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Thursday, August 18, 2005


16 Innings and a Comedy of Errors Sermon 

Last night's Sox/Twins game ran ridiculously long. We left in the 13th, with the score 4-4, very aware that it was almost midnight, that some of us had an hour's train ride home, and that all of us had to be at work in the morning. When I got home I learned the game went to the 16th, when the Twins exploded to win 9-4. I am glad the Twins won, if for no other reason than it was Bert (number 5 on this list) who got us the tickets and, with me not really being a huge fan of the Sox or the Twins, was just in it for a good game. He called me after the game to make sure our seats were ok and that we had enjoyed the game. In that we were a whopping 100 feet directly behind home plate, I let him know the seats were quite fine. I used the train ride home to put the finishing touches together for this morning's sermon at St. Luke's Wednesday mass.

That turned out to be a lesson in humility. When I arrived, I saw the lections marked already, so I thought I'd check them over. Well, they were not the lections I had read over to prepare for the sermon, so I asked. Long story short, when I checked on the lectionary website, I had inadvertantly read the lections from the daily office, not daily mass. Jeannette said this was no problem, we'd just use the lections I had prepared. I felt Baptist. So, I set out the Gospel lesson I had printed up on the lection stand, vested, and prepared for the service. When it came time for her to read the Gospel, she picked up the Bible from the lector/server, but he whispered that he had not marked the Gospel. I whispered I had set my copy on the lectern. She said, not to worry she would use that. As she walked to the lectern, I felt a moment of doubt - I had bracketed off the section of the gospel that I wanted to highlight, but in lectionary texts for lectors, brackets mean "optional"! And sure enough, but not at all her fault, Jeannette, read only the first half of the Gospel, which was unbracketed.

I could do naught else but begin my sermon by confessing my bumblings. I said simply that sometimes things like this happen, here's the gist of the rest of the gospel lesson (I quoted it a bit in the actual sermon) and then proceeded to deliver what I thought actually turned out to be an excellent sermon. So, it worked out in the end. Now, surprisingly, I did not feel nervous or panicked through all of this, so I think that is a good sign. Had this been a SUnday Mass, that might have been another story, but I love this Wednesday crowd; they are a small group, very friendly, and so I feel comfortable with them.

So, all that is to say, I love baseball and Field-Ed is going great!

-R

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