Last June, right around the time I was set to retire, I received a phone call from a fellow pastor inviting me to retiree's fall Faith Fellowship Retreat. It was a nice gesture, but as it turned out, one harboring ulterior motives. They wanted me to bring the devotional on the Thursday of the week. Not being particularly versed in the fine art of retirement (i.e. "Just Say No!"), I agreed, and tomorrow I head out for a leisurely bike ride (thank God for a good weather forecast) to Silver Lake, NY, and what I anticipate will be a relaxing and pleasant time with veteran retirees from whom as price of my services, I will extract whatever retirement wisdom I can weasel out of them. Quid pro quo works for me!
One of my retirement fears was that without the discipline of weekly sermon preparation, my mind would get lazy, but even worse, my spirit would suffer. I've written before of how intimately linked my sermon preparation and my devotional life have been. I've been working on it, but I tell you, it's been harder than I thought it would be, giving me a much greater appreciation for all the laypeople who sit and listen to preachers, and then all on their own do the work necessary to working out their salvation.
That's why I am grateful beyond what I anticipated for the opportunity to share with my brothers and sisters. It's hard to explain the difference between reading the Bible for me and studying it for others. It is the latter that makes the text come alive for me, and getting back into the swing of preparation has been like water on parched land (although with all the rain we've had this summer, that analogy may be a bit off). I am grateful for this opportunity I've been given, and although I have no present desire to re-enter the pastoral workforce, I am looking forward to Thursday's time together. I'll have to wait until then to see how much a toll two month's hiatus has taken. Then I'll get to see if I can make anyone else thankful.
No comments:
Post a Comment