Call me....Preacher??

Each year, the senior students are given the chance to lead one of the daily chapel services. As a first and second year student, I loved this tradition. I got to hear the wisdom of the seniors and experience the various traditions that they brought to worship. Over the past two and a half years, I have heard some profound sermons, funny sermons, some not so great sermons, and sermons that brought me a word of comfort. It is meaningful to have a word brought by a fellow student and to be able to learn from them as they illuminate scripture in various ways. So when the time came at the end of last year to fill out the form to apply to lead a worship service, I thought, "why not? I can lead chapel. That sounds like a great and fun experience."

Fast forward 10 months and now I'm rethinking that decision. I am schedule to preach in chapel this coming Thursday and the thought terrifies me. I have heard my fellow seniors preach some amazing sermons and this year and now I am beginning to wonder, "who am I to bring a word to this seminary community? What do I have to say?" The truth is, I don't have much to bring or to offer. Now that it is my turn, I realize that seniors don't actually have that much wisdom or knowledge. We've made it most of the way through seminary so I guess that's something, but if anything I feel like I know less than when I started. Seminary has a way of making you question everything you've learned previously. It's a good kind of questioning. The kind that helps you shore up your beliefs and have a more solid foundation...at least that's my hope. Somehow I am supposed to draw on this experience and bring something meaningful to the pulpit in 6 days. This seems like a bit of a stretch.

In my pursuit for a passage to preach on, one of my friends wisely said to me, "what word do you want to hear right now?" This got me thinking and helped me land on a passage. I am not sure what will come out of my meditation on the passage and what I'll end up saying, but I think if I come up with something that is meaningful to me, it will be meaningful to at least a few others. And that is all I can hope for. So come Thursday, I guess maybe you can call me Preacher.