Shredding the Past

I am, very slowly (!), sorting out my study and accumulated books and papers and 'stuff'.

This evening I went through a file of past sermons - which are now torn up and waiting for our next waste paper collection. I have wondered why I kept them. Perhaps to remind me of my journey at that time? or maybe because there is a magpie hidden within me?

It has been a liberating exercise getting to grips with the knowledge/ truth that those contexts and circumstances are in the past, and that the members of the congregation will never be in those exact 'places' in their lives again; that they were fed in some way through the worship service as a whole and that the sermon I preached was only a small part of the meal we shared together; that we have journeyed together in our relationships with the Lord and have encouraged and challenged and held each other accountable along the way; and that the discipline of sermon and service preparation has enriched me in unexpected ways.

I am humbled. And I am at peace.