on the collect

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

I'm sitting in front of our home computer, i.e. Cass' computer at 6:45a with a to-do list a mile long running through my head. Today will be my 4th 12+ hour day in a row, and I still don't have a sermon. I know I got to this point later than many of my classmates, and I love that I'm not sitting in my office doing bulletins and organizing calendars, but still, I'd love to have a sermon done by now.

As I prayed the Collect for the Proper 20 (above) I realized how easy it is to place things in the wrong category. Sermons, no matter how deep and profound, are still earthly. Sunday School lesson plans, no matter how spiritually enlightening, are still earthly. Sitting in a back bedroom while a woman dying with cancer shares her life story, no matter how much other crap might need to be done, is a heavenly thing.

We all have weeks like I'm having this week. We get slammed with dinners and youth group meetings. We get bombarded by family visitors and major deadlines. We sit at our E-Trade account trying desperately to stay ahead of market volatility. Earthly things rise up to bite us and we invariable get anxious. It is good to have a prayer that puts things into perspective for us. It is a heavenly thing to discern what is earthly and what it heavenly. Then, the task is remembering which is which and holding fast only to those things that are eternal.

I'll pray for you if you pray for me.