NOT working on a sermon

I'm supposed to be working on a sermon that I'm preaching tomorrow at MCC Anchorage. Thinking about light dawning when we're sitting in the "shadow of death" ... and it sure feels like we have been over the last month. Thinking about God working through what is human in all our messiness, choosing fisherfolk as disciples, and that they maybe don't do such a great job but get picked anyway. And wondering if blogging will be a good way to keep me writing.

This week I preach at MCC; next week at Christ our Savior Lutheran. It's pretty different to be preaching now that I'm working as a hospital chaplain -- I don't have the same kind of time and energy to prepare, but in some ways am in a much richer context, walking with people through life and death every day. It makes preaching seem more important -- I know that when I go to church these days, I really need a word of hope that I can hang onto, that makes sense in the midst of death and grief and unknowing.