I write this entry…guiltily, knowing that I skipped my blogging discipline last week. (Many do not realize that the week before Holy Week is really Hell week for preachers).

So, I’m getting a jump this week. And my hope is that you (whoever is the You who may be reading this) will do much of the heavy lifting.

Here’s the deal. I need your help. No, not on the Easter sermon (that’s not yet begun). I am amidst a project for my Doctor of Ministry studies – a final assignment for a class I took last January. On which I got an extension – but that’s beside the point…which is…I really need your help, because it’s due soon.

This is the scope and topic of the project I’ve chosen: a 3-part sermon series on the subject, “What do you do when your house burns down?” Now, I hope that title might itself suggest a metaphor – I’m hoping so – and that it indicates that what I’m going to be dealing with is the subject of crisis. What do you do when you get that phone call upon which, in an instant, your life turns? News of…a death. Divorce. A diagnosis. What do you do when the crisis hits? And perhaps as important – how do we accompany someone else journeying in such a wilderness?

So, here’s specifically where I need the help – and here’s where the call to stories comes in. I’m particularly interested in stories about folk who have been in a crisis, or perhaps are also in the midst of one now (but caution – this may not be the time to write about it; be gentle if so). If you are such a person – and the crisis can be of course big or small (and who’s to judge?) – here’s what I’d like to know:

* What was most helpful as you dealt with the crisis (or as you are dealing with it now)? Most unhelpful?

* Often, people are at a loss as to how to accompany people in crisis or who are in serious pain – I’m also interested in what was helpful about how others accompanied you? And also…what was unhelpful?

Comments on any or all of these questions – very much welcome.

Thanks! Although I would very much love if you might respond here on the blog, if that is an impediment, please use my email address (jvamos@pclawrenceville.org). Let me know if you are willing to allow me to use the story (without name) in the sermon series, which will be preached sometime in the fall.

Thanks…in advance!

Jeff

And a PS about last week’s sermon (open for comment on that too). I took a very simple line: the yearning of the people on Palm Sunday – about which even the stones would cry – was for Jesus to “fix it” – kick out the bad guys, establish a true realm of peace for Israel, make us all happy…. And I ended the sermon with a question: why didn’t Jesus “fix it” that way? With a sword, an insurrection, a regime? One person (whose name escapes me) came through the line and spoke of the end of Jonah – the similarities there. Jonah wanted God to “fix it” in a way; punish the bad guys, reward the good guys (namely, us), and he was bitterly disappointed when God didn’t grant his wish. I found that to be such an impressive connection. And perhaps the end of Jonah does give us a clue to the answer to this question….