Whiteboard: May it be so

For seven full years now I've ended (almost) every sermon with those same words -- "May it be so, for you, for me, and for all of creation."

So it seems fitting that for my final Whiteboard drawing I'd use those same thirteen words.

This Sunday will be my final time in the pulpit as the Senior Minister at First Christian Church Scottsdale. In worship we'll be singing some of our favorite hymns, hearing some familiar words of scripture, laughing, crying, and celebrating the grace, mercy, and love of the Lord our God.

We'll also be participating in a Liturgy of Blessing and Release. It is a formal act that helps us close out our mutual ministry together with words of prayer, celebration, forgiveness, and thanksgiving. I hope you'll be able to join us, and I hope you'll stick around for the Luncheon that follows (Melissa Wise is catering the whole thing!).

It has been my honor to serve as your Senior Pastor for these last seven years. As Susan, Henry, and I move to Boston following her election as the President of the Unitarian Universalist Association we'll be going forth with hearts filled with love, thankfulness, and gratitude. Thank you, church!

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Genesis 18:1-10a A Promise to Abraham and Sarah

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favour with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.’

So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’ 

And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ 

And he said, ‘There, in the tent.’ 

Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him.