What DID I expect?

If you read the blog right before this one, you get an idea of where the sermon was supposed to go yesterday, and that was all part of a set of larger expectations for Sunday that included our congregation's annual Christmas dinner and pageant.
But then the weather forecast was just scary enough that we did not know what kind of weather to expect on Sunday evening. So, we postponed the pageant to next Sunday morning and the dinner for after church. Messed up a lot of plans, including my own.
Then, during the second service our organist, Janet, collapsed in the middle of my sermon (I think it was a coincidence). She sits behind me and I didn't understand what was happening until I saw the medical professionals in the congregation leaping out of their seats and running forward.  Everything stopped while several choir members and ushers literally carried Janet out of the sanctuary. I led the congregation in prayer for her and then tried to pick up the sermon where I left off. A few minutes later, a retired physician came back in and gave us a two-thumbs up sign that Janet was OK. So OK, in fact, that I learned later she tried to talk people into letting her finish the service. She went to the hospital ER instead.
So, what did we do without an organist? It turned out the choral offertory was already planned with recorded accompaniment - what I call "Karoke", but I was glad for it yesterday. The physician is also a wonderful pianist and he played the last two hymns on the piano.
And the Lord, not trusting the preacher, decided to make the point that we need to give up our expectations and receive the gifts God has for us.
Janet, by the way, is doing fine, but she was in the hospital overnight and, as our Children's Ministries Director pointed out to me, if we had held the pageant we would have been in trouble because Janet was the accompanist.

Welcome!

Yes, Welcome! 
It's not just the word I want to say to you who have come to the new Electric Circuit Rider. It's also part of the spiritual discipline of Advent.

When Jesus came into the world, "there was no room in the house" so his first crib was a animal feed box. We make room for Jesus by making room for each other.

I used to visit a man who only had one chair in his apartment - and he sat in it while I stood.  I was his only visitor and I have to admit that I did not find the time to visit often nor to stay very long. He talked and I listened. Mostly he complained that he was lonely!

I knew another man who lived alone in a very similar small apartment, but he had two chairs and when I came to visit him he always graciously met me at the door and offered me a chair. He asked how I was and wanted to hear about my family. I visited him often and so did other people in the church.

Picture your heart. Does it have one chair or two? I know there are many days when I only have one chair and I'm sitting in it. I'm so wrapped up in myself and my issues that I don't give anyone else room to be themselves in my presence.

On the Second Sunday in Advent this year we read: "Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ as welcomed you, for the glory of God." (Romans 15:7)

In other words, pull up a chair!