Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada

I went to church last night.  I know it seems odd church on a Tuesday. What is even odder is I went to church for 6 hours straight and didn't fidget a bit! I didn't cringe at the hymns, I didn't think about what I'd have for breakfast the next morning.

I was in church. Maybe not the church you're thinking of. There was no choir, there were no bulletins, there were no prayers but I prayed for 6 hours, I prayed so hard and was so inspired that in the end tears rolled down my face, and all I could say was, ‘thank God, thank God."  Then I turned off the television, kissed my children good night with a  God bless you, got into bed with my love and whispered quietly, " he won, he won". Last night I went to sleep grateful; grateful for having gone to church. Grateful for the privilege of witnessing the testimony of the multitudes, the millions of God's children around the world who witnessed hope born into the world.

Maybe you were in church Tuesday night along with a few of my other billion friends. Perhaps you woke up feeling a new sense of hope and possibilities after witnessing the historical, miraculous event of Barack Hussein Obama being overwhelmingly declared president of the United States of America. Perhaps like me you were moved as you watched the ten's of thousand's in the congregation sway back and forth on the lawn at Grant Park in Chicago.  Brothers and sisters we were at church!

Wednesday morning I sit again at my desk and begin to think about the words I'll speak on Sunday morning. There's always a certain amount of fear and anxiety about speaking to and for the community of faith.

A year ago I was on a search committee with a church looking to hire a new minister.  The committee was made up of young and old, new and used church members. When we talked about what they hoped for in their new ministry person, the number one criteria people wanted in their minister was...a "good preacher."