It’s Sunday morning and the faithful have gathered. A week ago I was appreciating a scripted prayer and now I’m appreciating a sermon that is abandoning the prepared script. The pastor here at Hometown Friends Church is acknowledging that sometimes as he studies the section of scripture for the Sunday service he becomes distracted by knowing he is going to be speaking and fails to let the words speak to his own life. Earlier in the service a men’s quartet sang a song that included reference to the gathered meeting being a place where we drop our pretense. Aren’t we supposed to act spiritual at church? Can we do that and drop our pretense at the same time? I guess a pastor who admits he doesn’t always get it right is a good example of spiritual journey without a layer of pretense whitewash.