random thoughts from Holy Week

We made it through Holy Week. Random thoughts:

• Pastors have an intimate knowledge of people's foreheads that probably no one else does. It's also fascinating how differently folks approach the moment of individual absolution on Maundy Thursday -- some with direct eye contact, some smiling, some staring at the floor the whole way.
• I had about 4 Easter sermons and had to whittle it down to one short one. I made use of John Chrysostom's famous Easter homily, which I have to agree is tough to beat.
• Our church choir director's sister had an intriguing sermon title that seems to be similar to one of those ideas I chose not to pursue: "the blessed but" I assume she was working on the "buts" in Luke's Easter Gospel.  I considered but did not complete a sermon aruging that Easter is God's "Doch" -- one of those words English has no word for.  You can read more about doch here. Some day I also want to do a sermon based on But Not the Hippopotamus.  Easter is God's big "but yes the hippopotamus!" -- and yes the armadillo, and the planet, and the seas, and so on. . . maybe another year.