Sunday June 20, 2010 - Santa Barbara, California

This morning it was my pleasure to preach the Word of God during the congregation's worship service. It has been almost four months since I last preached, yet the steps involved in preparing didn't seem to be too rusty. The texts were interesting in that they all spoke very vividly of change - the change and absolute reversal possible only through the work of God. Change that is not only possible, but inevitable - change that is a process every day of our lives, and finished only when we are brought together to be with God eternally. Which leads many folks to assume that we don't really need to expect or be concerned with the changes here and now - when in fact that's very much what we're supposed to be concerned about and contributing towards.

Jesus & the demoniac in Luke 8. Paul's famous assertions about the very fabric of reality being rewoven in the latter part of Galatians 3 and the first few verses of Galatians 4. Powerful passages. A great message of hope for a congregation in search of a pastor, and a pastor in search of a congregation.

After worship there was about an hour of question and answer time. I fielded questions from the general membership about everything ranging from my policy on communion to how I would reach out to the community of Santa Barbara. Good people. Good questions. This was followed by the traditional Lutheran pot luck. If you want Lutherans to stick around for pretty much anything, the promise of food at the end of it certainly doesn't hurt your chances of success!

The drive back to Camarillo afterwards was awful. Yesterday's drives had been leisurely and gorgeous. Today it was stop-and-go traffic literally the whole 40 miles. It took well over an hour - probably close to 90 minutes - to make the trip. Note to self for the future!

I wrapped up my last full day in Southern California enjoying food and wine with friends at Lewis' house, and then a few hours of fellowship with Jake at his house. I was dismayed to find out that the latest possible train out of Camarillo to take me back to the Burbank airport was still an hour earlier than I would have liked. There would be no final leisurely breakfast with Lewis, just a rush to get up, drop off the car again, and get to the station by 7:45am, leaving me with an extra hour to kill at the airport. Oh well. A relatively minor tribulation!