Note: I’ve updated last week’s post to include a link to that sermon. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled blogging…

I awoke this morning groggy, disoriented, and SO not wanting to go the effort of getting to church.  As I turned to Jason and voiced this, at the same time listing “good reasons” in my head not to go, he replied, “But you love church.  C’mon, I’ll help the boys get ready.”

So we went.

I’m glad, as usual!  The only problem was that this morning’s sermon was a two-coffee sermon.  I only had the one while driving in, so my thinking cap was somewhat askew.  After a second cup in the Fellowship Hall, I gradually realized while driving home that there is no way I will be able to summarize the sermon without leaving out some crucial element.  Here it is. I encourage everyone to read or listen to it…it applies no matter your religious affiliation.  So, since I can’t possibly do justice to the entire sermon, this post is simply going to have to be a collection of thoughts it ignited.  A bit of stream of consciousness.

Which leads me to the title of the post: We keep on waiting.  It’s a line from a John Mayer song, Waiting on the World to Change, which leaped to mind several times while we were singing one of my favorite hymns* this morning.  It (John Mayer’s song) is good, although I have a fundamental disagreement with it.  (How very debate-ish of me!)  It’s difficult for me to accept the attitude of waiting for the world to change so we can begin to be happy with it.  On the other hand, I completely understand why he wrote it, and I can’t fault him for it.  It’s a feeling of helplessness that has hit many of us over the past few years.  I hope that John now sees the hopefulness and that he and others like him who were waiting understand that we are the change we’ve been waiting for.  (Sound familiar?)  We’re being dragged like dogs over the wall, away from the electric floor.  (Listen to the sermon for the reference!)

The metaphor of the elephant and the rider** is sticking with me.  (It’s in the sermon!)  It was the elephant speaking from my nice, warm bed this morning, while the rider was saying, albeit quietly, ‘but you SHOULD go.’  Jason’s urging appealed to my inner elephant by reminding it of the enjoyment church brings.  I struggle with how to balance my elephant and rider, mostly in regards to living a healthy lifestyle.  It bears pondering.  (So, I guess now I have an inner sheep, dog & elephant.  I’m a veritable ark!)

Something I learned today: The war between reason and emotion cannot be won.  They are controlled by the same area of the brain.  Not that I ever thought one should be discounted over the other, but it’s interesting to note.  There are too many people, in my opinion, who do discount emotion, favoring what they see as pure reason.  What they don’t understand is that reasonable reason cannot exist without emotion.  It doesn’t work that way.  As humans, we have the blessing (and curse) of being able (and required) to use both in our decision-making processes.  I suppose this is a large part of what sets us apart from other animals.

I love the metaphor of the multiple parts of the Self being like members of a committee.  It stands to reason (and emotion? LOL) that the committee members will often be at odds.

I apologize for the disjointedness of this post.  As you can see, I’m still digesting and muddling through what I heard this morning.  I will probably listen to the sermon once or twice more.  I promise I’ll let you know if I have any grand breakthroughs.
* There Is More Love Somewhere, a traditional African American hymn:

There is more love somewhere, there is more love somewhere
I’m gonna keep on ’til I find it, there is more love somewhere

There is more hope somewhere, there is more hope somewhere
I’m gonna keep on ’til I find it, there is more hope somewhere

[continue two more verses, with the words ‘peace’ and ‘joy’]

** Anyone notice that Rev. David’s been on a bit of an animal metaphor kick lately?  I love it!