It never rains, but it . . . well, you know

[revdorothyl]

It's pouring again in Tennessee, and has been off and on for several days. This morning, there are flood warnings (not watches -- actual flooding has occurred as the result of yesterday's rain), and I have a funeral to preach at noon and a committal service in a cemetary right along the flooding Harpeth River at 2 PM.

I hope the gravesite is on a hill (pretty good chance of that, actually, since the area is all hills, and nobody in their right mind would put a grave on low ground near a river that floods every other year).

At least the miserable weather matches the mood of the day for the family. The grief is finally hitting them full-on, now -- at first they were just understandably relieved that this wonderful, kind, elderly man was no longer suffering as he had been over the last month of his life; after we finished planning the service Wednesday night, though, the 'missing him' part had time to surface.

Oh, well, time to say my usual minister's prayer before preaching: "Dear Lord, please don't let me screw this up by trying to be impressive or clever or cute, but let me be as transparent as possible, so that I disappear and only your love is discernible to your people."

Or there's also the abbreviated version (sort of like the 'Shorter catechism' of the Westminster Confession): "God, please don't let me be a jerk."

Comments

[revdorothyl.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I got good and soaked while seeing the funeral procession off after the church service, but since their new, regular pastor had cleared his schedule to do a prayer at the military graveside service, I was able to return to the office (no wellies required -- though I did WEAR good, waterproof but semi-dressy black leather boots, instead of messing around with pumps, just in case!).