in which i continue to have a heart made of stone (or something)

In anticipation of my preaching next Sunday, Tiffany asked me, "please let me know which texts you want read (knowing you, I suspect all 4) and if you have any hymns or other pieces of liturgy (call to worship, prayers, etc) that you want included. The whole bulletin is open for you to write. Just let me know how much or how little you want to do."

My instinctual first choice was "I was there to hear your borning cry," except I looked up the words and really I only want the first verse. ("In a blaze of light you wandered off to find where demons dwell" is BRILLIANT -- especially for Baptism of Jesus Sunday. The Temptation in the Wilderness immediately follows the Baptism.) The rest of the song is very meh (and wow have I become That Person -- I read "If you find someone to share your time and you join your hearts as one," and thought, "That excludes polyamorous people").

Anyway, my heart is made of stone because apparently lots of people just sob through this hymn -- because it evokes for them their earthly parent/child relationship. Which is a totally sensible reading of the beginning of the hymn -- even though I think I consistently hear the speaker as the Divine Parent. And it is a moving hymn (even though I wish the poetry were better). But yeah.

I reread "She Comes Sailing on the Wind" (and actually didn't register the male pronouns for Jesus on the first read-through -- I mean, I understood the implied referent, but I didn't have a negative reaction to Jesus being gendered as male as I am more and more these days) and like it. Though I feel a little bit weird using it for Baptism of Jesus Sunday.