A colleague in ministry, nearing retirement, said something startling to me. Upon looking at his time in ministry coming to an end he shared he wanted a complete break from anything church related. He stated, “After all, I’ve been preaching the lectionary for 35 years, there really isn’t anything new left to say.” His attitude was light years in another direction from mine, even though I have served more years in ministry than him.

For me, the beauty and elegance of scripture is that it allows any of us the chance to enter into it no matter how long-lived we are, and no matter how many times we have read it or heard it. In the midst of our moment in time, the place we are in our lives, the specialness of this church family, the work we do, the agonies that are upon us or the time of celeb…