On Sermons and Spirits

When God is doing something but you don't know what it is.

I knew I loved being a bartender after my second shift. I knew because I wanted to write again. I wanted to connect again. I was already thinking about my next shift and talking to anyone who would listen about the job. I had been joking for awhile that if I quit teaching I could always go back to bartending. But I didn’t think it would actually happen. I had a few interviews for a job that seemed like the perfect fit. I had it all figured out.

Until I didn’t. Until that job took longer than it was supposed to. Until I found out I was working for people who are deeply committed to a living wage, and everyone thriving, and creating community. The things the church keep telling me they are about? These folks are actually all about that. The kingdom of God that we insist is both coming and here, I work there. I don’t know how to explain it either.

It isn’t perfect, but it is really good. And very fun. We all get tired and cranky but when you work for people who value kindness, they hire people who value kindness and that goes a long way. I didn’t expect to find that in a bar. But God likes to pop up in places we least expect. Most of all I wanted to write again. I couldn’t ignore that.

Meanwhile I am still pastoring a small and faithful church in Palmetto. I still like them and I think they still like me and we are learning how to recover from Covid in our own little ways. It gives me great joy that the thing they worry about the most is how to best serve their community.

So I am currently your friendly neighborhood pastor bartender. They are a lot the same job and both jobs think it is great I am doing the other. And despite my best efforts not to, I submitted my ordination paperwork one more time. I am still pursuing that because I…because it still seems like the next faithful step.

Almost ten years ago I was doing a thing, it was a little woo-woo but I was desperate (also I am a little woo-woo). I asked the Holy Spirit questions and waited for the answers. The one I remember most clearly was when I was asking about my career. Where was I supposed to go? What were my big plans? Very clearly I was told to follow the fire flies. To chase after those tiny sparks and that would lead me to where-ever “there” might be. I don’t know if I am there, but I do know I am surrounded by fireflies. I feel wonder and delight more often than anything else. I sense the spirit moving, even if I don’t know where.

So until further notice I will be serving sermons and spirits and writing on the intersection of those two things here. I am hoping to do it more regularly (currently shooting for once a week, but we will see.) I don’t know what God is doing but I am looking forward to looking backward and going, Oh. Of course. Isn’t that just like God.