A Good Work Begun...Again

This summer I am spending the first few weeks of my married working life as the summer intern at the church where I have served as Turner Scholar for the past two school years.  As the church's solo pastor takes six weeks of a sabbatical study leave, I will plan and coordinate the worship services, preach a few times, keep up with a little, light administrative work, and gather and love on the community that worships at the corner of 48th and Charlotte.  One of the administrative/gathering items I have the pleasure of completing each week is the Community e-Newsletter, which features a note from the preacher with a little sermon teaser.  So, as I have struggled over the past two days to commit to a text from the lectionary to wrestle with in sermon prep, writing, and delivery moment this Sunday, I was searching/craving for inspiration.  Since I am still a new preacher, with just a year under my belt of regular preaching (once to twice a month), and I haven't been in the pulpit since March...my nerves were convincing me that the effort was getting desperate since my Wednesday e-News deadline was quickly approaching.  So, I decided...Gospel...yeah, that's good...let's go with that.  Well, it's a little more elegant than that...the Gospel from Luke this week is an inspiring passage from the beginning of the 10th chapter where Jesus sends 70 disciples out ahead of him, on a mission trip basically...the challenge will be how to make this passage fresh and lively for a very involved and social justice-minded congo.  So I figure I'll go with some twist on the "continue the good work we have started" angle...and that's when the inspiration for the sermon teaser hits me.  "A Good Work Begun." I began this blog last summer when I moved into Binghampton for an intensive summer internship, a sort of full circle completion for me that began with the high school summers I roofed and did home repair in the neighborhood and dug deep into my family's roots when my grandfather served the Methodist church in the neighborhood while my mom was in 1st grade.  The blog title was inspired by the last verse from my favorite Scripture passage...Philippians 1:3-6.  So as I continue the good work God has called me to, completely empowered and reliant upon the Holy Spirit, I think the Holy Spirit might be nudging me to continue this work too, this blog...so without further ado, here is the little note I included in the eNews for this week.  As you read it, I ask that you pray for me as I seek to faithfully love and serve God in this amazing opportunity and internship in West Nashville this summer.

"A Good Work Begun…"

I am confident of this, that the One who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
--Philippians 1:6

Tomorrow many in our nation will gather with family and friends, neighbors and communities to celebrate Independence Day, to remember that moment in history when leaders from across the American colonies signed a piece of parchment declaring, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Now, 237 years later, we can all agree that as a nation we are still working to bring this statement to fruition for all men, women, children, and peoples. The Supreme Court’s defeat of DOMA signaled a step forward in the fight for equal rights for the LGBT community, yet the same court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act, a historic bill passed during the Civil Rights movement. Just as we as a nation are seeking to bring the vision of the good work that the Declaration of Independence began into completion for our 21st century reality, we as a church community are on a journey to faithfully continue the good work that God began among us.

Peace and Grace,
Amanda Laura-Leigh