Summer slowdown: Sunday afternoon -- preaching aftermath, music, nap

I have preached on the akedah, the Binding of Isaac, one of the most difficult texts in the Bible, after being up half the night fiddling with the sermon and still not figuring out its conclusion till I was in the pulpit. We had a guest presider, the Episcopal Chaplain at Duke (though it also has "regular people," my congregation is a chaplaincy for three of the colleges and universities in Greensboro, so we are siblings of sorts), and it was great to have her with us. Ladies' day at altar and pulpit. Kevin is away at an ordination in Washington.

I may or may not post the sermon since I finished it on the spot and it's always hard to reconstruct. Same thing happened with my sermon on Jacob & the angel and the widow & the judge. Seems to occur with these wrestling-with-G*d stories.

There is an old-time music concert in Greensboro this afternoon with a group about which I hear nothing but praise, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and it sounds like great fun, outdoors and with fine music, but after all this biblical exertion I need a good long nap. After the nap, we'll see.

Here's a MySpace page I just found for the group. When you click, you'll hear some of their music. They are a young African American string band, and I think I'm going to be a fan.

Here they are via YouTube. You can see them as well as hear them in action. Great fiddling and banjo, and it's a jug band with a real jug. Good harmonies, too. MadPriest, are you listening? (Note: the Mad One has some good Sunday afternoon music himself. Have a listen.)

And yes, the computer is fixed. Still tinkering with bits of software I had to reinstall but we're up and running after a full "re-imaging" and installation of new and improved super-duper virus protection.

Her Grace is watching live kitty tv, also known as the bird activity outside the window.

As for Jesus, he showed up, right on time, and the congregation left well fed, to love and serve.