Book Review: Wide Welcome by Jessicah Krey Duckworth

Wide Welcome by Jessicah Krey Duckworth
(c) 2013 by Fortress Press, Minneapolis.

"Congregational life today for many Christians is much more an experience of organizational membership...it usually does not matter what expectations or intuitions newcomers bring to a congregation, because what newcomers encounter is a comfortable, closed gathering in which their presence is not necessarily needed." 

"To be a Christian church is for the people under the cross to practice a confession of faith, hope, and love, welcoming newcomers into discipleship practices where faith meets doubt, hope meets despair, and love meets the suffering world." 

--Jessicah Krey Duckworth, Wide Welcome:  How the Unsettling Presence of Newcomers Can Save the Church,  from the Introduction.

Full confession:  I count Jessicah Krey Duckworth and her husband Chris as friends in addition to being colleagues in ministry, so I was predisposed to think highly of this book before I even cracked the cover.  That having been said, I think Wide Welcome brings a needed and valuable point of view to those of us who are concerned with the future of the church, particularly as the church moves from the age of American Christendom to the emergence of whatever is coming next.

Hey there, old friend.

Ten years ago, I wanted my campus pastor, Larry Meyer, to preach at my ordination service.  Unfortunately (for me), he had a prior commitment to his nephew to preach at his wedding.  At the time it was just a disappointment (again, for me - family trumps ministry every time and twice on Sundays).  Within a year and a half, though, Larry was gone.  Turns out that I never got to hear Larry preach again.

Until now.

This is the wedding message Larry gave at his nephew's wedding.  That nephew digitized the message and sent it to Larry's daughter Rachel, who is getting married this weekend (congrats, Rach!).  She shared it with the internet and gave me permission to share it here.  It's short - to the point - much like many of the others Larry gave (including the message Larry gave when he married my ex and me).  But tonight is the first time I've heard my old friend preach since at least 1999, possibly earlier.  And it's so fucking good to hear that voice again.  

Miss you, my friend.  Oh, how I wish we could share a beer & catch up.

The Small Moments That Change Everything

20 years ago, I was a college freshman working in the snack bar of one of the dorms at the University of Nebraska. I didn't have a job for the summer and was getting nervous. One night, my co-worker Brigette's boyfriend Mike wandered down to walk her home after we closed. He was wearing the staff shirt of the Lutheran camp I had attended as a kid. I told him I'd been a camper there and always thought maybe it would be fun to be a counselor. He handed me a business card for the camp and told me to call them, since they were still looking for male counselors. 

I hadn't been to church since arriving on campus. I didn't think a lot about faith. I was going to be a band director and maybe get a job playing in a symphony on the side. But thanks to a chance conversation with the boyfriend of an acquaintance, my entire life changed. (Said acquaintance is now a friend, and also an ELCA pastor, but at the time we weren't anything more than co-workers. Love ya, Brigette!)

So, I asked my colleagues:  what are the small changes that led you to where you are now?  Here are the answers from those folks who’ve responded.

Friday Five: Social Media

This week's Friday Five, courtesy of RevGalBlogPals:

I had the joy of spending time with Songbird last weekend, someone I would have never met had it not been for the blogosphere. Now we keep in touch using a large variety of methods: blog (hers a lot, mine not so much lately), facebook, twitter, text messaging, chat and email. So far there has been no skype.

It got me thinking of the pros and cons of these relatively new means of communication and interconnecting and so I ask you the following:

• 1) What have been the benefits for you of social networking (blog, twitter, facebook, etc...)

First, I keep in touch with far more of my friends far better than I have in years. We joined Facebook sometime in 2007 on the invite of a seminary friend, but things really took off after we moved to Ames and I started really using Facebook as a means of communication and contact. I’ve reconnected with some friends I really missed, especially from high school and college, and even some family members with whom I’ve always wanted to be more connected. So, obviously, connection is a big deal, especially over the last two years.

I’ve been blogging since 2005/2006 or so, but much of what I once did on my blog is far more easily shared via Facebook. Now the blog has become more of what I thought it would be: an avenue to share more dedicated writing, such as sermons and the like. I don’t do as much as I want to right now, but I think once the girls get a little older and less supervision-intensive, I can get back to some more demanding writing.

• 2) Which medium do you use the most? Or if you use them all, for what do you use each of them?

Facebook is what I use the most, by far. Everything we do as a campus ministry goes out over Facebook. I also use Constant Contact to do mass announcements, while the blog, as I noted before, has become more of a writing site these days.

• 3) If you could invent a networking site (with no limits on your imagination), what would it provide? What would it not provide?

Honestly, I wouldn’t, because there’s enough out there already. I don’t think you could make a networking site that would be revolutionary enough to overcome the fact that it’s just one more login/network to suck up my time.

• 4) Who have you met that you would not have met if it were not for the 'miracle' of social networking?

I’m Facebook friends with a number of fellow bloggers, some of whom blog anonymously. That, to me, is really freaking cool. And it gives me people to look up when I’m headed somewhere IRL.

• 5) Who do you secretly pray does not one day try to 'friend/follow' you?

Honestly, I don’t think I should answer this, because you KNOW the second I do that person is going to look me up via Facebook, right? J Actually, I can’t think of anyone – is that a sign I need to live a bit more dangerously?

• BONUS: What was the most random/weird/unsettling/wonderful connection you made that would not have happened if it were not for the ease of which we can find each other in the computer realm?

Last spring I was in Eugene, OR for my father-in-law’s retirement celebration. I arranged a few hours to get away and write my next sermon one afternoon, and I found a really neat local coffee shop online for my mobile “office.” While I was there I remembered that an old camp friend had lived in Eugene for a while, so on the off chance she was in town and free I dropped her a note via Facebook telling her where I was and how long I’d be there. Not twenty minutes later she walked into the coffee shop, which, as it happens, is only a block or two from her office. We had a perfectly lovely chat, and it was just wonderful. Now I look forward to hopefully meeting her again next time we’re in Eugene. There will be more random Facebook meet-ups, I’m sure, but this one wins for sheer coincidence and “only because of Facebook” randomness.

The, er, Kindness of Friends

My beloved black 4th gen Nano bit the dust a few weeks ago. 16G of tiny little sonic wonder deemed unrepairable and, worse, not replaceable by the folks at Apple. Combine that with our new dedication to save money rather than use credit for purchases we don't "need," and I'm woefully behind on audiobooks and podcasts.

But here comes a good friend to the rescue. She calls Wednesday morning and says she's coming with a suprise for me. It's an old iPod Mini. Completely functional, not being used because her child got a new one last year, only 4G but with proper tending I should get a lot of use out of it before it bites the dust. There's only one problem:


Stop that snickering. I mean it.

Grace & peace,
Scott

Running, Reading and Resource Fair

We got back from a wonderful weekend in Lincoln last night. I ran in a charity 10K with my brother and two of our roommates from college. The race went fairly well: I ran it in 55:14, with just one stop to say hi to my girls and catch my breath after several long hills. We also spent lots of time with my college friends and their families, including a trip to Olive Garden with 8 adults and 8 kids, church with the same group of folks and many, many brats, beers and other good eats consumed over the weekend. Pictures to come as soon as I can convince those who took them to email me copies.

I'm in a bit of a reading quandary at the moment. I read Neal Stephenson's novels and Snow Crash and The Diamond Age a few years back and loved them both. But now I've tried two of his more ambitious projects and have found both really hard to read. Quicksilver was some sort of alternate history that just seemed to wander all over the place and never really do anything, even after several hundred pages. Anathem, my latest attempt, is just flat-out bizarre; I've only read about 20 pages, but I'm already tired of flipping to the glossary to find the definition of terms again and again. It seems to me that these are both novels I should like but, for reasons unknown, I just can't get into them at the present time. If anyone out there has tried either one and found enjoyment, would you please offer any suggestions you might have?

In other news, it's Freshman Orientation month here at Iowa State, and that means Resource Fair for us campus ministry types. Today I had the pleasure of meeting several young people who seem to be very interested in campus ministry, including one young lady whose former youth director is one of the three women responsible for Kristin and me becoming Kristin and me. We've gotten seven or eight folks to sign up for our mailing list each day thus far, which is always a good sign.

But I also have some ambivalent feelings about what we do at Resource Fair. It feels like a popularity contest: each booth lines up their pictures and brochures and tchotchkes so students will remember us when they empty that gigantic bag o'crap out once they return home. We play the game, too: our pens, highlighters, brochures and a piece of chocolate make their way into as many bags as possible. Of course, I try to explain what it is we do in campus ministry and why I believe so strongly in what we do, and that part is genuine. But some of it feels like 'selling' our ministry, and I'm very leery of crossing that line, so much so that today I considered electing to skip Resource Fair next year.

It's not that I don't believe in evangelism. I'm just fairly certain there are better, less coercive means of being evangelical than handing out highlighters at the Resource Fair. What if we accidentally promise something we can't deliver - does the world need yet another disappointed, disaffected fence-sitter using our mistakes as a reason to reject faith altogether? And let's face it: even with every attempt to be as honest and forthright as possible, when we talk about our ministry in an environment like this, there's always a certain element of "Please, Like Us And Come To Our Church!" in what we say and how we say it.

I remain convinced that true evangelism comes from people whose lives have been transformed by God, and they simply must tell the story of how that happened. Do we have some of those folks in our midst at University Lutheran Center? Of course we do - and they do tell that story often. The Spirit is at work in the ministry we carry out here. I'm convinced that we are providing a necessary, important, sometimes life-saving ministry in what we do. So, with the fear that I might actually become some glad-handing, back-slapping snake-oil salesman constantly running through my mind, we'll continue to be at Resource Fair, telling the story of campus ministry as authentically as possible. But if it gets to the point where I'm trying to figure out whether 3 Musketeers or Snickers will be more likely to get students to come to worship, just shoot me, okay?

Grace & peace,
Scott

The Reason Why I Do This #427

I was privileged in conversation yesterday. It started with Ryan, a graduate of Our Fair University, who is in town and just wanted to grab lunch together. Then it was steaks and potatoes on the patio with Mikah, my campus pastor's son, who has grown from the squeaky-voiced ping-pong nut we all loved into an incredibly talented singer hoping to study abroad next fall, after his internship in Switzerland this summer. Finally, it was our Theology on Tap group last night, which included Eric, another alum who is now on internship and looking forward to being a pastor in just over a year.

I know I've shared before how I struggle sometimes with the more personal aspects of this calling to ministry. I still come home Sundays ready to crawl into my cave and not talk with anyone for a while, and probably always will. But the fact that some conversations take a lot out of me does not mean those conversations aren't enjoyable, meaningful and sometimes even life-changing. It is a great privilege to be given the gift of conversation, to be privy to the hopes, dreams, sorrows and frustrations of God's people, to be ushered through the doorway of someone's protective emotional barriers into the house where the unfiltered, exposed core of that person lives. Is it hard at times? For me, personally, it can be - but that does not in any way negate the holiness of these conversations. Dear God, don't ever let me trade, in a moment of weakness, these holy times. If I am called to be a tired, caffeine-mainlining denizen of every coffee shop in town, so be it: here I am, Lord.

Grace & peace,
Scott

The painting is "In Deep Conversation" by Pam O'Connell

Lenten Journal: Hello, Old Friends - Goodbye, Old Friend

So, color me "fail" as a blogger this week. Not "Epic Fail," necessarily, but certainly "Medium Fail."

Due to an oncoming winter storm, we left Chicago at 9:00 PM Saturday night, arriving in Ames at 3:30 AM and me totally ready for bed. I slept until 9:00 AM, then promptly fell asleep during morning prayers downstairs in the recliner. On a funny note, I did manage to continue holding my cup of coffee after I fell asleep - and didn't spill a drop when one of our students woke me up when she called to ask if we were still having worship in spite of the six inches of snow that was falling rapidly. Anyway, other than somehow getting through worship Sunday was pretty much a wash for me - I spent most of the day trying to regain consciousness and failing miserably.

Monday - what did we do Monday? I forget, but I know I spent some time in the office catching up post-retreat, and I spent a lot of time with the girls. Tuesday we left for Minnesota and today's funeral, the reason for our trip. I, of course, managed to forget the charger for my MacBook, and so was unable to take advantage of time in the van to put together power points for Triduum services. Also, I couldn't blog, as Mac was at about 1% power when we left and I didn't want to chance running the battery completely dry.

So, here I am tonight, with a new power cord (a planned purchase that I just moved up a week) and blogging, finally. It's good to be back.

We rolled into Alexandria just in time for me to vest and join about twenty of my old colleagues for Eric's funeral procession. I must admit it was absolutely wonderful to see all those faces light up when we walked into the room; apparently the love I felt for these old friends is definitely reciprocated. We had a number of short conversations with some of these folks, lots of hugs, and even some tears since, unfortunately, we had come together to say goodbye to Pastor Eric Erickson, our friend and colleague.

About Eric: if I am remembered half as fondly by family friends and professional colleagues as Eric was, I will have lived a truly wonderful life. This funeral was sorrowful, of course, but it was also a joyous celebration of Eric's love for his family, his faith, his marvelous intelligence and his zealous pursuit of abundant living. Not abundance, mind you - abundant living, wherein one lives every day to the fullest extent possible. I'm going to post a few quotes later in the week to give you a sense of who this man was and what made his passing such a loss for the church and his family. He was a good friend and an extraordinary colleague; I'll miss him more than I realized.

Even with our sorrow at Eric's passing, and our joy at being with old friends, there were some regrets for us as well. We didn't go back to Barrett on this trip, for two reasons. First, it's Holy Week, and I need to get back to Ames right away tomorrow to prepare and carry out our Triduum celebrations. Second, it's still too soon, as much as we miss our good friends there. We heard a rumor that a new pastor has been called this week, and that's wonderful news. The best way for us to ruin that great new step for our old church would be to come traipsing back into town before a new pastor has even gotten her/his feet wet in the church. It sucks, because we miss our friends, but that's the life to which we're called as a clergy family. Someday, we'll go back, and it will be wonderful to see the town, to say hello to friends and remember the good years we had there; but that day isn't here just yet.

This life we live is full of greetings and goodbyes. We might never again see some of the folks we so hurriedly embraced today. But in Christ we are assured that all goodbyes will be overcome by one great final greeting - and we celebrate another step toward that final greeting this Sunday. I, for one, can hardly wait.

Grace & peace,
Scott

On Wisdom and Friendship

Crappity - Blogger just dumped this post and now I have to redo it all over again!

I'm in Minnesota for the Mid-Winter Convocation at Luther Seminary, and having a blast. The theme is "Engaging Scripture for the Sake of the World," and our keynote speakers are Walter Brueggeman and Terrence Fretheim, quite possibly the two most prolific and well-regarded Old Testament authorities in America today, at least amongst us mainline Protestanters. So far we've covered the Flood, Pharaoh and the Ten Commandments, Job and Daniel. You know, the lighter side of that kind of stuff. I've got enough material floating around in my head to fill several months worth of sermons and Bible studies (cue the groans from our campus ministry students).

I've also had the chance to reconnect with good friends. Last night I took two of our ULC alums out to dinner and heard how they like their new life in graduate school at UMinn. This afternoon I met a fellow blogger, one I've admired for several years, and discovered she's as kind in person as she is online. I had coffee with some of the friends who are responsible for me & Kristin getting together, pictured right, and this morning we rejoiced together when we heard that a third member of that group had a healthy baby boy last night. And as soon as I get done REtyping this entry, I'm going to go to our 2003 Luther Seminary Class Reunion banquet, which I'm really excited to attend.

It's been a good conference, even if I've basically ignored my sister-in-law and her family while sleeping at their house (sorry, guys!) and missing my girls. Wisdom and Friendship - both are hard to come by, but both are that much sweeter when you can enjoy them in the highest quality. Blessings, everyone - and stay warm!

Peace,
Scott

Hospitality Ministry

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13.2

I don't know about strangers, but I do know that hospitality is a rare gift in the present day. Kristin and I have always wanted our house to be a gathering place for friends and family, a place where others feel comfortable and welcome to drop in anytime, but lately, between our ever-more-frenzied work lives and corralling two daughters under the age of three, hospitality hasn't been our strong suit.

Thankfully, some of that changed last night. We invited JL, the new campus minister at Some Other Big Mainline Protestant Church, to join us for supper. No, the pictures aren't the meal I prepared, exactly: I don't do presentation as well as Milton does. But we did enjoy a good meal of thick-cut pork chops marinated in Guinness, garlic and onion, grilled asparagus and a roasted potato and pepper dish I've developed over the last few months. I didn't have time to bake a pie, so the dessert was bought at a local grocery store, but I ddn't hear anyone complaining. Top it off with a pint or two of Samuel Adams Oktoberfest and you've got a great meal.

The far better part, though, was the company. We talked about books, politics, music, movies, and, of course, we exchanged ministry hallelujas and horror stories. He heard about my first marriage, Kristin's engagement, and how we came to be together: we heard how his ten trips to Africa (10!) have created a love for all things African, even though some of his trips have been less-than-stellar.

One of the elements I've sorely missed from our former call is the camaraderie between the wonderful group of conference colleagues we had there. While I've met several excellent local pastors here, the collegiality is not at the same level here, for a lot of reasons, most of which have nothing to do with people being anti-social or anything like that. I'm hoping that the bread we've broken with JL will lead to a good relationship - and I'm thinking that perhaps that collegiality thing is more of a two-way street than I'd realized. Hospitality is a big deal, especially when your vocation is so unendingly public, as ours tends to be. I was thinking this morning how Bag End-ish our home seems sometimes; maybe, like Frodo and Bilbo, it's time we hosted a party or two as well.

The Not-So-Rocky Road to Dublin (Bay)

This was lunch today: bangers & mash with a Guinness chaser. My colleague from down the hall has accepted a call to a church on the north shore of Wisconsin and so we conference colleagues celebrated her ministry and wished her future blessings. We got together to eat at Dublin Bay, a local Irish restaurant.

What a treat it was to finally have a meal at this lovely restaurant, introduce our daughter Alanna to my colleagues who hadn't met her yet, AND enjoy some quality pub food to boot. Nice to know there's also a place in town that has Guinness on tap - you can bet your bonnie booty I'll be back.

It was a good feeling being in the restaurant with my area colleagues. The "new guy" feeling is definitely starting to wear thin, replaced with admiration and respect for the gifts and abilities my colleagues have in their respective calls. When we first moved here, I found myself missing my conference colleagues from Minnesota a lot: we had a great collegial atmosphere in that part of the state, and we worked hard to maintain it. I hope we can do the same here in Ames, as this work is hard enough without knowing someone's got your back.

Hey, at least we oughta get together once in a while for bangers & mash and a pint or two. I'm always good for that.

Friday Five: Blogging on Blogging

A somewhat navel-gazing Friday Five, but fun nonetheless:

If you are a regular reader of Songbird's
blog, you know that "The Princess" has requested a new name. Her
older brother changed his "secret identity" a while back and now this lovely
young lady is searching for a new name on her mother's blog. This got me to
thinking. How do we come up with all of these names? There must be at least a
few good stories out there.1. So how did you come up with your blogging
name? And/or the name of your blog?
2. Are there any code names or
secret identities in your blog? Any stories there?
3. What are some
blog titles that you just love? For their cleverness, drama, or sheer, crazy
fun?
4. What three blogs are you devoted to? Other than the
RevGalBlogPals of course!
5. Who introduced you to the world of
blogging and why?
Bonus question: Have you ever met any of your blogging
friends? Where are some of the places you've met these fun folks?As always, we
want to read what you have to say. I will check in at least once in the morning
before getting in my car to drive home from a business trip. But I promise to
read everyone's post when I get to my own little house.

1. My blogger name is no big secret: Rev Scott is pretty self-explanatory. My blog name comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Discipleship, which is Nachfolge in German. It means “Following After,” and I chose it both because it’s German (which I love, though I actually speak very little) and because it’s a fair description of how I see life – ergo my blog subtitle, “Following Jesus in the Real World.” Being a Christian is not a matter of hiding away from anything, or trying to change the world to fit my Christianity; it’s a matter of being faithful in all places and with all people, trying to live as Jesus lived, meeting people where they are but caring enough to help them become something new. Not that I’m Jesus or anything, or that I’m always successful, but it is the lens through which I try to see my life and the world in which I live.

2. My blog has never been particularly anonymous, certainly not where I’m concerned. For a while I tried to keep the names of my family out of it as well, but frankly, I’m not smart enough to do the anonymous thing well. Generally, if it’s not appropriate to share publicly, I don’t post about it anymore. I’ve made some mistakes along the way, mostly out of hurt or anger, like most of us, and I’ve learned to blog with the same rules as email: never, EVER blog angry (unless it’s Pat Robertson who’s making me angry. YOU SUCK, PAT!)

3. I’ve always loved Gordon Atkinson’s Real Live Preacher. “Freshly Ground & Freshly Brewed” by Hot Cup Lutheran and “New! Now In Lutheran Flavor!” make me smile, as does Tripp Hudgins’ “Conjectural Navel Gazing: Jesus in Lint Form.” My friend Matt’s “Confessions of a Lutheran Husker” gets him about as close as you could get him, and I suppose that’s the goal all of us are after, huh? There are others – Milton’s “Don’t Eat Alone” is a good one. I know I’m leaving folks out but it’s early and I want to try to get this done before Ainsley wakes up.

4. The cool thing about using Mozilla Firefox is that you can open up an entire category of websites under the Bookmarks Toolbar, so I’ve got a TON of blogs filed that I just open up all at once, and I try to hit them every day. A Church For Starving Artists and Don’t Eat Alone always provide something great to read. Heather Armstrong over at Dooce is a foul-mouthed, artistic, loving parent and writer, and really, really funny. Hot Cup and I have much in common even though we’ve never met, so I always check in on her (but I’m not so good at leaving comments). But there are about 40 or so that I regularly check, so this is just a sampling.

5. My camp buddy Jeremy introduced me to blogging, which is funny because he’s not been posting a lot since he moved to Berkely to attend PLTS – he used to be a once-a-day poster at the least. Why? I dunno – because it was cool?

Bonus: I met Cheesehead, RevKim & RevDave at the Festival of Homiletics in Minnesota this year. Other than those three, I’ve yet to meet many, though I’m always up for coffee and conversation – if you’re in Ames, stop on by!

One Day of Running

I've often said that one of the primary reasons I've stayed a runner is the cool gadgetry. I love thinking about different types of shoes and how they work, looking for good deals on moisture-wicking shirts and shorts, waiting for my favorite double-layered socks to go on sale, etc. Right now I'm saving up to buy a combination stopwatch/heart rate monitor. I guess all of this indulges the boy in me who will forever be entranced by lightsabers, rings of power and the idea that a truck could become a robot commanding a huge robot army.

I mention this because one of the new gadgets I've discovered is the training log program that Runner's World runs through their website. It compiles your mileage, times, how many miles are on the shoes you wear, what the weather was like on your last run, and about as much detail as you'd like to add. They even have a mapping program so you can enter the routes you run where you live and know the exact mileage of each route, which is a marked improvement from my old method of driving the routes and using the trip odometer on my car (and guestimating the distance when I ran where I couldn't drive). AND they have a button you can add to your blog, so that others can keep track with you - you can see it to the right, just under the "About Me" section.

As I was entering tonight's tempo run (1.5 mile warmup, 4 miles at 8:23 / mile or faster, .75 mile cooldown), I noticed that my comprehensive running time for 2008 is 24:12:44. So far in 2008 I've run for just over one day, total. The thought of it just amazed me. I started running for fitness eight years ago, when I finally got fed up with wearing jeans with a 40 inch waistband and getting seriously winded walking up the hill from Burntvedt Court on the Luther Seminary campus. Back then, I couldn't run constantly for very long - I'd go 3 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, for 30 minutes or so. But slowly, I made progress. I got to where I could run without stopping for much longer than I thought I ever could. On my internship in Florida, running kept me sane when lots of stuff around me was driving me crazy (and, let's be honest, a fair amount of my own stuff was contributing to the craziness). I came back to seminary the next year so thin that my classmates didn't recognize me: one friend who'd been in a monthly marriage care group and several of my classes walked right past me in the weight room before doing a double-take and coming back to say hello. Two years ago, in response to a particularly rough stretch that included my first diagnosis of depression, I entered the Fargo Marathon to give me a goal to work toward. Today, I'm a little heavier than I was then, but I'm still running, and I still enjoy it nearly every time I go out.

Transformation is a pretty incredible thing to see in hindsight. One day you're running just to drop a couple of pounds, the next you're wondering how much weight you could drop and whether you actually could take a shot at qualifying for the Boston Marathon in a few years. I didn't get into this to do anything other than be healthier, but now it's become such a part of my life that I can't imagine myself NOT running. It'll be interesting to see where this takes me.

Anyway, since I don't currently have a book on the iPod (problems with audible.com), I did a random shuffle for the run today. (the iPod is, by the way, another great gadget) Here's the list:
1. "Satisfied Land" by Storyhill (a great start if you ask me)
2. "Light As The Breeze" by Billy Joel
3. "Come Back To Bed" by John Mayer
4. "Like a Child (Live)" by Jars of Clay
5. "Grace Is Gone" by the Dave Matthews Band
6. "Nightingale" by Norah Jones
7. "Begin" by the Wailin' Jennys
8. "Jill" by Harry Connick, Jr.
9. "Peaches & Diesel" by Eric Clapton
10. "New York Prophesie" by Blues Traveler
11. "Good To Have A Friend" by Peter Mayer
12. "Bela's Reels" by the Chieftains
13. "I Got Stripes" by Johnny Cash ("on a Monday, I was arrested...uh huh...")
14. "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes" by Paul Simon
15. "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down (And Write Myself A Letter)" by Nat King Cole
16. "Peace Of Mind" by Boston (possibly the best intro to a song ever written. ba da da dum, da da dum da dum da diddly-a dum...)
17. "Rhythm Of Life" by Soul Support
18. "Let's Live It Up" by Brian Setzer
19. "Black & Tans" by the Wild Clover Band
20. "Jerry Was A Racecar Driver" by the Cornhusker Marching Band Drumline

Now, here's the funny thing about the last two - tomorrow the fam and I are off to Omaha to visit my brother and his family, to enjoy a birthday party for my nephew, AND to see the Wild Clover Band at the Brazen Head Pub. My college friend Aaron Svoboda plays bodhran and sings in the WCB, and I can't wait to see him and his wife. It's going to be a great weekend, made even better by the run I'm going to enjoy in Plattsmouth, NE on Saturday morning. So, in the best Irish I've got, let me wish you all:
Slainte!

Temptation, Recuperation, Addiction, Exasperation - Not Necessarily In That Order

I've not been a very happy camper these past few days. Matter of fact, I've been pretty much a pissant since all our family left Sunday afternoon. Grrrrr.

It all started on Thursday night when I noticed a tickle in my throat. By morning it had grown into a full-fledged sore throat: I'm sick with the Crud. Nothing major, mind you, and certainly not strep or walking pneumonia like Matt had a few weeks ago. But not fun. By Saturday afternoon, I was struggling to speak clearly and swallow without pain - right as our friends and family started arriving. Sunday afternoon was my installation service. It was wonderful and humbling at the same time - all these people celebrating the ministry they think we can do, with me as pastor and leader. *gulp* But I digress - I'll cover the installation more tonight from home.

I couldn't sing on Sunday. Literally couldn't hold a pitch at all - I sounded like the pimply kid on the Simpsons: "Mister, I can't stand the sound of your voice!" I said "Martin Luther" in the course of my sermon and it sounded like I had gone back to age 13. Not pretty.

Speaking of my sermon, it wasn't great. You'd think that the confrontation between Jesus and Satan, with its themes of temptation, fasting and the ministry of the angels would provide lots of fruitful space for preaching, but this week, it didn't. It wasn't even good, in my opinion: scattered words about Jesus and nothing really worth saying in the end. It can be SO frustrating when that happens: you think you've got something good and you just can't make it work right. Sometimes you preach the Word, and sometimes you preach words, unfortunately - I just wish it had been better for my family, who traveled quite a distance to see the Center and be with us on Sunday. Maybe next time.

Yesterday morning, I decided to take a 1/2 day of sick leave. I normally work about four hours on Monday afternoons: clean out the last of the stuff from Sunday, take a first look at the next Sunday's readings, email & phone calls, etc., so I can hit Tuesdays hard and get a lot done for the week. But I just felt punky yesterday - worn out and like I needed a break (after two weeks of being at the church at least once every day, you think I might have needed to stop?). So even though I was far from incapacitated, I did stay home yesterday. But we didn't get as much rest as we'd hoped, for our little Princess has decided she's too good to hold her own sippy cup anymore: she just walks up to you and throws the damned thing in your lap, then throws a fit if you don't pick her up and shove it into her face. The other fun bit is Ainsley's complete 180 regarding the Leapfrog Farm Magnet Matt & Sweetie and Kiddo gave her for her 1st birthday. On Sunday, she couldn't get enough of it. Now, she pokes the button, freaks out when the song starts, but continues to freak out if you turn the sound off. What. The. F#$@. Is. This?

Now, this morning. First, I forgot to get more coffee at the market yesterday, so I was down to dragging the last beans out of the coffee jar this morning and grinding the hell out of them to get the brew strong enough (finer grind = more surface contact = stronger coffee. You get that for free). But the filter folded over for some reason, grounds plugged the driphole on our coffeemaker, and with Ainsley throwing a sippy-cup fit in the basement, I came upstairs for my first cup to find coffee everywhere, EXCEPT in the pot, of course. grrrrr

I'm still a bit sick: feeling achy and clearing that nasty, rust-flavored phlegm out of my lungs when I cough. Voice is getting there, thankfully, but it's going to be a bit yet. At least today I sound marginally human. Grrrrr

And it snowed. Again. Several inches. Had to shovel instead of getting out for my morning run. GRRRRRRRR

After all of this, I was, as stated previously, pissy. GRRRRRRRRROWL Snapped at the wife. Snapped at the kid. Grumbled my way through my shower and a cup of hot chocolate (please, God, SOMETHING with caffeine to take the edge off). I stumbled into the market to buy coffee beans and decided I should splurge and get a Starbucks before I bit someone's head off.

Thus far it's keeping me sane. And I'm the only one here. Perhaps a sign on my office door (caution: caffeine addict in detox) might be in order. But hey, I just called Beloved and she's forgiven me - because I'm a lucky bastard, and sometimes, that's enough.

So, that's the present state of things: Temptation, Recuperation, Addiction, Exasperation. I'll add Contrition and Exoneration, considering Beloved and I are doing okay now. The last, then, for today will be this: Completion.

Thoughts On Who We Are

My friend LutheranHusker posted a Synod Vision thing over at his place yesterday. It was great. Some really helpful stuff there.

We're going to be heading into a vision process soon, and I like some of the questions the Synod asked LH and others. But one item I've been considering quite often is "authenticity." As in, "we don't try to BE contemporary/traditional/high church/low church/the frozen chosen of Lake Wobegon/people who 'just want to pray for' spiritual revival/what have you - we ARE what God makes us, right here, in many different ways." Sometimes I'm afraid that "visioning" takes us out of "who we are" in favor of "who can we be in order that we get as many people in the door as possible." 'Cause let's face it, the dark side of getting all those people in the door is our attraction to the money all those people will hopefully put in the offering plates. Rich churches are not by definition faithful churches!

Granted, stewardship and evangelism are important parts of being the church. So is being willing to try new things in order that others might feel drawn into a faith community. But the minute we hold up the mirror to ourselves and notice all the new, big, wonderful things we're trying, it becomes more about us and less about God. And that scares me.

This church stuff is messy. Sunday's texts, I think, are far more about identity than morality, but on the surface it sure seems like morality is what people really want today. I don't know what to think about all this, but it certainly has captured my attention over the past 24 hours: I've hardly been able to think about anything else.

2008 World Man Croquet Championships

This week's entry from the "No, I'm NOT Kidding" department comes from my old college roommate, Coulter, known to friends as "Cousin Eddie." Coulter lives in an undisclosed location in Minnesota, where he has far too much free time on his hands. Thus the following email, which I received a few weeks ago:

It's once again time for what has become an annual tradition. You are all cordially invited to participate in this invigorating winter activity. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it's quite simple. It's exactly like lawn croquet with a few minor variations. First off, we got rid of those wimpy little wooden balls and upsized them to bowling balls. Then since the balls are much heavier, we've discarded the tiny little mallets that were really only good for whacking your kid brother in favor of something a smidge bigger, sledge hammers. We've also replaced the flimsy wire loops with re-bar. And to really make it interesting, we play it on a frozen pond.

The Man Croquet Championship of the Free World will be held on Saturday, the 19th of January commencing at noon and continuing until it's done, which last year was sometime in the wee hours of Sunday morning. We will be playing once again on the meticulously groomed frozen surface of Lake Libra located at the Libra Ranch, which is just a couple miles west of [Unnamed Minnesota Town]. The address is [Insert Complicated 911 Address Here]. If you require more detailed directions, please ask.

A few other things to note, first off, dress appropriately. It's cold out there. Second, you will need to bring your own beverages. You can also bring along snack items to share as well. Third, be prepared to take penalty shots. We make the rules for these up as we go along. Also new for this year, ice cleats will be allowed and running on the ice will not. Kent can explain why these changes were made if you wish to know.

Hope to see you all there. If for no other reason than just to say that you've seen something new.

And just to make sure you believe me, here are the pictures from this year's event:











Sometimes words just don't do people justice. You rock, Coulter - see you at the ISU game in October. But bring your own beer.

It's Way Too Early To Be Thinking This Much...

But it's 7:00 and this is the only time I'll have to check email and blogwander today, so I did. And I'm glad I did, because Ross had some excellent thoughts on the relevance of grace to Joe and Jane Average today.

I'm reminded of what my seminary professors told me: "They won't care how much you know until they know how much you care." While this is definitely true, if it is ONLY true for the pastor of a congregation, you've got a recipe for disaster. NO ONE can be the emotional linchpin for a congregation, especially not the pastor; it's just impossible for one person to carry that emotional burden. But if everyone in a congregation sees the well-being of the world around them as their duty and their joy, then we can begin to make grace relevant in ways the world might have never imagined.

As I said, it's way too early to be thinking this much. I need to stretch and get going for my run. But here I am...

Why We Do What We Do

Jan at A Church For Starving Artists is always provoking me to think about how it is we do church. This post is yet another example of how she challenges me to think about the ministry we do.

Friday Five: Visions and Dreams (and Travel!)

Checking in from Swampscott, MA while Beloved and Child sleep next to me (typing. very. quietly) I know, I know, I wasn't supposed to post while I'm on vacation, but I love doing the Friday Five. I figure if it's something I enjoy I can do it away from home on vacation and not feel guilty.

Sally at RevGals sez: Wow this is my first ever Friday Five.....and I hope you'll like it...My house has been full of young people all week, young people who have just left school, young people with an eye on the future. Their laughter energy, and hope are infectious, so with that in mind- this Friday 5 is about hopes, visions and dreams. So take some time out re-visit your hopes and visions...

1. Think back to the time you left High School, what were your hopes visions and dreams for your life/ for the world?

How funny - this past week or so marked the 15th year since I graduated from Wakefield Public Schools in Wakefield, NE. When I left high school I didn't really have a vision for the world, per se - my vision for the world was no larger than myself, honestly. I wanted to be a professional trombonist, whether that meant I was a member of a major symphony orchestra or a jazz musician (hey, if Wynton Marsalis could do classical and jazz, why couldn't I?). Failing that, I thought I could handle being a band director. I wanted to get married early and have kids by the time I was 25, and I couldn't WAIT to get out of rural America.

2. Have those hopes visions and dreams changed a lot, or are some of them still alive and kicking? (share one if you can)

Hmmm, let's see...I didn't last two years in dedicated music study. I haven't picked up my trombone in almost three years. I saw Mr. Holland's Opus during my freshman year of college and realized I couldn't be a band director. I was barely married at 25 and divorced by 28. I am married now, and have one beautiful daughter, but we still live in rural America. What was the question again? ;-) Seriously, the dreams I've been given have far surpassed the dreams for which I once hoped, and I couldn't be happier.

3. Hebrews 11:1 " Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. " Comforting, challenging or frustrating?

Yes. Sometimes all at once.

4. If resources were unlimited, and you had free reign to pursue a vision what would it be?

Wow - I'd definitely go back to the music dream, but a little differently. I'd be focusing on writing and singing, learning guitar and hammered dulcimer and the pennywhistle, writing Celtic and folk music in the vein of Storyhill, Rich Mullins, the Wild Clover Band and many of the others in the Music Links to your right. I'd also find time to write novels and poetry about faith and following Jesus without my work being trapped by "Christian" as an adjective or genre boundary (Rob Bell is SO right: "'Christian'" is a great noun and a lousy adjective").

5. Finally with summer upon us- and not to make this too heavy- share your dream holiday....where, when and who with...

Well, the present holiday has been a pretty good one! We flew to Washington DC to celebrate a wedding with friends (I officiated, a high honor) and we stayed in DC for a couple of days for sightseeing. Tuesday we drove from DC to Boston to see more friends here in Swampscott. Yesterday we "toured" the Samuel Adams Brewery (shouldn't the word "tour" imply actual motion? Lousy "tour"; great beer), and today we'll take Ainsley for a hike along the Freedom Trail. Tomorrow we're going down to the Fenway Park area to experience game day (and the Yankees are in town, no less - BOOO!). Unfortunately, tickets are impossible to find, so we'll just be outside the stadium, but still, we get to see Fenway Park! AJ has been an incredible traveler, though this will definitely be the last major trip we take until she and any siblings that may come in the future (no, that's not a hint - we just want more kids) can really enjoy the experience of traveling.

In other words, it's been a dreamy trip, definitely the vacation we hoped we would have. See you all again in a couple of days!

Teaching Moments

I've been catching up on the blogroll this morning and found something truly cool. My friend Ross is an adjunct faculty member at Augsburg College in St. Paul, MN. He recently encountered an episode of cheating in his class and handled it beautifully. I can't seem to link to the posts directly, so go to In Lay Terms and scroll down to the Academic Integrity posts.