Here I Am, Lord!

We sing a verse of that song at the end of every service, using sign language.

"Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart."

Though I mean it when I sing it, I made a similar commitment during another part of the service today. After his sermon, the pastor offered us a chance to be re-affirm our baptism. He used a "shoot from the root of Jesse" :) and dipped it in water and then, sprinkled it on our heads. It felt like I was experiencing a moment straight out of Scripture because so many of were waiting and we'd talked about John the Baptist...

I am in the process of finding out what God means when He whispers the word "minister" to me and today, I told Him that whatever He wanted, I was willing. It was very moving!

Watching the others was moving, too.

It was quite a morning! I was the facilitator this morning for Sunday school. I used the passage in Isaiah 11:1-10 and had people do work around the "hero" concept. I got that idea from an icebreaker question in the margin for that text in the Serendipity Bible and I expanded on it a few times as we looked at the passage. I was nervous, but it turned out to be fun!

One thing I like about our question-and-discussion format is that even when you're the "teacher", if a really good discussion gets going, you will be as blessed as the others by it. We were talking about how peace would come in the new society described in that passage. And we were taking the amazing peace and harmony predicted for the animal kingdom and exploring what that would mean for human relationships.

We started talking about whether or not "change" would occur from the inside out or the outside in and someone brought up the innocence and wonder of childhood. We speculated that that might be part of the change that happens on the inside. I had not thought of that before and immediately fell in love with the idea.

When I asked what we could do now to begin to create that kind of peace and harmony, one of the suggestions was to try to reconnect with that sense of innocence and wonder. Great idea, I thought!!

Our church's Christmas party is tonight, in just a couple of hours.

We're going. But right at this moment, I don't particularly want to. I'm tired. I just want to curl up on the sofa and take a nap, and then, have a quiet evening with my son.

On the other hand, I'm looking forward to seeing all these people I have come to love and being able to hang out with them more than I do on a typical Sunday morning. We have Wednesday night suppers, but they are on hold right now for the holiday season.

Hmm. Maybe a short nap...