sermon

 

God Still Calls Us

        Last week’s sermon was titled “God calls us; are we listening?”

        This week’s sermon is called “God still calls us….”

        I have some more to say about God’s call to us.

        Let’s begin with the collect of the day. Listen: “Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation….”

        We need God’s ‘grace’ to answer God’s call to us.

        The ability to answer is also a gift of God—a gift we need to respond.

        Pray always for that gift.

        God called to Jonah to go and preach to the people of Nineveh to change their ways. Jonah doesn’t do what God asks him so God sends a whale to swallow him and spit him up on the shore of Nineveh.

        Sometimes God can bring us kicking and screaming to do what he calls us to do. Stay away from whales!

        Then, what we read today tells how the people of Nineveh listen to Jonah and change their ways. Then Jonah sits on a hill and ponders why God brought him halfway around the world to condemn the Ninevites and then saves them. God makes a Castor Oil tree to give Jonah shade then sends a worm to kill the tree.

        Jonah’s story ends under the ruined tree still pondering.

        Now I think ‘pondering’ is good—but there is no way we can ever understand the ways of God.

        Then, in todays Psalm, we heard these wondrous words: “For God alone my soul in silence waits; truly my hope is in him.”

        That’s a verse to ponder. Our lives are so full of noise, how can we make our souls ‘in silence wait’ for God’s Call?

        Then in Mark’s Gospel today, Jesus calls his first disciples—Simon and Andrew, James and John. They leave their lives behind to follow him and fish for people.

        We’re reading the Gospel of Luke on Wednesday’s and got to the point where Jesus is calling all people he meets. One man says, “I have to go bury my father first” and Jesus says, “Let the dead bury the dead, follow me and I will give you life.”

        It sounds harsh of him, but God’s call sometimes gives us a difficult choice.

        Believe you me, I tried every way I could think of to avoid the priesthood. And here I am today!

        Today is Trinity’s Annual Meeting. We will evaluate how we responded to God last year and try to silence our souls to see where he is calling us, as individuals and as a congregation to follow him This year. Listen well, beloved,    

Listen in the silence of your soul.

Shalom and Amen.

 

 

So What's-His-Name wins Iowa

We knew he would.

And he is odds-on to get the nomination--even if he's in jail.

Can someone convicted of a felony run for President?

I hope we'll find out.

I'd rather have a younger Democrat running--but Biden is only 5 years older than me and I expect to be around for four years.

We shall see.

If What's-His-Name regains the White House, Democracy, as we know it is over.

We can't let that happen.

Go, old Joe! Go!

 

Snow and Ice

It snowed an inch or more and then turned to sleet.

Our walkways and driveway and our car were covered in ice.

I put on the heater and defroster in my car for 20 minutes before we left to take Brigit for her check-up and it melted a lot of the ice--but I had to rake off the rest.

Brigit is fine, in good health and had her nails clipped.

I took Bern and Brigit home and then went to the store.

Slick roads for sure.

It's snowed a little more--an inch or so--since then.

And Cornwall Avenue, where we live, hasn't been cleared at 7 p.m.

We live in hope.

I'm supposed to go to Milton tomorrow at noon.

Wish they would cancel.

I hate winter and slick roads.

   

cold

 I told someone at church that a lot of Republicans in Iowa could freeze tomorrow.

He said, "Good."

That's why I love Trinity, Milton--everyone there is liberal.

But it is going to be dangerous to go to the Caucus tomorrow.

Wind chill of under 30 degrees below zero.

We'll see if the chill cuts into Trump's lead.

If you haven't see this week's New Yorker, the cover drawing is of Trump in a blue suit covered by medals, goose stepping like a Nazi in black boots and making a Nazi salute.

It's titled "Back to the Future".

Let's hope and pray not....

This week's sermon

 

GOD IS CALLING US—ARE WE LISTENING?

          The lesson today from 1^st Samuel is a message to us.

          God is calling us—are we listening?

          Samuel is just a boy entrusted to ‘look out for’ and ‘serve’ Eli—an old man losing his sight. They live in the Temple of the Lord.

          One night Samuel is in his room and hears his name called. He knows his job so he runs to Eli and says “Here I am, you called me.”

          Eli tells him he didn’t call for him and tells him to go back and lie down.

          That happens two more times—three in all. Then Eli realized God must be calling Samuel. He tells him to go back and when he is called for again to say, “speak Lord, you servant is listening.”

          Samuel does as Eli asks and God speaks to him.

          But it took four tries.

          God calls for us. Are we listening? Will we recognize it is God calling? How many times will God call before we say, “speak Lord, your servant is listening”?

          Nathnael is quicker to hear the voice of God, even though he said, on the way to meet Jesus, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

          As soon as Jesus tells Nathnael he saw him under a fig tree, Nathnael says, “Rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the King of Israel!”

          And Jesus tells him he will see greater thing. He will even see “the heavens opened and angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

          God calls to us.

          Do we hear him?

          I’d say evidence that we do are found in the back of the sanctuary where you bring food and clothing for the ‘least of these in our midst’.

          More evidence is your work at Soup Kitchens and Homeless Shelters.

          Beyond that is your financial support for Trinity and your attendance at services here.

          We may not always recognize the voice of God—but you members and friends of Trinity Church hear it enough to make a difference in the community and the world.

          “Speak, Lord, for your servants listen….”

Shalom and Amen