I’m back

I don’t know anyone who enjoys an existence free of all onerous tasks. Neither do I know anyone who is stuck with an existence that is only onerous tasks, and yes, I am well aware that this only points out my essentially privileged position. I am currently struggling with a particular task that became, without me really noticing, onerous. Now, if you are wondering what on earth I might be going on about I can’t say that I blame you but I am not being opaque for the simple sake of opacity; no, I am laying a foundation. One of the best things for people like me is that we can almost always do something about these onerous tasks. [By the way, I defy anyone to type the word “onerous” this often in this small a space and have it remain even remotely meaningful.]

There are two, no three, ways we can deal with onerous tasks:

1. live with them
2. abandon them
3. reshape them to become more pleasant, rewarding, doable, whatever they currently lack

So, the task I am currently reflecting upon is this blog. Slowly but surely, the work, which most assuredly is not huge, transitioned from something rewarding and enjoyable to a task to be done and then to what it has been for the past months, an onerous task, a burdensome job that simply became too much. So I quit. I quit with no warning, no explanation (until now), and for that I am sorry. The shabby side of me really wants to find someone to point a finger at, someone to blame for my abandoning something that began with enjoyment and petered out with at first relief and then regret; no go, this is no one’s responsibility but mine. However, being a fully volitional being means that I have access to not just option 2 above but also option 3. So, I am re-launching this blog. My intention is to, at a minimum, post links to whatever sermons I have preached and recorded. I would also like to write now and then about what I have preached about but also about whatever I think is worth thinking about, writing down and posting.

I will no longer be putting in all the liturgical information, not even the week’s scripture, unless I want to for some reason. I direct you to the Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s excellent website for the Revised Common Lectionary texts, http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/, and to my other web site for the exact texts plus, at no extra charge, the hymns for the Sunday, http://sites.google.com/a/holtslander.com/knoxstmarks/.

So without further ado, here are the two sermons I preached this Sunday. They are both called “What to do with doubt?” and are another of my attempts to help Christian people to know that doubt is inevitable, unavoidable, completely forgivable and OKAY!

Knox Presbyterian: What to do with doubt?

St. Mark’s Presbyterian: What to do with doubt?