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.

Sermon for 14 September 2008: "From the Guts, or From the Heart?"

Preaching Texts

Every week I spend a few hours on Monday or Tuesday reflecting on the texts for the upcoming Sunday’s worship sermon. I look through some of the books on my shelves for commentary and I check out a website where one woman indexes sermons, articles, historic commentary and modern thoughts in one gigantic internet preaching clearinghouse. This week a particular quote by Ed Krentz, a Lutheran pastor, caught my eye: “A Christian curmudgeon or misanthrope is an oxymoron, a paradox, an impossibility, an ultimate denial of the forgiving grace of God. Sweet reasonableness, openness to all, are the hallmarks of the Christian faith.” [1]
At first I didn’t like that quote one bit. I’ve known plenty of dedicated, faithful Christians who aren’t necessarily sweetly reasonable. But then I got to thinking about those words Pastor Krentz used. My dictionary defines “curmudgeon” as “a crusty, ill-tempered and usually old man” and “misanthrope” as “one who hates or mistrusts [humankind].” The more I thought about those words, the more I realized that Krentz was right. Then I remembered that one guy who proves he was right.
Normally I don’t like to talk about others like this, especially in light of Paul’s words from Romans today, but the question keeps coming back to me: what is the image of true forgiveness? What is the image of a church that actually lives well together? And sometimes I find myself realizing that not discussing the negative parts of who we are as people of God doesn’t do us any favors. So, here we go:
It was my first or second year in ministry. We are required to attend First Call Theological Education with other first call pastors at certain retreat centers around the country, and my group met in January at a camp in northern Minnesota. There was one guy at that retreat who just wasn’t right. He outright hated the people to whom he was ministering, and said so many, many times. He was rude, arrogant, and if I remember right, he actually referred to himself as a misanthrope. I have no earthly idea if he’s still in the ministry or not, but I remember walking away from one conversation thinking, “wow, that guy’s an ass.”
Being a Christian, of course, is far more than just being a nice person. But Paul makes the argument that how we treat others reflects the way we feel about God and the Body of Christ, the Church in which we live. "If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's." We serve a Lord and Master who demands forgiveness and humility toward one another even more than worship and sacrifice. As the prophet Micah said,
‘With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? 7Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’ God has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" [2]
Worship and praise are not the hallmarks of Christian faith: justice, kindness and humility are the way of the Christian, and Jesus taught these things also.
So with justice, kindness and humility in mind we approach the parable of the unforgiving servant. I'll admit that my own interpretation of this story changes almost every time it comes from Jesus' mouth to my ears through Matthew's gospel. Today it seems to me that this parable on forgiveness is not particularly forgiving. In the end, not one character gives evidence of any kindness or humility, and the justice which is described is a particularly punitive style of justice. If we are to read the parables with an eye for ourselves as one of the characters portrayed, then we are in for a rough time dealing with this parable. The servant at the heart of the story is just as bad as he looks. The amount of money he owed was more than King Herod received in tribute from all his territories for an entire year. Yet this same slave refused to forgive a debt that was 1/500,000th of what he himself had been forgiven. The debts have probably been exaggerated for effect, but I don't think Jesus is exaggerating the hypocritical actions of the unforgiving slave. We know better, don't we? We can be wonderfully hypocritical when it suits our purposes.
Yet the unforgiving slave is not the only problematic person in this parable. At first glance, the king appears to at least be the sort of kind, benevolent king who forgives his debtors. But perceptions can be deceiving. The Greek word which begins v. 27 is splagcnivzomai, "from the gut," and to me that implies that this act of forgiveness was not the kind, gracious response of a king who loves his people: it's the hurried, unreflective, knee-jerk reaction of a tired king who doesn't want to be bothered with a slave who will never, ever pay back what he owes. Further evidence for this un-thoughtful response comes later when the king revokes his forgiveness of the debt. True forgiveness is like name-calling in elementary school: try as you might, you can't ever 'take it back.' What the king offered was the cheapest form of conditional parole; a human life thrown away in laziness and recaptured for angry, punitive vengeance. This is not the act of a king: it is the spiteful rule of a tyrant.
It is here, again, that I struggle with this parable and the implications it brings, because Jesus seems to be suggesting that this spiteful, punitive king is in fact God the Father. I struggle because I don't like the idea that God the Father could be so angry, so inconsistent, so unbalanced. Like many of you, I've been taught that God is fair and just, "slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness," as the prophets and the psalmists say. I don't like the thought of worshiping a God who forgives only to revoke that forgiveness over such a small thing.
But one thing has changed since the last time we saw these texts for a Sunday morning worship service: I've become a parent, and with that I've become a victim to all the unbalanced, inconsistent anger that rises when my children are hurt or neglected. And if we read this parable with God the Father and Jesus the Son in mind, remembering the crucifixion that is to come in Jerusalem, then perhaps we can understand the anger and rage that rises when the king's forgiveness is insulted by the unforgiving slave. I can guarantee you that when my child is hurt, my reasonable nature, such as it is, goes right out the window. I am not a reasonable man when it comes to my children; you mess with my girls, you will see me get mean and nasty. So take that reaction, and see if God's reaction to what is coming for Jesus doesn't fit into this story just a little bit. When God the Father forgives the monstrosity of the crucifixion, and we in turn refuse to forgive the small injuries of daily life, then God's anger makes sense, and is perhaps even justified.
So we see that forgiveness and emotions don't mix well. This is perhaps the greatest question the parable poses: does forgiveness come from the guts, or from the heart? Well, let's ask the question in a slightly different way. When you've been wronged, when someone has really done a number on you, when you're so angry that you feel as though your guts are just going to jump right up your throat, how likely are you to forgive? If you look at people the way my former colleage, the Misanthrope, looked at people, are you likely to see mistakes with any kind of grace whatsoever? No, because forgiveness is not emotional and not a feeling: it is an action.
Forgiveness is not something that happens through a gut reaction. Forgiveness is a way of life, a determined outlook, a spiritual practice which requires daily effort and the humble understanding that, try as we might, even our best efforts will fall woefully short of the forgiveness we ourselves have received through the mercy Jesus gives to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Even the most reasonable, kind, merciful person you've ever known has had those moments of unreasonable, gut-wrenching anger; in those situations, our guts will lead us astray every single time. When Peter asked Jesus how many times he must forgive his neighbor, he was asking how the accounting for sin works. Jesus, on the other hand, told Peter that forgiveness is not a matter of accounting at all: it is a matter of heartfelt determination before any sin is committed. Delayed or postponed vengeance is NOT forgiveness: forgiveness is real only when vengeance is utterly denied for all time.
Where does this leave us with God as the angry king, though? It's still hard to be hopeful for mercy from a God who gets angry like that, isn't it? Here, again, we are called to remember the story of the crucifixion. Jesus came to forgive sins, and it angered us so much that we crucified him for it. Think of the anger, the anguish that God the Father must have felt in that day, and yet no blow of punishment ever fell for that monstrous sin. God the Father chose instead to withdraw, to walk away from anger and pain, and to return with new life for Jesus on the third day. God's heart was determined to deny the gut reaction of vengeance on us for what we did to Jesus – that is forgiveness which comes from the heart. That's the kind of heart-felt forgiveness we have been given, and the heart-felt forgiveness to which we are called as Jesus' followers. So may the forgiveness of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds and guts in Christ Jesus our Lord, to forgive as you have been forgiven. Amen.
[1] Edgar Krentz, from The Christian Century © 1996. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_n25_v113/ai_18666024
[2] Micah 6.6-8

Friday Five: Back To School!

It's been a while since I played a Friday Five from RevGalBlogPals - here's this week's edition:

It's time for a Back-To-School Friday Five!
1. Is anyone going back to school, as a student or teacher, at your house? How's it going so far?
Yes, someone from our household is going back to school: me! Well, not really 'back to school,' but close. It's my first fall semester as a campus pastor, so I'm also getting back into the swing of the academic calendar (which, by the way, is far superior to the Gregorian calendar, IMHO).

2. Were you glad or sad when back-to-school time came as a kid?
Both, like many kids. Being a farm kid, I spent a lot of time playing with my brothers and working for my dad over the summer, so seeing friends all day instead of a few hours for baseball practice and swimming lessons was cool. I've always loved buying pencils, notebooks, and the like for the beginning of a new school year, too. But facing hours of enforced learning was always tough: I'm a self-directed learner and school was always tough for me, not for lack of intelligence or ability, but for the restraints teachers had to use to keep me in line with the rest of the class.

3. Did your family of origin have any rituals to mark this time of year? How about now?
Mom always wanted a picture of us boys before we got on the bus the first day of school, and there was always a trip to Sioux City for a few new school outfits, but nothing beyond that. Since our girls aren't school age yet, we don't do anything special, but something will be in the works when that day rolls around, I'm sure.

4. Favorite memories of back-to-school outfits, lunchboxes, etc?
Nike Air basketball shoes were HUGE when I was in high school, and I remember the day I found some Nike Air Whatevers on sale. That was pretty cool for me. :-)
Another memory that always makes me laugh is my freshman year in high school. Small schools like ours let all the kids practice with the varsity for all sports, so when football kicked off I was thrown into the mix against our varsity team, which ended the year ranked #2 and lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual state champion. After two days of two-a-days I was so sore that when we arrived in Sioux City for the aforementioned shopping trip, I had to LIFT my legs out of the back seat of our Buick with my hands because I couldn't move them otherwise. It was worse than the aftermath of any marathon I've run!

5. What was your best year of school?
My last year of seminary was about as good as it gets for me. Finally seeing the end of a LONG educational road (six years undergrad + 1 year working + 4 years M.Div.) was just part of it. I finally hit my stride in terms of classes, interests and motivation, and it showed. I did my best work by far that senior year, including a ton of work on Bonhoeffer and a great job as a teaching assistant for Dr. James Nestingen, who is still a major influence for my theology and my preaching. I met Kristin that year, and by the time graduation rolled around I was pretty sure we'd be making things permanent very quickly. To top it off, a friend nominated me to give the graduate address at our commencement ceremony, and the rest of the committee voted me in. Quite the privilege, and likely the highlight of my academic life thus far.

Wednesday Night Reflection: "Christians and Pagans"

Acts 17.16-34: 16 While Paul was waiting for [his fellow missionaries] in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the market-place* every day with those who happened to be there. 18Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, ‘What does this babbler want to say?’ Others said, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.’ (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 19So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, ‘May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.’ 21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.

22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26From one ancestor* he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27so that they would search for God* and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are his offspring.”
29Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’

32 When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’ 33At that point Paul left them. 34But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

I spent the day in the Union at our booth for Club Fest, handing out fliers, talking with students and generally promoting our ministry here at the University Lutheran Center. We were given a table next to the Iowa State Pagan Community – a location that led to a lot of double-takes and smiles this afternoon. I didn’t mind the double-takes or the smiles. I didn’t like the flinches I saw when people noticed the Pagan Community’s table. What I liked even less was the winking, conspiratorial “do you mind being next to those people” I sometimes got from other Christians as they noticed our neighbors.

I’m not saying I’m a pagan at heart. Far from it. One of the folks at their table spent the afternoon complaining about how the Christians had stolen all of our holidays from pagan observances (guilty, but that doesn’t mean pagans can’t continue to celebrate solstice), and laughing about proudly wearing a shirt with a pentagram the next time the fundamentalist Jesus-shouters visit campus (which I’d dearly love to see, because I can’t stand the Jesus-shouters, either). We disagree about the heart of what it means to be religious and, from what I could tell, we disagree about the true nature of Christian faith and practice. The fact that they see a caricature of what we do is, I would imagine, reciprocal: having never set foot in a pagan ceremony or community of any kind, I’m completely ignorant of their rites and customs, so how could I comment on their community with any kind of accuracy?

Here’s the thing I didn’t like about my fellow Christians assuming I had a problem with those people: doesn’t anyone remember that we were once those people, too? When Paul spoke at the Aereopagus in Athens, when Peter addressed the crowds at Pentecost, when Augustine and Irenaeus were preaching throughout the Mediterranean, they were all those people in their societies: the weirdos with the strange beliefs, the minority religious folk, the people who weren’t ‘fitting in’ to society. 1500 years of Christendom, where Christianity was often the only religious choice for our ancestors, trained us to consider our religion the norm for all people, and view others with suspicion and, unfortunately, outright derision, as I saw several times today.

Here’s the other thing: the days of Christendom are over. We are actually on our way back to being those people again. It’s already happened in Europe, and it’s happening here in America, too. We are in a society where deep, regular participation in a faith community is becoming the exception, and we need to realize that truth now, for our sake as Christians and for the sake of the world in which we serve.

If Paul had considered himself to be among those people in Athens, it’s very likely he wouldn’t have found a receptive audience at all. But notice that when Paul began to address the crowds, he didn’t belittle or ridicule the faith of the people of Athens: he acknowledged their desire for spiritual truth, and then made a bold case for what had been revealed to him by Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. He neither denied his faith nor pretended to be someone other than a disciple of Jesus, yet his acknowledgment of other religious practices allowed his own message to be heard more clearly and in a more positive light. His willingness to approach other faiths lent credence to his own.

That’s a lesson we would do well to learn. I am convinced that respectful conversation with a person of another faith does far more good for the kingdom of God than some idiot with a sign promising damnation for those who refuse to repent. We believe in a God who loves so passionately that his own Son came to give his life away for all of humanity, Christians and pagans alike: aren’t we called, then, to recognize the image of God in those who do not see it in themselves?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a poem titled “Christians and Pagans” during his captivity in Tegel Prison in Berlin, in July 1944:

All people go to God in need,
For help and calm and food they plead.
That sickness, guilt and death may cease,
All, Christians and Pagans, pray for peace.

But some turn to God in God’s need and dread,
A God poor, despised, without roof or bread.
By sin’s harm weakened and by death distressed,
Christians stand steadfast by their God oppressed.

God goes to all in their need and dread,
Their souls’ loving grace and their bodies’ bread.
By the crucified Lord who for them was slain,
Both Christian and pagan God’s pardon gain.*

A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. (c) 1995 by Geffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson, eds. Published by Harper Collins Publishers, New York. p. 515

My Sermon And The One I WISH I'd Preached

I haven't been posting sermons lately because I've been edging away from manuscripts a bit. Yesterday was my longest foray away yet, and I think it might have been TOO far away - it certainly was a bit more free-wheeling than I prefer to have it. I'm pretty sure it was a good sermon nonetheless, but maybe this week I'll have a bit more of a detailed manuscript to keep me in check.

That having been said, I just read a sermon that I wish I'd preached, because it's good. Seriously fire-placing good stuff. Have a read and see for yourself.

Happy Times

I am still regularly amazed at how much I love being a father. Granted, sometimes it's a big pain in the tucchus - especially days like yesterday, when it was raining and Alanna would. not. sleep. But that 1% of life with my girls is overwhelmed regularly by the 99% that is a great adventure.

Cases in point. #1 - yesterday afternoon, while Kristin was taking a short nap, Ainsley needed a diaper change. Before I could even take her hand and lead her to the changing table, she walked over to it, pointed, and 'told' me she needed a change. #2 - Ainsley loves the "Teddy Bear Song," which includes one line, "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, show your shoes..." When I was singing it to her this morning, doing the actions with Ainsley's big pink teddy bear, Ainsley did indeed show me her shoes - both the ones on her feet AND THEN the ones in her closet. Again, with no prompting. Watching her begin to comprehend stuff like this is just joyful.

We had a fun weekend, even though I spent a good portion of it doing ministry work. Saturday morning we went to nearby Boone, IA for the Pufferbilly Parade. It was fun!

Before we left, though, we had to do some playtime together:



Alanna is trying to figure out if she really likes her new playmat or not - and how long Ainsley will let her enjoy it unmolested:



The Baby Bjorn is a great tool for the "baby who must be held:"


One big happy pre-parade group!


The happy family watching the parade:


CAUTION: BAND GEEK IN TRAINING:

note the lovely uniform step from the Little Cyclone Marching Band - nicely done, guys!

Who wouldn't love these girls?



Daddy & Alanna sharing a "no hair" moment...

Alanna, six weeks & change:

Reason # 823 I'm A Husker

Well, there are several reasons in this story - you get to pick which one you like, the "90 years old and just going to his first Husker game" or the "sharing my tickets so a 90 year old can go to his first game" or the "small town guy who roots for his home team" or ...

Anyway, this is a pretty cool story.

ps: after a serious coffee infusion at the office followed by a fun afternoon with my girls, I'm somewhat out of the "OVER. INFANTS." camp. Somewhat. We'll see how I feel at 3:00 tomorrow morning.

Scott of the Dead

Fell asleep on the couch watching Sportscenter last night after a thrilling UCLA-Tennessee game. Alanna woke up crying 30 minutes after I stumbled into our bed upstairs, sucked down a bottle, threw it all back up while I was trying to swaddle her, and then refused to either eat or sleep for the next 45 minutes. Finally I put her down, went into our bedroom, lay down, and flat out ignored her grunts over the monitor and pretended to be asleep when Kristin got up to take care of her (this is SO our second child). Then I got up at 6:00 with Alanna, fed her another bottle, and promptly put her on the floor on a blanket when she refused again to go to sleep. All of this without a bean or ground of coffee in the house.

I. AM. SO. OVER. INFANTS.

That is all.

Huskers 2008: Get Back

Amen, baby.

The Wednesday Reflection: Tolkien, Accidents, and Free Will

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12.9-21

I’ve just started reading Tolkien again, for the umpteenth time in my life (seriously – I can’t remember how many times I’ve read The Lord of the Rings, but it is 'many', as in ‘more than I have fingers to count’). The trigger was a rebroadcast of the Peter Jackson films on some cable station the other night; seeing the Rohirrim charging into the armies of Mordor just got me thinking it was time to revisit Tolkien’s fantastic world.

This time, I’m starting with The Silmarillion, Tolkien’s history of Middle-Earth from the dawning of its creation to the end of the Third Age (The Lord of the Rings era, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the Middle-Earth timeline). The story begins with the creation of the world through the song of Iluvatar and his children, the Ainur, but even at the beginning, something went wrong. One of the singers, Melkor, desired more power and the dominion of his own vision of creation, so he sang in ways that weren’t harmonizing with the other Valar. This pattern of betrayal and contention continued for ages upon ages in this wonderful tale: Melkor, also known as Morgoth, chose the path of greed and malice and thus was Middle-Earth stained by evil and sin.

Those aren’t the words Tolkien uses, mind you: I don’t think the word “sin” occurs even once in this first part of The Silmarillion, and if it does occur in the rest of the Tolkien library, it does not occur often. But Tolkien was a theologian nevertheless: his mythology bears the tragedy and glory of free will and our bondage to sin better than any writer of the 20th century.

I bring this up because of the reading from Romans for tonight. As we were working on this text in our pastor’s group study yesterday afternoon, a local pastor said, “I didn’t listen to this kind of stuff when my mother said it: why would I listen when Paul says it?” Standing by itself, this passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans bends the back of every sinner in the joint with the weight of heavy expectations and missed opportunities. Notice that in these verses the word “until” does not appear once. There’s no end in sight to this list of demands, and so Paul’s words take on the full power of the Law to push and demand and accuse. Let’s face it: we will all lag in zeal, we will rarely bless those who persecute us, and there will always be a small part of us that wants most desperately to repay evil with evil.

There’s no “until” in this passage because what Paul describes is not a program for self-improvement: this is the pattern of life for which God created us in the beginning. But, like Melkor in The Silmarillion, we insist on calling the tune and create discord where there is supposed to be harmony. It’s no good insisting that we try to work our way back to the original melody, either: for every moment where we do heed the call of God to holy living, there are a thousand moments where we deny the call, sing our own tune and bring the whole thing into discord all over again.

There is, however, reason for hope. The other reason the word “until” doesn’t appear in this passage from Romans is this: there is no “until” left for God’s children. We who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever already have everything God has to give. Our choices are ours to make, and the consequences are ours to bear, but the first and most important choice has already been made by God: you are God’s child and can never be separated from God, even by your own decisions to live in discord with the world around you.

In a recent article at the Christian Century website, a woman wrote about surviving a terrible car accident. An onlooker said to her, “God must have plans for you, because you all survived this accident.” The problem with this kind of thinking is that not everyone survives accidents – and not every accident is a genuine accident. People make poor decisions, like running stop signs, speeding, driving drunk, and sometimes those poor decisions bear terrible consequences, but those decisions are our own, not the hand of God squashing us flat because we’ve served our purpose in this world. Here is the mystifying nature of the grace of God: grace forgives poor decisions, missed opportunities, denial and fear, and sets us free with the distinct possibility that we will likely do it all over again. But, as we are set free, the teachings of Jesus and his followers, like Paul, remind us that there is indeed something better for which we were made. “Overcome evil with good”? Maybe not today – but I’ve been set free for tomorrow, and that is all that matters.

The Road Goes Ever On And On...

I'm setting forth on a great journey, again, one I've taken many times before. Yet along that road I find new wonders and fantastic places each time I set out.

The journey of which I speak is the journey to Middle-earth. Starting with The Silmarillion, I will be traveling in Tolkien's land again, and as always, I'm excited to set out.

As Bilbo once said, "It's a dangerous business, going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to."

Still Missing Larry

Some time ago I posted about driving home and thinking of Larry Meyer, so deep in memories of my own campus ministry experiences that I'd sometimes drive past the turn to my street without stopping. Today I had another "Larry" moment, but of a different type.

A student called just after lunch to see if I could sit down for a chat for a while. "Of course," I said, and the student came and we talked. The subject is only important to me and the student, but in the course of the conversation I caught myself doing things I remembered Larry doing in smilar conversations we shared over the years I called him "my pastor." I even caught myself in a Larry "pose:" leaning back in my chair, legs crossed, hands clasped behind my head - all done unconsciously, mind you. Sort of like this picture, but without the smile (it wasn't a smiley kind of talk).

It's been a great first weekend to the semester. There were 39 people in worship yesterday, which may not seem like much until you figure the first Sunday I preached here we had 12 students in attendance. But the numbers in worship aren't as important as the feeling that maybe I am making a difference here, and my conversation today was every bit as important as the 39 who came yesterday. You can't have one without the other if you're going to do this ministry thing right, and for today, at least, it feels like the Spirit and I are getting it done right. Soli Deo Gloria.

A Date with the Friday Five

This week's Friday Five brought to you by DayTimer, the Franklin Planner and the number 5...

It's Friday afternoon, Eastern Time, and this is your faithful Songbird
with a calendar-related Friday Five. Due to some confusion with our dates, I'm
stepping in today, although I am usually here only on the 5th Friday, when there
is such a thing.Here are five things to ponder about dates. I hope you'll
play!

1) Datebooks--how do you keep track of your appointments? Electronically? On paper? Month at a glance? Week at a glance?

This is a Palm Centro from Sprint. It's supposed to be my new electronic brain - cell phone, datebook, task list, notebook and all around cool gadget. What it is right now is a heavy cell phone. I can't make the HotSync work. Why can't I make the HotSync work? I don't know when anything's happening! Help me!

2) When was the last time you forgot an important date?

This summer I mistakenly thought my sister-in-law's birthday was in July; it's in June, and thus I missed it AGAIN. SIL is a long-time friend and deserves better. Then I neglected to call my folks on their anniversary. Their 40th anniversary. Granted, my brother and SIL had a baby boy that week, and we were rapidly approaching Alanna's arrival, but still, that was bad form.

3) When was the last time you went OUT on a date?

Err, mmmm, May? Yes, it was May - we went to see the new Indiana Jones movie, and we ate out, also. Been a bit, shall we say, busy since then.

4) Name one accessory or item of clothing you love even though it is dated.

Well, I don't think they're dated, but I loves me my Dr. Marten's boots, and I heard some fashion guy saying they're out of fashion not so long ago. I don't care - my brown boots are almost 10 years old and I can still wear them for casual dress occasions. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever been a better bargain or a more beloved clothing purchase than my two pairs of plain Dr. Marten's boots (one brown, one flat black).

5) Dates--the fruit--can't live with 'em? Or can't live without 'em?

Meh - I could go either way. Yummy, but let's just say if I eat too many the digestive byproducts can be a bit, um, musical. Beans aren't the only musical fruit. Aaaaand there's your guy take on the GalPals list - bet none of the Gals brought up flatulence...

Book of Faith

View my page on Book of Faith

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.

Alanna's Baptism

Life has been busy at die Johnson Haus lately: many family members arriving and leaving and lots of planning and cleaning and cooking and such for Alanna's baptism. I'm happy to report that the whole thing went off without a hitch, unlike Ainsley's baptism which involved a worship-canceling blizzard and at least one case of stomach flu/food poisoning. Yeah, fun times. Anyway, this weekend couldn't have been better: gorgeous weather, everyone got their hotels and the rooms were good, and the baptism was a snap. When the worst thing that happens on a big weekend like this is some slow-cooking burgers because I got impatient and scattered the coals too early, you know it's a good weekend.

Here are some pics from the weekend. First, Kristin got this beautiful closeup of Ainsley:


Cousin Z and Ainsley really enjoyed some time in the kiddie pool on Saturday:


Alanna in her beautiful baptismal gown:

Grandpa Johnson, Cousin Z and Ainsley getting ready for worship:

One happy post-baptismal family:

The Johnson clan:

The Mooneyham clan (at home because we couldn't catch Cousin Q at the church):

My brother (L) and father (R) showing my brother-in-law what it means to be Cornhuskers (Okay, not really - BIL knows how to husk corn. But the joke was too good to pass up.):


Ainsley getting her cute on in the backyard after lunch:

My brother trying to get Alanna to stop crying and start burping:

My baby brother and his SO laughing at something:


Like I said, a beautiful weekend with lots of family time (and it was fun in spite of all the family time!). Now we are just the four of us - everyone has gone home. It's both nice to just be home with the kids and a bit crazy now that no one is around to help - but it's a bit more nice to be finally settling into a bit of a routine. I'm sure it won't last, but for now we're having a grand time, just the four of us.

Friday Five: Fall Transformations

Ooooooh, this'll be fun! Lotsa things changing in the life of RevScott & the girls this fall, so it'll be hard to pick which five to mention. Here goes:

Here in my neck of the woods, rain is falling...a little uncharacteristic for August, but most welcome! It'll be hot and humid later, but a break in the heat is most welcome.Also falling (especially into my driveway) are the fruits of the bois d'arc tree (also known as the Osage Orange). We call them "bowdarks" and enjoy bowling them down the driveway to the empty lot across the street. (Yes, I may be a redneck...)Bois d'arc fruits are used only for: 1) making more trees and 2) eating by squirrels (if you have another use, please let me know!)The wood of the bois d'arc tree, however, is very hard and very beautiful, and makes gorgeous items like the vase above. Such a lovely thing, from such an odd-looking source!

For this Friday's Five, share with us five transformations that the coming fall will bring your way.

Bonus: Give us your favorite activity that is made possible by the arrival of fall.

1. On a personal note, this will be my first "full year" as a campus pastor. Since we're now on the academic calendar for our ministry schedule, I'm in the thick of emailing incoming students, nailing down our first few worship services of the fall semester, and preparing for the onslaught of students which will start next week. It's VERY exciting and something I've anticipated with glee since I first interviewed here last October.

2. Family transformations are also huge for us this year. In a few short days Alanna, Ainsley, Kristin and I will be on our own: MIL, who has been a wonderful help to us since Alanna was born on the 21st, will be heading home with FIL after the baptism on Sunday morning. I'm so grateful MIL could be here with us, and at the same time I'm ready to start trying to figure out how we're going to make this family thing work. Not least of all will be the simple matter of scheduling everything and making sure we're all on the same page: a hefty task for the three of us, exponentially more complicated now that we are four.

3. Seeing autumn in a new state is going to be different, too. Ames is a lovely community, with lots and lots of trees, parks and other spots where nature invades this town of 55,000, but it's certainly not northern Minnesota, whose beauty from August to the first of November is simply beyond compare. Right now would be the season for groundfog over Barrett Lake as I head out for my morning run, and I'm surprised to note how much I miss it, and the smell and sound of the lake as the days tend toward cooler temps.

4. There is an aspect of this move to campus ministry that I never considered until just now. In addition to the calendar changing, my position within the community has changed as well. In congregational ministry, which I left in January at the age of 33, I was still a kid when compared to most of the members of our church. I felt that way, too, and sometimes it was a huge problem (how is a kid supposed to provide advice for living to folks twice his age and more?). Here in Ames, I'm 34 and OLD to most of my students. No one in our student community remembers the Challenger explosion. Heck, most of them don't remember when Kurt Cobain was alive and making music. I'm sure I'll receive the list from the faculty at that one school that tells us all what this year's freshman class takes for granted as their world view, and like the last few years, I'll feel the passing of time and the shock of realizing I'm now approaching an age that encompasses my earliest memories of my parents (gulp).

5. Finally, the transformation of our house into our home continues. Bushes have been removed from the backyard and replaced with smaller, more sensible plants. The next few weekends will be spent getting stuff out of the garage and putting in new steps into the kitchen so we can get the minivan in there before the snow flies. Next spring I'll start tearing down the humongous shed in the backyard so I can move it and reassemble it in a smaller fashion in the corner and reclaim some of that space for my garden. This home-ownership thing is fun - of course, it would be a lot MORE fun if the mortgage payment took care of itself. :-)

Bonus: Hmmm, favorite activity made possible by the coming of fall. What could that be, said the young farm boy from Nebraska who played football for years and wound up playing trombone at three NCAA National Championship bowl games? Oh, yeah:

NEBRASKA CORNHUSKER FOOTBALL

I think the whole state and all of us in diaspora are breathless with anticipation for this fall. Coach Bo Pelini sounds like the real deal and, we hope, an ascension back to the upper echelons of NCAA football will soon follow. Please, at least tell me we're going to hit people in the mouth again! That by itself would be a major transformation from the former regime in Lincoln. Go Big Red!

By Comparison, I'm The Laziest Pastor EVER

My head is swimming trying to get back into the swing of full time ministry after three weeks of paternity leave. Seriously, just catching up on mail, email and getting an individual email to all our incoming students is taking up every last bit of mental capacity I've got. Thank heaven I don't have to preach this Sunday!

So, as I'm doing this, I checked in with my blogroll today and found that Real Live Preacher is basically kicking my ass in the "Pastoral Aspirations" department. He's hosting a Real Live Discussion on Hell. You know, the kind of light, frivolous blogging we've come to expect, right?

Hell. Discussion and all. With ground rules and exegesis required. Just reading the few comments on his website took me nearly fifteen minutes. Gordon, I salute you, brother: go on with your bad self!

Getting A Life Back?

It's been an interesting week since last I posted. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it. Some good stuff happened, about which I'll post later. But it's been a real struggle this week also. Some things I think are pretty important are getting dropped, regularly, and figuring out how to handle this frustration is going to be an important piece of work for me in coming days. I'm overjoyed to be a daddy for the second time - but paired with that joy is an exponentially greater challenge to be patient and forgiving, which aren't natural character traits for me. I'm more from the "Get it done and stop giving me excuses" school, which can be great in some instances but doesn't always contribute to the happiest home environment. Just a few more days and things should settle down a bit, but those are going to be LONG days, I think.

One of the good things from the week was our trip to my hometown for the 125th Anniversary Celebration of Salem Lutheran Church, where my family has worshipped for four generations (actually, counting my nephews now that my brother has moved home, it's five generations). I'll post more about that later, but here are some pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

Alanna & her cousin N:



Burping the baby:

Little girl, big fish at the new pool in Wakefield:


Hi!

Brothers and kids at the new pool:

Here I come, Daddy!


WHEEEEE!

We had a FUN day at the pool!


Ainsley's second tractor ride (because no one was around to take a picture for the first)


Cousins Z & Ainsley sitting at the table where Daddy & Cousin Jon sat, many years ago:




All the grandkids at Grandma & Grandpa Johnson's farm:

The Wednesday Reflection: Going Nuts, Near To Salvation

I need to confess something. Working at the Lutheran Center drives me absolutely nuts sometimes.

No, I don’t mean it’s a lousy job. Far from it – I love working in campus ministry. It’s the actual Lutheran Center that drives me nuts. The building itself. Working IN the Lutheran Center drives me absolutely nuts sometimes, because it’s a mess, and it’s not getting any less messier.

Nothing EVER gets clean at the Center. Oh, sure, we wipe it down once a year or so and call it good. But every corner is dusty, every ceiling has spiderwebs, and none of it is going away. Do you know how many closets there are in this building? Do you know how many closets have crap that hasn’t moved once since I took this call? Light bulbs burn out and don’t get replaced. Flowers get planted and don’t get watered. Hymnals and worship folders migrate around the building until no one knows how many we have and what we would do if we ever got them in one place.

There’s no air conditioning here except three window units that keep our offices bearable in most of the summer heat. The windows in the basement have yet to be finished. The kitchen? A disaster area. Matter of fact, everything below ground level needs a complete overhaul, from what I can tell, to be followed by everything above ground level. But we can’t afford to overhaul things as quickly as we’d like – the finances just aren’t there. So, for now, we endure a building that looks as though it might start falling down around us one of these days. Now do you understand why working in the Center drives me absolutely nuts?

The psalmist cries out to God: “Will you be displeased with us forever? Will you prolong your anger from age to age? Will you not give us life again, that your people may rejoice in you?” I wonder some days if that’s what the building is saying to me as I walk in the door. “How long, O Pastor Scott, must I wait for fresh paint? For a sump pump? For the air conditioning I desperately need? How long?”

But, at the same time, the psalmist also says, “Truly, your salvation is very near to those who fear you, that your glory may dwell in our land.” This, from the same psalmist who was just asking God if God’s anger would never depart? How does that work?

Last summer, Kristin and I took seven campers from our two churches to church camp in Nebraska for one week. We stayed at the same camp I had gone to in 1985, when I was 11 years old, and as luck would have it, we were at a campsite that used the original dining hall from all those years ago. In the 20 years since I was a camper there, buildings had gone up like weeds on those 300 acres, but the old Main Site Dining Hall remained, unchanged, from when it was first built in the mid-1970s. No air conditioning. Tired old ceiling fans that barely moved the air. Worn out, out-of-tune piano that looked about a million years old. But I walked into that dining hall and was instantly transported back to weeks of camp that uprooted, molded and shaped me into something completely new and reborn. That dilapidated old building houses more memories than I can count, and when they finally do replace it with something better, part of me will grieve, because a place very special to me will be gone.

If new paint, air conditioning and windows that close properly were the marks of salvation, then both my old camp and our campus ministry would be in trouble. Salvation is marked by something completely different. I think many of us 21st century American Christians often mistake maintenance for ministry, facilities for faith. True, we are called to be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us, but the first priority of stewardship is faithful living, not feng shui. Salvation is very near to us at the Lutheran Center, not because of or in spite of our dilapidated building, but because in this place we are called, gathered, enlightened and sanctified by God’s Word, put to death in our sin and raised to new life in Christ, even in this building that leaks and moans and gets moldy if you don’t dump the dehumidifiers every day. Can it be frustrating? Sure – but not nearly as frustrating as God must get, dealing with we of little faith who think that a newly sealed parking lot is a sign that we’re on the right track. Salvation is near, friends, but it isn’t our building that shows it – it’s our hearts, and those can be turned by God in any place, any time, tripping peacefully along or, in my case, going nuts with nowhere else to go. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Pastoral Care They Don't Teach You In Seminary

You need to read this post by the Questing Parson, even if you're not a pastor - because there's a good chance that all of us, pastors and not, have been a "Ralph" at some point in our lives.

Pictures: Home With Alanna

The oppressive heat here in Ames is keeping the girls inside most of the time, so Mommy has taken LOTS of cute pictures of Alanna the last few days. Here are some of the best:

Hanging out in our new swing:


Sleeping like Daddy:


Bath Time!


Sleeping like Mommy:


Tummy Time!

Monday Meme: 7 Random Things

I've already given up on the 365 Project with Alanna. This is NOT due to Second Child Syndrome (at least, I keep telling myself it isn't); I just don't have enough mental space for a daily reminder to take a picture and post it. But I'll get some pics up pretty regularly anyway, especially as Kristin continues to regain her strength post-C-section and can take up more of the kid-wrangling duties. Right now MIL and I have it covered, but it takes a lot of our time.



HotCup and Cheesehead did a Random Seven meme in the last week, and I thought it looked fun. So, here goes:



Thing the 1st: I sweat. A LOT. I've been trying to ride my bike to work more often as a conservation thing, but when it's in the 90s with that thick, thick humidity as it is now, it's just awful because I'm a sweaty mess by the time I arrive. At the gym, I'm the guy who's through his shirt in the first five minutes on the treadmill and needs to just soak the thing in disinfectant spray after a good long run. Being summer, I'm even worse than normal at the moment. That guy way down on the end of the treadmill line? Yeah, that's me. Don't get too close - you might get splashed. Sorry about that.


Thing the 2nd: I'm totally addicted to the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series. It's awesome - righteously fireplacing awesome storytelling. Forget the bloviating, ponderous crap George Lucas foisted on the Star Wars universe with the prequels (it's sad how good those movies could have been if someone else had written the dialogue): this series, written by Aaron Allston, Karen Traviss and Troy Denning is where the best Star Wars work is happening. In addition to their excellent work here, I'd add anything written by Timothy Zahn; these are the best writers out there currently in the Star Wars universe, IMHO.


Thing the 3rd: I think my beloved Huskers will win nine games this year and push for the Big 12 North division title. I know last year's record doesn't indicate this type of reversal is in the cards, but I think most of the predictions I've seen thus far this summer are woefully wrong due to a) an underestimation of the talent Bill Callahan's staff recruited to Nebraska and b) the potential that the new staff under Coach Pelini can tap from said underestimated team. Frankly, though, I don't care if they win any games so long as they show up and play hard, physical, balls-to-the-wall football. I think Nebraska is in for a return to glory, and I haven't been this excited for a season to get started since 1997.

Thing the 4th: I've gained about five pounds since Alanna was born, but I don't care. What with mid-night feedings interrupting my sleep (studies show that a lack of sleep contributes to weight gain) and the corresponding lack of energy sapping my workouts, it's a wonder I can still get into any of my clothes, to be honest. I'm going to give myself about a month to just not worry about training too much; being a good daddy is much more important right now.

Thing the 5th: I LOVE our minivan, even though it gets about half the mileage our Passat gave us and it's a Ford. Yep, you read that right: I love our Ford minivan, crappy quality reputation and all. It's just nice to be able to get the girls in and out of the vehicle so quickly, and to have room for a double stroller, two child seats, a mother-in-law, and me & the wifey, plus our luggage, all of which we'll be taking to Nebraska later this week.

Thing the 6th: My aunt sent me some information about hypermiling that I thought was intriguing. Some of these practices I've been using for years: coasting onto exit ramps and up to stoplights in neutral (recommended only if you drive a manual transmission like I do), using cruise control as often as possible, etc. But some of it seems pretty crazy. No air conditioning? Drafting as often as possible? No-brake corners? There's some safety concerns there that I wouldn't care to risk.

Thing the 7th: I really miss our massage therapist from Minnesota (not to mention the extra cash it took to take advantage of her skills). Getting older really sucks sometimes. As I've been working out over the past few weeks, and working outside as well, I've had a lot of muscle soreness and pain, especially in the mornings. Man, I'm tired of getting up in the morning with everything aching like it does. I need a good, 90 minute, full-body massage, and financially it's not in the cards for a while yet. Ouch.

Well, that's the random stuff for the day. If you've read this far, consider yourself tagged.