By Pastor Tracey Leslie
Scripture:  Acts 2:41-47

It took me more than fifty years, but I can now say, “I’ve worked in a factory on an assembly line.”  I did it on my sabbatical.  I know; sabbaticals are supposed to be about rest, right?  So what was I doing working?  Well, I visited a Bruderhof Community in the UK where they manufacture wooden furniture and toys for toddlers and preschoolers.  My first morning at the Bruderhof began very early with a tour of the classrooms and childcare area so I could see the furniture… what it looked like finished, the ways it could be used.  Then I went down to the factory and got to work.  I don’t know the name of the machine I used my first morning there; but I drilled holes and assembled parts.  You can see a picture of me working during my 9:15 presentation in the Great Room next Sunday if you’re interested.  I enjoyed my job that first morning.  I felt a little proud of myself that I was using power tools to make something.  But, by the end of that first day, I was on to another job.

By Pastor Tracey Leslie
Scripture:  Genesis 18:1-16; Matthew 25:31-46

​This morning I am continuing with my post-sabbatical sermon series entitled “A Traveler’s Reflections.”  My sabbatical involved several trips, including three airline flights and my trip with my sister, Vicki, a Route 66 vacation, had a pretty stressful start.  Our connection to Albuquerque was supposed to take us through Dallas.  That day Dallas had terrible weather and closed the airport.  Our plane was grounded in Amarillo, Texas.  Now, I don’t blame the airlines for the weather.  They have no control over that.  And, as it turned out, they were more gracious than one might anticipate.  But their communication was so poor and so slow that it left many travelers – my sister and I included – in sheer panic-mode.

By Pastor Tracey Leslie
Scripture:  John 9:1-11

During my sabbatical, Britt and I visited my family in Pennsylvania.  My sister lives in Johnstown and, generally, when we visit there, Britt and I book a room at a hotel about a mile from my sister’s house.  In part, because my sister’s house is somewhat small; but, more importantly, because it has become a beautiful custom and a delight for the great nieces and nephews to enjoy the hotel swimming pool.  The kids range in age from 20 months to 11 years.  I’m not really a swimmer but I love to sit poolside and watch the kids play in the water.  During this summer’s visit, my niece’s husband, Cory – who is often on the road for work – was home and it was a delight to watch the kids in the pool crawl on him and clamor for his attention, eager for Cory to lift and catapult them into the water.
 
Water is not only fun; it is fundamental to life.  The human body is about 60% water.  In Genesis 1, our first biblical account of creation, we often think of God’s first “action” as separating light from darkness.  Yet, even before that, Genesis tells us that God’s wind or breath, God’s Spirit, swept over the face, or the surface, of the waters.