A Difficult Last Sunday

 Second Monday of Advent

Aaargh!!!!!(as Charlie Brown would say). Give me the stupid award of the week. Yes, you are all correct. I'm definitely and inexcusably wrong. The text of Matthew 2 does not tell how many wisemen there were. There were three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. What's worse is that I have many times made a point to various classes and church groups that no number of wisemen is specified. Were I a dog, I would be walking with my tail between my legs for the next month. Think! Christian. Think! (I am currently banging my head against my computer [metaphorically, though not literally]). I do repent. Were I a Catholic, I would say innumerable Pater nosters and Ave Marias. Were I a Hindu, I would be washing seven extra times in the Ganges. Were I a Buddhist, I would hope to meditate my way out of this. Blessedly I'm a Methodist.

What this heinous error may well demonstrate is that our childhood understandings, manger scenes, etc., are deeply embedded in our consciousness--or at least in mine. 

OK. Today is Faith Journey Narrative day. It's about December 19, 2010. It has been a harrowing couple of weeks. Marianne and I are in the process of moving out of the N. Wilkesboro parsonage and into our new home in Chapel Hill. The Parsonage Committee is in the process of completely remodeling the parsonage kitchen  and doing a lot of other things in other parts of the house. On one day in this week I made two four hour round trips from N. Wilkesboro to Chapel Hill in a fully loaded, then emptied each time, church van, 

 

On the Saturday night before my last Sunday sermon, Marianne and I were coming back from Chapel Hill to N. Wilkesboro. I had a wreck on the I-40 entrance of 15-501. No injuries but my car wouldn't run. We got a wrecker that hauled my car to someplace in Raleigh. Our son John came and took us back to our house. Fortunately we had already moved Marianne's car there. We started to drive her car back. when I realized that I had left my shaving kit with my pills, a couple of which are essential, in my wrecked car. I called the operator of the place in Raleigh where my car was. He was about to go home. After much persuasion he agreed to stay until we got there. We drove to Raleigh, got my pills, drove from there back to N. Wilkesboro, arriving at some hour early in the morning. 

I was rattled when I preached that Sunday morning. In the sermon I reviewed my six years there. I did brag a bit, something that I had tried hard to avoid doing during my time there. At one point in the sermon, I asked for all the church members who had joined the church during the six years I had been there to stand. At least a third of the congregation stood. 

 

One part of the sermon, which I had strongly considered not including, dealt with a deceased staff member. I included it. I wish I hadn't. Something I said about her which I thought was common knowledge (but apparently wasn't) could have been seen as breaking a confidence. If she were still living, I would not have mentioned it. It was a very bad decision on my part. In the next couple of weeks I got two "hate mail" letters about it. I tried to say to myself, "It doesn't matter now. I gone from there." But it did matter. I still regret it.

That was Sunday. A frantic last five days followed. Friday I preached for our beautiful Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion service. It was a wonderful way to end. It had been the best six years of our lives.

 

After the service was over, we got into our insurance paid rental car and drove to Chapel Hill, into our new retired life. On December 24th we will celebrate our 10th anniversary of moving to Chapel Hill. 

 

Faithfully,

Christian