Nailed it!

In an earlier series of posts I made reference to the door of the church in Wittenburg, where Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses. Did you have a mental image of that church? If so, did it match this? Because this is that church. Not exactly a chapel, is it? Wittenburg was a sizable town, site of a pretty important Catholic university (of course everything was Roman Catholic back then). The leadership in Rome made sure that their churches made a statement about the power and glory of The Church, and this building is no exception. But even if it was accepted practice back then you wouldn't find me driving a nail in the front door of that place!

I went for a bike ride this afternoon. The plan was 20-25 miles at an easy pace. Five miles out I spotted a couple of cyclists about 3/4 mile ahead of me. Can you spell "ego-driven obsession"? Forget the easy pace; I had to catch them. I did at about 10 miles, but boy, was I pooped! They were riding a loop so I joined them, and "easy pace" had nothing to do with the second half of the ride either. These guys had some $$$. Each was riding a titanium frame with custom components. They took me on a route I'd never ridden and it was great - newly paved roads out in the hills with almost no traffic. I hope I can find those streets again, because I got home at 25.3 miles.
It's an interesting feeling, getting off a road bike after 25 miles at a 17.3 mph pace. It may be even more interesting getting out of bed in the morning.
We talked about some of the bicycle events coming up and they told me about a nice ride on Feb. 3. I asked what day of the week that was and he said, "Sunday". I told them that Sundays didn't work for me because I was a pastor. I use that as a conversation starter when I can; it sometimes provides an opportunity to talk about my faith, and that happened today.
I think the key to being light in the world - sowing seeds - is being alert for opportunities and then having the courage to take them. I admit to hesitation at those key moments, but I'm trying to be a faithful steward when they come.

Tomorrow during the worship service we'll look at the second half of Genesis 12, Abram's trip to Egypt. Last week we learned that OT narratives are not about providing an historical record. That's why what we think of as key details are so often missing. Ancient eastern history was about teaching a lesson, a moral, and any information not germane to that lesson is omitted. Reading a narrative block, then, becomes an exercise in focusing on what is included and using that to answer the question: "What lesson does God want us to take from this passage?"
I think keeping that focus really opens up OT narratives, making them more interesting and much more practical.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow.