The Most Thankless Job in the ELCA

"I was stunned to see the cartoon (December, page 45) of Mary and Joseph at the inn with a note on the door reading 'Closed forXmas.'  I would never have expected a Christian publication to "X" out Christ in Christmas.  Shame on you."  Kathleen Mayberry, Austin, TX.

Friday Five: Church Olympians

This week's Friday Five (surprise - I'm playing again!), posted by Deb at RevGalBlogPals:

With the Olympic Games in Sochi just around the corner, I started thinking about all the athletes who attend the Games and never win a medal. The hours of practicing, sacrifice and dedication don’t get noticed by the media. Yet, for the love of their sport, they persevere.
Then I began to reminisce about the “Olympians” in the Church. Perhaps you can think of faithful ones who never get up to preach, sing or read, but faithfully come, week after week, to serve. It seems to me they deserve a medal of sorts.
So, for this week’s Friday Five, share stories or memories of those “medalists” of the Church who have encouraged you in their faithfulness.

It's Not Work, Even When It's Work

I wrote this blog a while ago but held off on publishing out of respect for some grieving families.  I'm writing here about meaning and what this daily work as a pastor is like for us.  In the midst of life-altering experiences for families, pastors who minister to them are still dealing with deadlines, office issues, the annoyances that come with every job on the planet.  I didn't deal well with one such day a while back.  Here's the story.

Today was not the best day.  It started with an early morning call from the chaplain at our local nursing home, letting me know that one of our church members had just passed away.  As I was at the church assembling funeral planning materials before meeting with the family, I received another call from another family, letting me know that another member who had been in hospice care had passed away while I was in the office.

Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany - "Temples and Tabernacles"

Sermon for the 1st Sunday after Epiphany

Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Christmas

The 2013 Book List - Final Edition

Here's the list of books I've read in 2013, updated monthly (more or less), for fun or for some sort of edification, professional or otherwise. Recommended titles are in bold, and formats are +(Kindle/eBook), *(audio/iPod).

My Ten Favorite Books of 2013

These books are listed in no particular order.  Really.  I couldn't rank them in any sort of order even if I tried.  Links are to the versions of the books I enjoyed - audio when I listened, Kindle when I bought eBook, hardcover when I got that.  Happy 2014 reading!

An Unabashed FanPost for Disney's "Frozen"

Earlier this year, when Beloved and I took our girls to see the movie Despicable Me 2, we were treated to an interesting trailer:

It's a wonder in and of itself.  This trailer has nothing, not thing one, to do with the plot of the movie it's teasing.  You don't even find out the names of the characters involved or what connection they have with the story, if any.  And yet it piqued our interest.  So when the movie was released over Thanksgiving weekend, Beloved and I decided to go see it with her sister and family.

Faith, Fear, and Trembling

So there we were in Bible study today at the local cafe, the same way we are every week.  This week we were looking at the readings for our Christmas Eve service, particularly the gospel narrative of Jesus' birth from Luke 2.  We were all talking about what it must have been like for the shepherds, wandering around Bethlehem in the dark, looking for that one stable where Jesus was born out of the many nooks and crannies likely available in a little hill town like Bethlehem.  No streetlights.  Nothing but the stars and the occasional household fire.  Then one of the members of the Bible study said, "I always figured the star led the shepherds to where Jesus was."

Sermon for Advent 2: "God Is Not Done With Us"

Sermon for Christ the King Sunday: "The Blasphemy of the Crucified King"

Sermon for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost - "A Mighty Fortress"

Sermon for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost: "Threatened by Resurrection"

Sermon for All Saints' Sunday

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.

On Silence and Learning

Last week I had two experiences of silence.  Both were extraordinary moments for me.

Sermon for the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

The story read at the beginning of this sermon is "Where Are The Nine?" from The Way of the Wolf by Martin Bell.

Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost