The grammar nerd strikes again! He is accompanied by his sidekick, the Oxford comma! Together they make minds go crazy; cognition becomes dissonant, resulting in a blurring, blinding headache, followed by groans of agony, vowel combinations churning in the intestinal tract, five different pronunciations of the same combination of letters in a word, nightmares of Snoopy’s jawharp tormenting his master Charlie Brown as he prepares for the national spelling bee. “I before e except after c”. AAUUUGGGHHH! Good grief!

Whither dost thou goest with this rambling, meandering and pondering? Sometimes the blog makes the title, and sometimes the title makes the blog. This is a case of the latter. I thought of two words of millions that describe our God – goodness and gracious. Separated by a comma (i.e., “and”) they are adjectives. Without the comma they form an exclamation used often by my mother and countless others, back in the day when you could exclaim something in exasperation without needing the top row of symbols on a keyboard to bleep it out. The intention, the inflection, certainly indicate frustration and even anger. Those two words also become the beginning of a chorus or refrain from the old rock & roll era, followed by “great balls of fire!”

We are daily reminded of the goodness of the Lord; “taste and see,…” How gracious He is as well. Those, and the millions of other descriptors that are freely, wondrously given. This Advent season can be the golden opportunity to extend the gracious act of hospitality. We can bear the fruit worthy of repentance, getting the message of John from the wilderness. We can display goodness, not caring about ulterior motives or hidden agendas that naysayers may attach to it. We can be kind to one another. We can “self-edit” our speech: is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind? We can banish the wicked pleasures we derive from pushing someone else’s buttons. We can allow God to be God. Judgment is His alone. May His self-defining, unconditional love charm your fears, be the cessation of your sorrows, and be music to your ears.

Pastor Art