No verse.

Dear God, today’s the day. I’ve been thinking about and writing about unity and pilgrimages all week. Now I need you to clear my head and help me crystallize it into a 12ish-minute message. I need you to give me what they need to hear. Holy Spirit, I need you to flow over me and through me. I need you to increase and let me decrease.

One of the first things is that I definitely need to let go of my ego. I’ve confessed before, but I confess again now that I was too prideful after my last sermon. I wanted too much praise for me. I sought out compliments. I can be ridiculous.

The interesting thing about sermons is that, as the speaker you hope that you are coming up with something that will 1.) make people think and give them something to talk about while they drive home, 2.) plant a seed that they will always remember and hopefully make them a better person, and 3.) keep all of them from nodding off for at least those 10-15 minutes. Of course, standing up there, the only real-time feedback I get is #3.

Father, be glorified this morning. Help me to tie all of this together so that this group of people will experience something fresh and new as individuals, families, and as a church. And give me what I need out of this experience too.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen