Okay, Now What?

Okay, now what do I write about?

That’s what I’ve been asking myself since beginning my blog just four days ago. I felt inspired when I wrote it, am happy with the way it turned out, and appreciate the kind comments of those who first reviewed it. But I understand that a blogger doesn’t stop with just one post; a blogger is supposed to keep writing new posts all the time. So now what do I write about?

This reminds me of when we lived in Indiana. I had begun taking some seminary courses in extension while working at my “day job” as executive director of a large local youth organization. When that job ended in the fall of 1990, my pastor knew I would be available to help out at a local country church, St. George Lutheran in nearby Edinburgh, Indiana, whose pastor had recently died.

I preached for them one Sunday, dressed as Martin Luther and portraying the Reformer and the events by which he helped launch the Protestant Reformation. I guess the message was well received because they invited me back the next week to preach again and lead the service. All right, this was different. Whereas I had written the Luther monologue and had previously presented it at my own church (First Lutheran in Columbus), I hadn’t actually preached a sermon per se.  So I asked myself, “Okay, now what?”

Then I sat down and wrote a sermon. I put into it everything I knew about Jesus Christ and John the Baptist and the Christian faith. I cited numerous scriptures and gave multiple illustrations and the sermon was twice as long as it should have been and it was terrible. When the service ended I felt bad and a bit embarrassed. I said my good-byes, not expecting to see those nice people again.

But then during the week, they called and asked me to come back again. Now I REALLY asked myself, “Okay, now what?” What else could I preach about that I hadn’t already covered the previous Sunday? I was stumped.

During that week I happened to share my anxiety with my sister who was living with us at the time. I said something like, “I don’t know what else to write about; I’ve told them everything!” To which she replied, “What gives you the audacity to think you have exhausted all the riches of God’s grace in one sermon?”

Ouch! She was right. Now, over 22 years of sermons later, I retire knowing I have barely scratched the surface of the riches of God’s grace.

Which brings me to the title of today’s post: “Okay, now what?” I feel like I did after the sermon at St. George! But, putting on my thinking cap, I have come up with several options for future posts:

• Exegetical exposition of scripture texts such as those found in the lectionaries for each week
• Sermons I have preached or articles I have written
• Insights gleaned from my years of pastoral ministry
• Essays on other topics which interest me, such as mineralogy, paleontology, herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians, not the study of herpes as one person suggested), history, archaeology, creation, and languages
• Travelogues of places I’ve been
• A journal of my retirement
• Reviews of funny cat videos

After drawing up this list, I realize there are plenty of things to write about in this blog. Maybe I’ll get around to some of them. Maybe I’ll end up focusing on one important topic, such as the grace of God. Maybe I’ll take your suggestions. But for today, maybe I won’t write a post, and instead just ask the question, “Okay, now what?”

The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Ephesians 3:20-21