Re-united (and it feels so good)

My two favorite people in the world are coming home to New York on Wednesday! Yea! Who wouldn't be excited to see those two beautiful faces again?

Living alone up here in New York for the past few weeks, as miserable as it has been at moments, has given me a chance to try to get things straight at work (which, for me, is the place most people go for "rest").

The church year got officially off and running yesterday and the things I'm working on are giving me great joy:

Our young adult community is doing a bunch to launch the year in a good way. We did the Mets game at Shea Friday night, our first post-worship gathering yesterday (with a really good conversation on the nature of evil), we had a welcome-back party last night at a little spot on 9th Ave. called Amarone's (big shout out to Tony, the most gracious host EVER!), and we're gathering for some time of quiet and remembrance at Ground 0 tomorrow night. I love the diverse group of young adults who are hanging around the church this year--I'm just in awe of them and they way they are together. It gives me chills--so warm and accepting of one another.

This Wednesday night, we launch the midweek service again at 7 PM after taking the summer off. The church's maestro, Ken Dake, is doing music this year. I'm psyched. I'm going to try a sermon series for the first seven weeks on the lectionary texts from Paul's letters to Timothy. Sounds like a dud, I know, but there's some great texts in there ("the love of money is the root of all evil...," the one that's always proof-texted to underscore the Bible's inerrancy--I'll have some fun with that one, and some great texts about the core themes of the faith, like grace and the promise of resurrection). We'll see how it goes!

I'm also fired up about the homeless work that's going on with our partner churches through ecclesia. It's been a great first few months and some folks from Marble are digging in with both hands.

I've not yet finished 3 years of ministry at Marble. And while I've learned to be patient for change at a large church, I'm actually quite surprised when I look around at all that I've been able to be a part of. It feels like a blessing.