Hey Now...

Well, I just finished writing the Prayers of the People. Those of you who read this blog on a semi-regular basis might remember me mentioning that I have been blessed with this opportunity for some time now. Well, I realized as I finished writing the ones for Sunday that I have now written prayers for the entire lectionary. I've been doing the prayer writing for 3 years now, so that includes Years A, B, and C. It just seems kind of weird. It doesn't seem like that long ago that Pastor asked me to begin this endeavor. Ah well. I hope that the words have helped people in their own lives, but I don't know. Anyway... I just thought I'd share that bit of information.

In other news, I just had lunch and something hit me... I had a grilled cheese sandwich, and some chips and homemade salsa. What hit me was that, as I was pulling the salsa out of the fridge, we have been given so much. I mean, honestly, God has created such a wide array of flavors and spices, that I'm just amazed. God could have just said, "Here, eat this manna that I will give you every day." I mean, this coming Sunday we will look at the Israelites when they were traveling throughout the wilderness. They were provided with manna every morning. God could have made manna and that was it. But instead, God has given us spicy foods like habaneros and jalapenos, bland foods for people who don't like spicy; we have chocolate, vanilla, salt, pepper, garlic, meats, poultry, vegetables, and SO many other flavors to please our palettes.. That might seem like something insignificant, but it just struck me today. And related to this plethora of tastes, this Sunday's Gospel lesson will talk about Jesus as the bread of life. We are each given grace according to the measure of the gift of Jesus, and through our baptism, we are granted gifts for building up the Church. Not all of us are given the SAME gifts, (except for salvation, but you already knew that) but each of us is different. Some people can be preachers and teachers, some can prophesy, and some can really witness. It's kind of like the flavors thing... Without different flavors, life could be kind of bland, wouldn't it? I mean, I only know how to cook 3 or four things, but if I constantly ate just those things, I would get REALLY sick of them. So, I can go to my sister's for Mooching Monday and enjoy the culinary gifts she has been given. I amuse her, she cooks for me; it's a win-win situation. So I think flavors and spiritual gifts are similar in some sense, ey? Working together allows us to really enjoy the things we've been given. Kind of like the old story about soup. If I have some carrots, and someone else has some peas, and someone else has some meat, and someone else has some potatoes, if we all come together and put all our stuff in the same pot, we can have something way better than the one thing each of us has. So, if I do whatever I do, and you can teach, and someone else has a vision for the future, and someone else can do X,Y, or Z, then we all can come together and work for Jesus. That way, people won't get horribly bored by just being encountered by the same thing all the time. Different strokes for different folks, right people?

Wow, that wasn't anything like what I was expecting to write today. I hope it makes sense... :) I need to go get ready for work now.