The Heart of a Pastor

"Vacation"

I am on vacation...

...but not really.  As Christians we are never really on vacation, but as for pastoral duties I am on vacation...

...well...not really.  I went down to my favorite coffee shop to enjoy some time away from my cell phone and visited with a group of ladies (one of which is from Salem).  One of the ladies in that group is recovering from back surgery and is still in some pain.  I guess some pastoral care was taking place.

After that group left I made my way over to another group of ladies to say "Hi".  They had just finished a Bible study at their church.  They noticed a saying on my shirt that had a Bible verse attached to it and wanted to know what it meant.  I couldn't remember so one lady pulled out a Bible and I looked up the verse.  I guess a mini bible study took place.

On vacation?  I guess that is a very subjective word because Christians should never be on "vacation". 

And what will tomorrow hold for me...on my "busy" vacation?  I will be looking forward to spending some more "vacation" time down at the coffee shop.

Take care and God bless!
-edh-

Deviled Ham

I just had to share this with you...

...I was visiting this exegetical web site I visit quite often for sermon prep called CrossMarks Christian Resources.  If you page down a little bit to "Other Resources" there will be a link to exegetical notes on the lectionary.  I then found the Gospel text for today and this is what I found in the opening paragraph:

"...this is the one shot the lectionary preacher has of saying, 'This is the first reported case of deviled ham."  (Of course this is the reference to Jesus driving out the demon from a man into a herd of pigs)

I don't know about you but I laughed out loud when I read that.  That line could be a good sermon opener this Sunday.  If not a sermon opener then you could use it as a fun Bible fact to open a conversation...an ice breaker.

On a serious note...check out CrossMarks sometime.  There is a lot of good information for Bible study and sermon prep plus other resources.  The author of the site is a former pastor in Minnesota but now is a professor at Lutheran Theological Seminary Gettysburg.

Enjoy and God bless!
-edh-