No Church For Me Today

Today I woke up with the sniffles and a general feeling of mild malaise - sort of achy and lethargic - without the energy to get myself dressed and to church. Also, I thought that I might be a bit germy and that perhaps it would be a good idea to confine the germs to my household. I went to the Lectionary for today's readings.

AM Psalm 146, 147; PM Psalm 111, 112, 113
2 Samuel 24:1-2,10-25; Gal. 3:23-4:7; John 8:12-20

From Psalm 146:1-2:

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

Oh, yes, Lord! May this be the reality of my life!

And then I visited Oremus for an online service.

Along with the prayers, and Scripture readings, Oremus provides links to sites that provide accompaniment to hymns, if you enjoy singing alone at home - which I do. My husband, who is mostly not a church-goer, teased me, saying that online church did not count. Count for what? It's better than nothing when you can't be physically present. Of course, I miss the Eucharist.

As I was going through the Psalms and readings there, this passage resonated with me.

He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.' Isaiah 30:19b-21

What a wonderful word for us as we pass through difficult times. God is teaching us, and he will reveal himself to us in the midst of adversity. I know that I have gained more wisdom and more certainty of God's presence in my life in the challenges that I have faced, than in the easy times.

And for those of us who fret so about whether we are doing God's will. If our desire is to do God's will, then, even if we stray off course, or if we don't know which course to take, we can be confidant that God will show us the way.

The closing prayer of the service, by Bruce Prewer, is lovely:

May the mind that was in Christ possess us,
the love that is always at the heart of God enlarge us,
and the joy of the Spirit give us kindly eyes and thankful soul. Amen.

UPDATE: And didn't I know that there was something missing from this post? Of course! A sermon! And here it is from my friend Mags at Magdalene's Musings.

UPDATE 2: And lagniappe! A sermon from Caminante at No Hay Camino.