So, tonight I have to watch The Sound of Music. It is the last musical in our third Broadway series, and I’ve never actually seen the Julie Andrews movie all the way through. (I know; I know. I should turn in my gay card.) I was FORCED to watch the live performance on TV a couple of years ago, which I understand was panned, but I didn’t really have anything to compare it to.

I know the story, at least, but it hasn’t helped me figure out what to do with the sermon. We use the assigned lectionary lesson every week, but I’ve read the lesson through several times and wondered what I was thinking when we planned this series months ago.

If you are reading this early on Thursday morning, there may still be time for your suggestions. I always try to get my sermon finished on Thursday so the multimedia can be finished on Friday. By Thursday morning I usually have my thoughts pretty well in order, but not this week.

That is how it is with all our work, I suppose. There are times when we feel inspired, energized, productive, creative, and even artistic, regardless of what we do. Then there are times when we simply have got to get it done. It is Thursday, and, regardless of how I’m feeling, Sunday is coming.

I appreciate teachers and bus drivers and nurses and grocery clerks who show up day after day whether they feel inspired or not. I was stunned recently to read in our local paper that fully one-third of our local transit system workers call in sick on any given day. Something is inherently wrong with that system. I don’t get to do that, do you? I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I don’t want to do that.

Oh, there are probably days when we all would rather be doing other things, but if we’d rather be somewhere else one-third of the time we need to go there and do that. The church has a couple of periods each year called “ordinary time.” Everyone loves the special times, but life is too short not to make our “ordinary time” special as well.

Blessings,

Rev. Michael Piazza