Days of Thankfulness: Sports

Today was quite the day.  Beloved and I got up and drove into town without the girls thanks to a family friend volunteering to take them for a few hours.  Beloved had a class to teach at the gym, so I rode in with her and jogged about 1.5 miles to central campus at Iowa State, where I registered for and ran in the Lutheran Services in Iowa Blue Sky Day 5K.  Nice little 3.1 miler around campus, for a total of about 4.5 for the day.  Ran pretty quickly too, even though I overdressed and got very hot toward the end.  Then we came home and I got to spend a few hours doing my favorite thing this time of year:  watch college football.

I was a decent player in high school.  Could have played some small college ball if I'd chosen to do so, but I chose to attend the University of Nebraska, where I would not have measured up.  But I've always loved sports of all shapes and sizes.  Yes, we overemphasize sports in this country.  Yes, parents are far too willing to spend far too much and sacrifice far too many things for the sake of their kids' sports dreams.  Yes, I agree that we're obsessed with them to an unhealthy degree.  But for all that, there's a core that remains good.

What's good?  When moments like this happen:



I never had a Hail Mary moment work out for me as a player, but I remember good things about sports all the same.  Working together to achieve a common goal.  Pain.  Sweat.  Sacrifice.  Unity.  Adversity shared.  Losses acknowledged.  Victories cherished.  When we do sports right, it helps us grow as people.  Those boys in scarlet today will remember the time they bonded together, refused to quit fighting and accomplished the near-impossible.  Those boys in purple today will remember the time they worked together, gave everything they had, and lost it in a heartbeat.  BOTH experiences teach us life lessons.

There's an inscription on Memorial Stadium in Lincoln that Husker fans have cherished for years:

Not the victory but the action:

Not the goal but the game:

In the deed the glory.

Today I'm thankful for sports.  Whether it's the kind I play now, where I'm mainly measuring myself against my own goals and efforts, or the kind where someone keeps score, when we do it right sport is magnificent and wonderful and heartbreaking and terrible all at once, just like we are.

Days of Thankfulness: Sabbath

In what will likely become a vain attempt to blog more this month, I'm taking on the 30 Days of Thankfulness challenge this year.

Today is my "day off" and I'm using it to get some things done around the house that needed doing.  Tomorrow I'll run in a 5K raising money for Lutheran Services in Iowa, watch the Nebraska game in the afternoon and take in a movie with Beloved at night.  These are sabbaths for me.  Yes, there's work to be done at the church.  But it needs to wait for a bit.  Earlier this year I noted that I'd been at the church for over 52 consecutive weeks - that's not good sabbath-keeping for a pastor.  So, today, I'm thankful for sabbath and the chance to step away from one vocation to pay attention to others and recharge for a couple of days.  Here's hoping you have the same opportunity.

Thanksgiving 2009 Message

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught his disciples about the providence of God so that they would regard life with thanksgiving and trust rather than anxiety.

A reading from Matthew:

²⁵Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' ³²For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Word of God, word of life.

Thanks be to God.

My mood was a mirror image of the weather yesterday – sullen, rainy and ugly for a good portion of the day. Some might argue I had good reason for a bad attitude:

· A fellow pastor I’ve come to know through blogging circles was essentially fired by her congregation last week.

· Some administrative matters within campus ministry weren’t handled the way we were promised they would be handled, and will likely have a negative impact on how we work together.

· Matters concerning the decisions at the Churchwide Assembly continue to be discussed, debated and a cause for division, for reasons I’ll admit I really don’t understand.

· A leader for whom I have a fairly high amount of respect dropped the ball in a recent open letter to his constituency, choosing fluffy, patronizations instead of just telling the honest truth.

· And let’s not even start talking about politics…

This has become something of an annual ritual for me. I’m going to start calling it the Advent Funk, even though technically we aren’t even in Advent yet. But this year our usual list of grievances about society observing Christmas while we church folks aren’t even through Advent seems magnified due to economic woes and worries about the church in general and the ELCA in particular. Maybe you’re feeling it, too: how many of you have felt disheartened at some point in the last week or so?

Troubled. That’s the best word I can use to describe my outlook in these times. Maybe it’s your best, too. We’re troubled by the economy, troubled by health care, troubled by concerns about the honesty and integrity of our elected officials. We’re troubled by dissension in our church, troubled by differences that are not easily put aside, troubled by our brothers and sisters who choose to punish the church for controversial decisions. We’re troubled by mistakes we have made and by the consequences those mistakes bring. We’re troubled by the unintended painful consequences of doing the right thing. We’re troubled because it can be so hard to discern right from wrong, faith from fear.

There’s a word making its way through the internet right now: “blamestorming.” Blamestorming is what happens when everyone gets called into a meeting to figure out why something didn’t work. And, frankly, at times these past few months my Facebook page has looked like one gigantic blamestorming session. The church is failing because of X. Health care reform won’t work because Senator Y is an obstructionist. Bishop Z doesn’t have a clue about the ‘people in the pews.’ Trouble gets explained away and laid at the feet of others so we can feel unjustly persecuted. It’s amazing how much easier it is to deal with trouble when the fault lies with someone else.

Jesus didn’t have a lot to say about avoiding trouble. In fact, in the gospels Jesus often says flat out that trouble will come:

· John 16.33: I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

· And in our last verse from tonight’s reading: “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Trouble happens, Jesus says. Sometimes trouble happens because we make mistakes. Sometimes trouble happens because of the mistakes of others. But trouble will be a constant. The question is, how shall we live with trouble?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”[1] This is what I wonder in the midst of great troubles: are we aware that the sheer fact of life itself is not a given, that even our troubles come to us only because God has created, and continues to create? Or, as one of my seminary professors put it, there is something, when there could be nothing? When we consider the universe, as the psalmist says, the sheer magnificence of all that God has created, should we not be in awe of the fact that our small lives are each a matter of great importance to the One who flung the Milky Way into the sky?

In other words, brothers and sisters, do you realize that you are deeply loved and cherished by the one who shaped you in your mother’s womb and continues to be at work in you through the Holy Spirit? In the midst of our troubles and our contentment, in our sorrow and our joy, God is ever-present and continuing to hold us in love. There is no trouble which can take us out of God’s care, and no sorrow so deep that God will not heal in time. For this, even in these times of trouble, we give thanks.

I am reminded every year around this time of the story of Martin Rinkart. Rinkart was a pastor in the German city of Eilenberg during the Thirty Years’ War. In 1637, a great illness swept through the city. At the start of the year there were four pastors in town. One left and could not be convinced to return. Rinkart buried the other two, and was eventually burying 40 to 50 people every day. In May of that year, Rinkart buried his own wife. No one would have questioned Rinkart’s right to bitterly mourn his troubles. Yet he wrote the following poem as a prayer for his children:

Nun danket alle Gott mit Herzen, Mund und Händen.
Der große Dinge tut an uns und allen Enden,
Der uns von Mutterleib und Kindesbeinen an
Unzählig viel zu gut bis hierher hat getan.

Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices,

Who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices.

Who from our mother’s arms has blest us on our way

With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

We give thanks, not for a life without troubles, but for a God who accompanies us in the midst of every trouble and every joy. So, friends, troubled or not, take today for the gift that it is, and tomorrow as well. Thanks be to God. Amen.

---

[1] Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Ethics.

The painting is "Troubled" by Jason Reynolds of Portland, OR.

Post Thanksgiving Day Friday Five

Ah, the day after Thanksgiving--groan! Fortunately, I love Thanksgiving leftovers.

Thanksgiving is the American holiday when the greatest number of people travel somewhere else to celebrate. I am posting this from my son’s home in Minnesota where we are recovering from the food shopping and the preparations and the meal and the clean up. It is difficult to think of anything requiring much energy today, and I am enjoying my sweet baby granddaughter, so I will keep it simple.

For those of you not in the USA, I apologize for the nationalistic tone of
this Friday Five!

1. Did you go elsewhere for the day, or did you have visitors at your place instead? How was it?
We drove to my parents' farm in Nebraska, where we had a great Thanksgiving Supper with the whole family: myself, my younger brother and his family, my youngest brother and his girlfriend, my parents and my Grandma Janke.

2. Main course: If it was the turkey, the whole turkey, and nothing but the turkey, was it prepared in an unusual way? Or did you throw tradition to the winds and do something different?
Because my mom worked yesterday morning, we decided to just keep things simple, so we didn't do a "whole turkey" dinner. Mom had a turkey roast ready for heating, we kids brought pies and Butterfinger dessert, and we made potatoes and green bean casserole and dressing yesterday afternoon after everyone arrived. Someday when we host Thanksgiving we'll do something wild and crazy, but simple is great, too. In our house, it's the family stuff that counts; the food is just, well, extra.

3. Other than the meal, do you have any Thanksgiving customs that you observe every year?
Those of us who have the day off will sit down later this morning to watch the football game between the University of Nebraska (my alma mater) and the University of Colorado. When I was a kid, the day after Thanksgiving was reserved for the Nebraska - Oklahoma game, but money and conference regulations interrupted that wonderful tradition about fifteen years ago. It's not the same, but it's not so bad, either. And it could be worse: my baby brother has to work today.

4. The day after Thanksgiving is considered a major Christmas shopping day by most US retailers. Do you go out bargain hunting and shop ‘till you drop, or do you stay indoors with the blinds closed? Or something in between?
You wouldn't catch me within throwing distance of a mall or a store today. I don't care how good the bargains are - I'm too stuffed to move and I re-he-he-he-he-HEALLY don't like the Christmas shopping crowds. Last year I did all my gift shopping online and it was wonderful - think I'll do the same this year.

5. Let the HOLIDAY SEASON commence! When will your Christmas decorations go up?
Most likely the day that Kristin and I have our traditional "It's Christmas - NO, IT'S ADVENT" argument, at which point I usually wind up feeling like a Scrooge and put up the first of the decorations as a peace offering. "It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas..."

Simply Thankful

I don't have much for which to be thankful this year, do I?

Yeah, 'nuff said. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Monday Stuff: Thankful

It's been one of those periods of craziness that just doesn't seem to stop. We were out of town Friday and Saturday, busy with baby showers, hospital visits and the like in the Twin Cities, so I didn't have time to do the Friday Five last week. Now I've got a little time and a little energy, so here goes:

This one is going to be veeeery simple: List at least five things (people, places, graces, miracles...) for which you are thankful. You may elaborate as you wish, or keep it simple.

1. Beloved and Ainsley. I'm blessed with a stupendously awesome wife. Early Sunday morning was a little surly at our house, for several reasons, but she just lets me be surly because she trusts that I'll come to my senses and apologize before too long, which always happens. I'm not thankful only for that, but for many other things; it just seemed the most contemporary thing for which to offer thanks. As for our Child, I am continually amazed at how much I love being a daddy. Last night we hung out while Beloved went to work with her high school youth. I fed Ainsley pureed vegetables and oatmeal, played guitar while she 'sang' and put her to bed, and felt like it was the best day EVER. Totally weird.

2. My iPod. During our driving this weekend, I was able to switch effortlessly back and forth between "Storyhill" to keep the Child from melting down to "Black House" by Peter Straub and Stephen King when the family was asleep. I have podcasts for my running and most of my CD collection at the touch of a wheel. No, I don't use it to tune out the world around me, but it is just freakin' cool to know I'm carrying several thousand songs/podcasts/books in my pocket.

3. Heroes. I LOVE this TV show. The characters are noble, the plotline is fascinating and I just love the overall look and feel of this show. Best of all, I think we've just scratched the surface. Lost is becoming too enigmatic, 24 is a torture-fest and I'm just annoyed at Grey's Anatomy; I think I have a new favorite show!

4. Quiet, Rainy Mondays. It's icky outside today, so I think the only thing for which we'll be venturing out will be our mail and my run, whenever that happens. I'm hoping everyone gets a chance to catch up on our sleep today - Ainsley is already down and I'm going to head in that direction momentarily.

5. The Oregon Ducks. I never, ever thought I'd say this, but at this point I'm glad we're a multi-team household. My beloved Huskers have been replaced by a bunch of zombies, and not the crazy-violent 28 Days Later zombies, either; the slow, shuffling Night of the Living Dead zombies who are more pathetic than they are scary or dangerous. Thus the major cause of Sunday morning surliness - a 41-6 drubbing at the hands of the Missouri Tigers that frankly wasn't as close as the score indicates. I'd sure hate to think how mediocre we'd be without Stevie P the AD on the watch. Thank goodness we can watch the Ducks and hope that they keep their top 10 season alive.

By the way, Sam McKewon of the Nebraska StatePaper has an excellent article giving his suggestions for how to handle the present crisis if you're not a fan of the current regime. Take a look.

Belated Friday Five - Thankfulness

It's that time of year. In the U.S., college students will be on their way home, traffic on the highways will be at its highest point, cooking and baking will ensue. But before the gorging and napping begins, let's take a moment to give thanks.

Please tell us five things or people for which you are thankful this year.

First I'm thankful for my Beloved wife, Kristin. Lucky doesn't even begin to describe my fortune in marrying such a woman. She prefers 'blessed' and I suppose that's maybe a better way of looking at it.

Second, I'm thankful for Little Miss, our baby-to-be. The closer we come to the big day, the more joyfully I am anticipating being a father. At one time I was really worked up about the changes fatherhood would bring to my life. Not anymore. I'm even looking forward to changing her diapers. I hope Little Miss has a strong little finger, because this daddy's gonna be wrapped solidly around it.

Third, I'm thankful for my family and friends. (I know, this is starting to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech - "You love me, you really love me!") My mom has survived cancer, my dad has farmed for close to 40 years, my brothers are good friends and good people - I'm extremely fortunate to have them in my life. My in-laws are great, too; they love each other and they love the three people who've married into the family as if we were their own from the start. And what could I say about our friends? They open their homes and lives to us as if we were family; when the line between family & friend blurs like that, you've been blessed in ways you could never have imagined.

Fourth, I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a pastor. There are days when it's a frustrating profession. There are days when I'd just as soon chuck it all, find a job where I can just make widgets for 8 hours a day, and call it good. But those days are few & far between. The privilege of walking with the people who've called me as their pastor is great, and one emphasis I'm going to adopt in the coming year is showing more appreciation for that privilege.

Fifth, I'm thankful for young people. This Friday Five is belated because Beloved and I took kids from our congregations to our Synod Junior High Youth Gathering in Bemidji Friday & Saturday. Being with these kids overnight; singing worship songs with them and 600 of their peers; taking time to be in prayer together; learning more about the adults who also give their time to come along and be with them; these are great experiences for Beloved and me, and we wouldn't give them up for anything. By the way, I'm also thankful for caffeine - if it weren't for coffee & diet cola, I couldn't keep up with the kids anymore! :-)

So, there you have my thankfuls for the week. I'll post again before Turkey Day, but I pray you all have a blessed day of Thanksgiving all the same.