Is 49:1-6
Acts 13:22-26
Lk 1:57-66, 80

Scheduling Conflicts
The last couple of days have been very full with work. Loving summer as I do, I have crammed a lot of projects into the evening light and warmth. Actually, since the beginning of June I have acted as I did about thirty years ago…going… going…going and today I feel gone!

In the readings from June 24th, I find myself backing off just a little wondering if I put myself out there as a “servant” what more might be asked. I don’t mean that as a selfish response as much as I mean it as a question about being present when I show up for the: one more day of call, doing extra massage work for others outside of my work time, doing a funeral or two on a Saturday…what exactly is my call?

When the birth of Elizabeth and Zechariah son took place, he was called into his servant hood by the name of John. I wonder just how much that baby knew as his name was called forth in handwriting by his mute father Zechariah…when did John come into his “call?” As John grew into his mission to be a “voice in the wilderness” how did he know that he was not the One, that there was another who was coming who was greater?

Did John ever find his energy and his schedule at odds with each other? We know that Jesus took time away for himself to pray and to be. How are we called in this fast forward electronically connected world to be of service and know when to take time away to be?

Perhaps the gift of the readings from June 24th are the questions that are stirred up as we seek to take seriously our calls to be a voice in the wilderness and Jesus modeling the practice of taking time to be away and pray.