I mentioned a while ago that I was having trouble training without a goal to motivate me. Well, now I have one: I've entered a half-marathon for September 9th in Detroit Lakes, MN. This is pretty crazy: six years ago I couldn't have typed the previous sentence, because I could never imagine running 3 miles, not to mention 13.1. Now, it's 'just' a half-marathon. Life certainly does change.
And now, on with the list.
80. Bag of Bones by Stephen King. I've often believed this was one of King's best. After reading/listening to it this spring, I've reaffirmed that belief. Bag of Bones is scary, touching, horrifying and wonderful all at once, and I really fall in love with Mike every time I read this book. I've gone back to this one three times now, and it just keeps getting better. Mike Noonan is a widowed writer trying to solve a mystery about his deceased, beloved wife, and not really getting anywhere until he moves back to their summer cabin called "Sarah Laughs."
79. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. After watching the movie version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe last December I wanted to read something by Lewis. This series of radio talks became Lewis' 'dogmatics,' if you will; his description of the essentials of Christian life & faith. But it has more to do with understanding what a Christian is than what it is a Christian must do, and for that I'm thankful. As a theologian Lewis never lost the connection to non-academics, and as a result his writing is witty, enjoyable and thought-provoking at all levels.
78. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Ahhh, back to Sci-Fi. But this is a story so much deeper! Ender Wiggin is a rare third child in an undeterminate future of earth, born to parents who were allowed to have a third child in the hopes that he might be the military genius Earth needs to destroy the Formics, an alien race that nearly wiped out humanity before being defeated. Ender is sent to Battle School at the age of 6 to be trained as Earth's next great general. I can't say more without spoiling this for you - READ THIS BOOK!
77. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Speaker for the Dead is the sequel to Ender's Game. Scientists on a distant planet have been tortured and killed by the pequeninos, the alien race they have been studying and with whom they have been communicating. The Speaker for the Dead is called to come and speak the death of Marcao, a sullen alcoholic whose wife has replaced one of the scientists and is keeping his research secret so that no others will die as he did. Another excellent novel by OS Card - his novels present the ethical and philosophical quandaries of scientific and religious practices as well as any fiction writer I've read.
76. Xenocide by Orson Scott Card. Xenocide is the sequel to Speaker for the Dead. Without giving away HUGE spoilers for all three, I'll just say that Lusitania, the world where pequeninos and humans have chosen to stand against humanity to save their lives, is in danger of being destroyed by the weapons that were used against the Formics thousands of years previously by Ender Wiggin.
On the last three, I'll just say that even people who don't normally enjoy science fiction should enjoy this series by Orson Scott Card. They are magnificently crafted stories that happen to be set in a future with space travel & alien relations. The value of Card's work here is the ethical, philosophical, religious and sociological questions that are raised: what does it mean to exist? Who gets to determine the right to life? At what cost do we protect ourselves? Great stuff - thought-provoking and challenging, to say the least.
20 July 2006
18 July 2006
100 Books - 85-81
85. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. We listened to Seabiscuit on our vacation to the North Shore earlier this summer. We had watched the movie with our church kids just a week before and really fell in love with the story again, so of course I wanted to do the book. Kris doesn't really enjoy audiobooks but we both had fun listening to this particular book - it's well written and very, very interesting.
84. The Hammer of God by Bo Giertz. My job during my senior year of seminary was as a teaching assistant to Dr. Jim Nestingen. He recommended this book to me and to many others, and when it was announced that a new version was to be published I thought maybe I'd give it a shot. A good read for a new pastor - I wish I had read it before I started here in Barrett. I might have avoided some rookie mistakes. But then, I'm sure I would have made others. It's a good story about three generations of pastors in a small town area of Sweden, and their ministry and changes in the community over time.
83. Tolkien: A Celebration edited by Joseph Pearce. This was a collection of essays about Tolkien, his writing, etc. I'll be honest - there's nothing too remarkable here. I enjoyed the book, but can't tell you anything earth-shattering I learned as a result of reading it. Perhaps I need to read it again? One would think that as much as I enjoy Tolkien I would remember more about this book!
82. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. What a delightful audiobook this was: read by the author in all his lilting, northern Ireland glory. Of course, the story is terrible; growing up poor in Ireland in the early 20th century was about as bad as one could get. But Frank McCourt is a charming storyteller, and you get the feeling listening to this book that he's just telling you another tale over a pint and a pipe.
81. Stationary Bike by Stephen King. A novella I picked up at audible.com a few weeks ago. An interesting theme on reality, the psyche and where the two intersect. As usual, King's descriptive characterizations take unbelievable situations and make them come alive. The main character, a commercial artist, is significantly overweight and in poor health. He buys a stationary bike, paints a landscape to avoid pedaling toward a blank wall for hours on end, and that's where the insanity begins.
So, I'm looking at this list and realizing that I listen to a LOT of audiobooks these days. But I've put a lot of time in the car this summer, I think - a 7 hour trip out to North Dakota & back can eat up a lot of words, and I've basically hijacked our other car trips this year for good audiobooks. Maybe this is why I'm having so much trouble actually reading books? At any rate, these are the latest I can remember...
84. The Hammer of God by Bo Giertz. My job during my senior year of seminary was as a teaching assistant to Dr. Jim Nestingen. He recommended this book to me and to many others, and when it was announced that a new version was to be published I thought maybe I'd give it a shot. A good read for a new pastor - I wish I had read it before I started here in Barrett. I might have avoided some rookie mistakes. But then, I'm sure I would have made others. It's a good story about three generations of pastors in a small town area of Sweden, and their ministry and changes in the community over time.
83. Tolkien: A Celebration edited by Joseph Pearce. This was a collection of essays about Tolkien, his writing, etc. I'll be honest - there's nothing too remarkable here. I enjoyed the book, but can't tell you anything earth-shattering I learned as a result of reading it. Perhaps I need to read it again? One would think that as much as I enjoy Tolkien I would remember more about this book!
82. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. What a delightful audiobook this was: read by the author in all his lilting, northern Ireland glory. Of course, the story is terrible; growing up poor in Ireland in the early 20th century was about as bad as one could get. But Frank McCourt is a charming storyteller, and you get the feeling listening to this book that he's just telling you another tale over a pint and a pipe.
81. Stationary Bike by Stephen King. A novella I picked up at audible.com a few weeks ago. An interesting theme on reality, the psyche and where the two intersect. As usual, King's descriptive characterizations take unbelievable situations and make them come alive. The main character, a commercial artist, is significantly overweight and in poor health. He buys a stationary bike, paints a landscape to avoid pedaling toward a blank wall for hours on end, and that's where the insanity begins.
So, I'm looking at this list and realizing that I listen to a LOT of audiobooks these days. But I've put a lot of time in the car this summer, I think - a 7 hour trip out to North Dakota & back can eat up a lot of words, and I've basically hijacked our other car trips this year for good audiobooks. Maybe this is why I'm having so much trouble actually reading books? At any rate, these are the latest I can remember...
15 July 2006
100 Books - 90-86
My friend Nate celebrated the third anniversary of his ordination this week. Congrats! And it reminded me that today is the third anniversary of beginning this call in Barrett. My, how time flies. But I'll echo Nate's sentiments: I love this community. I love being a pastor. I love preaching and teaching and doing the things I'm called to do. It's a good day to think back on three years of ministry and give thanks to God for the many blessings that have come my way.
And now, on with the list:
90. Mr. X by Peter Straub. I listened to Mr. X while driving home from Newburg, ND for Kathryn's ordination this week. Not an especially good book, but it certainly helped the miles of North Dakota highway pass quickly. Beautiful country in parts, but sometimes a guy just wants a bit more variety.
89. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King. I can't remember when I finished this series, but I know it was soon after all volumes were published last fall/winter. The Dark Tower was King's magnum opus, if you will, and for the most part I enjoyed it. But I don't think the Tower books rivaled his best work, more self-contained stories like It and The Stand. But hey, who's the multi-millionaire author here: me or Mr. King? The Dark Tower is the final volume in the series, in which Roland and his faithful companions finally reach the center of all existence and do battle to save all the worlds that have been or yet may be.
88. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah by Stephen King. Song of Susannah was published earlier in 2005. One definitely gets to loving well-crafted characters, and Roland, Eddie, Susannah and Jake, not to mention Oy the bumbler, are some of my favorites. I've always said that King's strong point is character development - this book would be a primary example.
87. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King. For all the majestic scope of the Dark Tower series, two of the volumes focus largely on short periods of time: DT IV: Wizard and Glass and DT V: Wolves of the Calla. But they remain enjoyable nonetheless. Wizard & Glass was my favorite of the entire series, but I haven't read that particular book in a few years. Wolves of the Calla was published last year and I devoured it as I devour most Stephen King stuff - now I need to read it again to find the good stuff I missed before.
86. Harry Potter VI: The Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. I can't believe I forgot to mention this one, as it was my favorite thus far in the Harry Potter series. I really enjoy these books, and I'm glad Rowling has jump-started the desire to read among children. What I can't believe is that it's almost over; just one more volume to go. I do wish the press could avoid working so hard for the shocking spoilers: the news earlier in June that a major character, perhaps Harry, would die was a bit too, how shall I say it, Inside Edition-ish? Anyway, H-B Prince was dark, scary and definitely more mature, as it should have been, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Yes, I'm aware that I'm now listing series books independently - but I realized after I started this that the series books I tend to read are full novels and worthy of consideration on their own. Besides, it's my blog, right? :-)
And now, on with the list:
90. Mr. X by Peter Straub. I listened to Mr. X while driving home from Newburg, ND for Kathryn's ordination this week. Not an especially good book, but it certainly helped the miles of North Dakota highway pass quickly. Beautiful country in parts, but sometimes a guy just wants a bit more variety.
89. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King. I can't remember when I finished this series, but I know it was soon after all volumes were published last fall/winter. The Dark Tower was King's magnum opus, if you will, and for the most part I enjoyed it. But I don't think the Tower books rivaled his best work, more self-contained stories like It and The Stand. But hey, who's the multi-millionaire author here: me or Mr. King? The Dark Tower is the final volume in the series, in which Roland and his faithful companions finally reach the center of all existence and do battle to save all the worlds that have been or yet may be.
88. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah by Stephen King. Song of Susannah was published earlier in 2005. One definitely gets to loving well-crafted characters, and Roland, Eddie, Susannah and Jake, not to mention Oy the bumbler, are some of my favorites. I've always said that King's strong point is character development - this book would be a primary example.
87. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King. For all the majestic scope of the Dark Tower series, two of the volumes focus largely on short periods of time: DT IV: Wizard and Glass and DT V: Wolves of the Calla. But they remain enjoyable nonetheless. Wizard & Glass was my favorite of the entire series, but I haven't read that particular book in a few years. Wolves of the Calla was published last year and I devoured it as I devour most Stephen King stuff - now I need to read it again to find the good stuff I missed before.
86. Harry Potter VI: The Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. I can't believe I forgot to mention this one, as it was my favorite thus far in the Harry Potter series. I really enjoy these books, and I'm glad Rowling has jump-started the desire to read among children. What I can't believe is that it's almost over; just one more volume to go. I do wish the press could avoid working so hard for the shocking spoilers: the news earlier in June that a major character, perhaps Harry, would die was a bit too, how shall I say it, Inside Edition-ish? Anyway, H-B Prince was dark, scary and definitely more mature, as it should have been, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Yes, I'm aware that I'm now listing series books independently - but I realized after I started this that the series books I tend to read are full novels and worthy of consideration on their own. Besides, it's my blog, right? :-)
14 July 2006
100 Books - 95-91
The list continues. Incidentally, this is going to be MUCH harder than I thought. I can barely remember the last 10 books I read, not to mention the last 100.
95. American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Another cheater - I listened to this book while running over the last month or so. But I read it about five years ago. It's a great story told by an expatriate Brit who now lives and writes somewhere in Minnesota (Cities, I think?). America, it seems, is a tough place for gods to thrive - and one of them is trying to help the old gods survive an onslaught of new gods. Interesting reading for me.
94. The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel. I think I blogged about this some time back. A story about small town people, ministry, and lots of other things, including a young minister. Can't seem to think why I might like something like that...
93. Black House by Stephen King & Peter Straub. The sequel to their earlier collaboration The Talisman, Black House is both more mature and less innocent. Jack Sawyer has grown up and forgotten much of his past, but a boy in trouble and a house with a dark secret are going to make him remember.
92. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. This is the title of both a five-book sequence and one of the books within the sequence. I read The Grey King in fourth grade when we were reading Newberry Award winners and I was HOOKED. 20 years later I still like picking this one up every few years and reading it through. It's a story of good vs. evil, obviously, but Arthurian legend and modern life get mixed together in a thoroughly gripping manner. These are stories I'll read to our kids.
91. The Gospel According to Tolkien by Ralph C. Wood. Kris gave me this for Christmas - what a neat gift! It actually piqued my interest in delving deeper into the mythopoeic stuff (one might wonder how I needed MORE motivation to read Tolkien), but unfortunately I haven't followed through on that just yet. Too busy reading other stuff I guess. :-)
95. American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Another cheater - I listened to this book while running over the last month or so. But I read it about five years ago. It's a great story told by an expatriate Brit who now lives and writes somewhere in Minnesota (Cities, I think?). America, it seems, is a tough place for gods to thrive - and one of them is trying to help the old gods survive an onslaught of new gods. Interesting reading for me.
94. The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel. I think I blogged about this some time back. A story about small town people, ministry, and lots of other things, including a young minister. Can't seem to think why I might like something like that...
93. Black House by Stephen King & Peter Straub. The sequel to their earlier collaboration The Talisman, Black House is both more mature and less innocent. Jack Sawyer has grown up and forgotten much of his past, but a boy in trouble and a house with a dark secret are going to make him remember.
92. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. This is the title of both a five-book sequence and one of the books within the sequence. I read The Grey King in fourth grade when we were reading Newberry Award winners and I was HOOKED. 20 years later I still like picking this one up every few years and reading it through. It's a story of good vs. evil, obviously, but Arthurian legend and modern life get mixed together in a thoroughly gripping manner. These are stories I'll read to our kids.
91. The Gospel According to Tolkien by Ralph C. Wood. Kris gave me this for Christmas - what a neat gift! It actually piqued my interest in delving deeper into the mythopoeic stuff (one might wonder how I needed MORE motivation to read Tolkien), but unfortunately I haven't followed through on that just yet. Too busy reading other stuff I guess. :-)
How Great Thou Art
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
John 10.10
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
John 10.10
On Wednesday I drove 400 miles into western North Dakota for my good friend Kathryn’s ordination to the ministry of word and sacrament. She chose John 10 as one of the scripture readings for the night. It was a privilege to be part of a worship service that focused so much on the abundant life that Christ gives. I felt honored to contribute some music to the night, but I felt far more honored just being present.
One of the hymns Kathryn chose was “How Great Thou Art.” Between her ordination and our service on Sunday, that’s twice in the past week I’ve sung that particular hymn. Not a really modern hymn, “How Great Thou Art.” Most people would need a moment just to translate every “thy” and “thou” into “your” and “you.” Honestly, I was surprised that Kathryn chose “How Great Thou Art” for her ordination – I wouldn’t have thought she drew life from it the way I do. But I’m only me; if Kathryn finds life in this hymn, so much the better.
When I was much younger I would play my dad’s Statler Brothers records and sing along at the top of my lungs. Sometimes I think that the main reason I love “How Great Thou Art” was because the Statler Brothers recorded a version of it. I loved the Statler Brothers. But by the time I got to the age when it became important to like what my friends liked, the Statler Brothers got put onto a shelf in my heart and buried beneath a pile of stuff meant to hide my love for music that was so wretchedly uncool. It was years before I allowed myself to unpack that hidden shelf and rediscover music that still gives me great joy.
I was in conversation with someone at that ordination who had found something she genuinely loved, something that filled her with life and love and a sense of herself as God created her. It was the kind of thing that she could have with no cost to others, no injury to a third party, nothing but gain in her own life. But it was not the life others wanted for her, and so she struggled because she loved those others, and yet to give in to their wishes would be denying something that filled her with abundant life.
There are at least two truly painful components of becoming a fully authentic, fully human follower of Christ Jesus. One is seeing and removing the strings that bind us, the strings that the world uses to pull us where it wants us to go, all with our unknowing assent. The other is realizing that we have been busily tying strings ourselves, binding our neighbors to our desires and pulling them where we want them to go. We are puppets and we are thieves, all at once, bound to jump when others say jump, and bound to look for ways to steal life from others for ourselves. This is who we are.
But Jesus offers us something different. “I will give you life,” Jesus says, “an abundant life which no one else can give.” The life Christ offers comes with no strings attached. Real Christian life is a life of unrestrained joy. Whether you find your joy in cooking, music, art, accounting, farming, writing, reading, teaching, cleaning or anything else in all creation, if it is yours with no cost to others it is a part of the abundant life that Jesus wants for you.
Frederick Buechner once said that “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.” My friends, if “How Great Thou Art” gives you gladness, then sing it with all your heart, for the world is hungering to hear God’s name praised. Live your life abundantly, reserving no thought for what others may try to steal from you or destroy in you, and spend no time dictating joy to others who may have a different picture than your own. When Christ gives life, with all its heartbreak and passion and insanity and wonder, embrace it as the great gift that it is, love Him all the more for it, and spend it lavishly on the people and the pursuits in which you find great joy. Real, authentic Christian life awaits us: let’s enjoy it together, shall we?
In Christ’s abundant peace,
Pastor Scott
10 July 2006
100 Books - 100-96
A friend of mine is doing a list of 100 things about her. I wasn't really into that, but I thought that maybe a list of 100 books I've read and a thought about each might be okay. Obviously one can't do 100 all at once, so I'll do it five at a time, once each day, for the next 100 days. Series books only count as one, unless they don't. I'll be going backwards through the order in which I've read, more or less. Here goes.
100. The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I'm reading this series through again. Right now I'm on book 5: The Fires of Heaven. When Captive Free came to Barrett back in April one of the girls was reading book 1, The Eye of the World, and it got my interest piqued again. I enjoy the series quite a bit, even if it does get a bit predictable after a while.
99. Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan. Okay, simply put, this was one of the funniest, most touching books I've read. Grogan is a great writer and dog lovers like me will find themselves crying just a bit a couple of times. Great read.
98. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. Robinson's second novel is a wonderful story of an aging, dying pastor, told through letters to his seven year-old son. Moving and peaceful all the way through.
97. A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN by Brian McLaren. This one is a bit of a stretch: I haven't actually finished it yet. But it's good, and I should finish it this week. McLaren identifies many aspects of a new orthodoxy that focuses on the proclamation of the gospel and the transformation of lives rather than narrowly defining who's in and who's out in the church. A thought-provoking book that I heartily recommend to anyone even remotely connected with the church of Christ.
96. Cell by Stephen King. I'm a huge Stephen King fan. This book is both good and not so good. It's formulaic. The central plot is a retread of other 'unexplained alien forces take over the world and bring about the apocalypse' King works. But there's some original stuff, too, and the book is much more lean than many other King novels. I enjoyed it, but it read a lot like a shorter, more vicious version of The Tommyknockers.
100. The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I'm reading this series through again. Right now I'm on book 5: The Fires of Heaven. When Captive Free came to Barrett back in April one of the girls was reading book 1, The Eye of the World, and it got my interest piqued again. I enjoy the series quite a bit, even if it does get a bit predictable after a while.
99. Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan. Okay, simply put, this was one of the funniest, most touching books I've read. Grogan is a great writer and dog lovers like me will find themselves crying just a bit a couple of times. Great read.
98. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. Robinson's second novel is a wonderful story of an aging, dying pastor, told through letters to his seven year-old son. Moving and peaceful all the way through.
97. A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN by Brian McLaren. This one is a bit of a stretch: I haven't actually finished it yet. But it's good, and I should finish it this week. McLaren identifies many aspects of a new orthodoxy that focuses on the proclamation of the gospel and the transformation of lives rather than narrowly defining who's in and who's out in the church. A thought-provoking book that I heartily recommend to anyone even remotely connected with the church of Christ.
96. Cell by Stephen King. I'm a huge Stephen King fan. This book is both good and not so good. It's formulaic. The central plot is a retread of other 'unexplained alien forces take over the world and bring about the apocalypse' King works. But there's some original stuff, too, and the book is much more lean than many other King novels. I enjoyed it, but it read a lot like a shorter, more vicious version of The Tommyknockers.
Group pic from 24th June
Here's us and our family on the weekend of the Old Settlers' Reunion here in Barrett. What a good looking bunch!
09 July 2006
Sermon from 25 June 2006 - "Calm In The Chaos"
This was supposed to be posted two weeks ago.
It wasn't. We've been busy.
Check out the news below to see why. :-)
Preaching Text: Mark 4.35-41
It wasn't. We've been busy.
Check out the news below to see why. :-)
Preaching Text: Mark 4.35-41
Living near Barrett Lake is a precious gift that just gets wasted on Kristin and me. I don't really like to fish. We don't own a boat, and we discovered on vacation last year that we can barely navigate a canoe together. I can't swim very well, and Kristin spends more time teaching water aerobics in Alexandria than she does in the water in Barrett.
I mention all of this because I’m terrified of drowning. I grew up in Nebraska, where there's only one man-made lake big enough that you can't see the other side. In my entire life I've never been on completely open water. For me, Freddie Kruger, Norman Bates and even Dracula don't hold a candle to the terror I feel watching "The Perfect Storm."
So when I read today's gospel reading from Mark, I can identify with the disciples. Fishing in Jesus' day wasn't anything like what goes on in New England today. Fishing boats rarely left sight of land. Traveling across the Mediterranean often meant traveling around the Mediterranean. Water was the great enemy. The people of the ancient Near East thought that the formless void of chaos that existed before creation was nothing more than open water, filling the entire universe. When God created the heavens and the earth, God actually separated the waters above and below the earth. Blue sky meant that there was a canopy holding back unrestrained water, and dry land was brought up from underneath more unrestrained water. When it rained, God was actually opening the canopy of heaven to let in some water. So, venturing out where you can't see land was like leaving creation for chaos, moving from a place where God is in charge to a place where you're at the mercy of chaos and disaster can strike at any time.
Is it any wonder, then, that the disciples were afraid when a storm blew them out into chaos and started to attack their boat? Is it any wonder that they thought Jesus was abandoning them to the mercy of the waters? They were beyond anything they could handle, in the midst of chaos, and their friend and teacher thought it was a perfect time for a nap. I probably would have been screaming right along with them.
I'm going to show you a video that has something to do with water, chaos and fear. Rob Bell is the pastor of Mars Hill church in Detroit, and "Rain" is the first video in a series called Nooma. I think he illustrates what God is actually doing in moments of chaos, and perhaps why Jesus felt safe enough to sleep while His friends were screaming.
At this point I played the video. You can find it at the Nooma website.
I can't say that I blame Trace Bell for being frightened. He had no idea where his father had taken him; he only knew that he was wet and afraid and he couldn't understand what was happening. We are not so different from that infant, you and I; we find ourselves far from home many times in our lives, lost in threatening, chaotic circumstances where we are at the mercy of the storms surrounding us, and we don't have any idea when it's all going to end.
Why, then, in the midst of all of this, was Jesus sleeping? He was very definitely in danger here. Jesus was completely divine AND completely human: He could have died from drowning as easily as He died of crucifixion. But He isn't worried: He's tired, and so He sleeps, and the disciples grow more and more worried about what's happening and whether or not they are going to make it home.
That last question the disciples ask is as important during the storm as it is after the storm. "Who is this, then, that even in the midst of chaos He can calmly sleep?"
Who is Jesus? He is a Son who has complete trust in His Father, enough that He can sleep while a storm is raging all around Him. He is a Son who can be calm in the chaos, completely confident that His Father will get Him where He needs to be.
Who is Jesus? He is also a teacher who listens to His disciples. He wasn't worried about the storm, but because His disciples were afraid, He calmed their fears and changed their reality. The disciples thought Jesus didn't care that they were in danger. He did care – enough that He calmed the storm. But Jesus was never afraid of the storm itself. It wasn't that He didn't care – He just wasn't worried.
The disciples at this point were still figuring out who Jesus really was. This story comes early in Mark's gospel, when Jesus was just beginning His ministry, and so the disciples were right to wonder about Jesus. But I'm also wondering this question: if Jesus trusted His Father so completely that He could sleep in the midst of the storm, what kind of Father does He have? What kind of love can inspire such ruthless trust? What kind of faith can create such calm in the chaos?
There are people who think that God causes storms to come into our lives, that chaos comes at God's command to teach or to restrain or to prevent even greater evil. I’m not convinced this is true, any more than I think that the sea is evil simply because it is more powerful than I. God created the sea as it is, and God set it free. Psalm 104 tells us that God created Leviathan, the great sea monster, for the sport of it! God made whales as big as submarines and giant squids who patrol the ocean depths and millions of other sea creatures just as they are, and God created the seas to hold them all and let them do what they do as God intended. Storms happen; God does not make storms.
Where then, is God in the midst of chaos? If God isn't behind the storm, what is God doing? God is in the boat with us. If you want to see the face of God in the midst of chaos, look for the real presence of God in Jesus Christ, who shares the danger with us. Look for the trusting presence of Jesus, who believes that His Father will never let Him venture into chaos alone. Look for the comforting presence of Jesus, who hears our cries and stays with us for the duration of the journey. Look for the transforming presence of Jesus, who listens to the prayers of our hearts and will sometimes calm the storm simply because we ask.
You are not alone in the ship that is your life. You have a Savior with you, One who will see you safely through to the other side, One who will never leave you alone, One who will give you calm in the midst of your chaos. Look for Him daily. Trust Him completely. Love Him unreservedly. As your ship sails into open waters, rest assured that because God is in the ship with you, you will safely reach the other side. Amen.
08 July 2006
Our wonderful, awesome, terrifying, fantastic news
Kristin and I are expecting a baby sometime around January 28th.
There - it's out. *phew* We've been keeping this news to ourselves for a few weeks now, since the first trimester is such a touch-and-go time for most pregnancies. We discovered that to our grief in March: our first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at the end of the month. But so far this pregnancy seems to be going well. We had our 10 week ultrasound on Wednesday of this past week, and we actually saw the baby flailing its arms and kicking its legs. Okay, so they're 'buds,' not actually arms or legs, but hey, our baby is moving!
As you can imagine, we're excited and terrified all at the same time. Becoming parents is a step we've anticipated since we first met, but now that the day is hopefully drawing near, we're just praying God will give us all that we need to be good parents to our little one. It helps that we are surrounded by friends and family who are doing many of the things we would like to do for our kids - we can watch and learn from some good role models!
I was going to post a pic of the ultrasound, but I haven't scanned the picture yet. Hopefully I'll get that posted in a few days.
Kristin is not particularly enjoying the pregnancy. She's struggling with even more dietary issues than normal. Her gall bladder has apparently decided to go on strike in protest of the changing work environment; the least bit of greasy or fatty food sets off reactions that aren't pleasant at all. She's had a lot of nausea, but no vomiting yet. "Morning sickness" is such a lie - it's more just "sickness" in our case. AND Kris is gaining weight very quickly, which is healthy, but Kris is worried about losing it afterwards. I've told her she can marathon train with me when the baby is born, but she just throws stuff at me when I say it. I'll tell you, between dealing with nausea, diarrhea, irritability and a lack of sleep, this pregnancy has been nothing but an inconvenience for me. :-)
In other news, Kris is bound for San Antonio tomorrow with a busload of high school kids. They're going to the ELCA National Youth Gathering, and are we ever praying for a calm stomach for Kris over the next 10 days. For me, it'll be 10 days of watching the movies I like (horror & sci-fi, mostly) and wondering why the house is so quiet. I already miss my beloved and Lumpy, our impending arrival. Please pray for safe travel!
Scotty
There - it's out. *phew* We've been keeping this news to ourselves for a few weeks now, since the first trimester is such a touch-and-go time for most pregnancies. We discovered that to our grief in March: our first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at the end of the month. But so far this pregnancy seems to be going well. We had our 10 week ultrasound on Wednesday of this past week, and we actually saw the baby flailing its arms and kicking its legs. Okay, so they're 'buds,' not actually arms or legs, but hey, our baby is moving!
As you can imagine, we're excited and terrified all at the same time. Becoming parents is a step we've anticipated since we first met, but now that the day is hopefully drawing near, we're just praying God will give us all that we need to be good parents to our little one. It helps that we are surrounded by friends and family who are doing many of the things we would like to do for our kids - we can watch and learn from some good role models!
I was going to post a pic of the ultrasound, but I haven't scanned the picture yet. Hopefully I'll get that posted in a few days.
Kristin is not particularly enjoying the pregnancy. She's struggling with even more dietary issues than normal. Her gall bladder has apparently decided to go on strike in protest of the changing work environment; the least bit of greasy or fatty food sets off reactions that aren't pleasant at all. She's had a lot of nausea, but no vomiting yet. "Morning sickness" is such a lie - it's more just "sickness" in our case. AND Kris is gaining weight very quickly, which is healthy, but Kris is worried about losing it afterwards. I've told her she can marathon train with me when the baby is born, but she just throws stuff at me when I say it. I'll tell you, between dealing with nausea, diarrhea, irritability and a lack of sleep, this pregnancy has been nothing but an inconvenience for me. :-)
In other news, Kris is bound for San Antonio tomorrow with a busload of high school kids. They're going to the ELCA National Youth Gathering, and are we ever praying for a calm stomach for Kris over the next 10 days. For me, it'll be 10 days of watching the movies I like (horror & sci-fi, mostly) and wondering why the house is so quiet. I already miss my beloved and Lumpy, our impending arrival. Please pray for safe travel!
Scotty
03 July 2006
The end of the show...*sigh*
Well, at least we ended the week with a bang. Since I last posted, I've done two weddings, three shows and now I need a nap. Lesson learned: the first thing I say when asked to officiate a wedding is "what date are you planning?"
I did enjoy the weddings this weekend. Both couples worked hard at their pre-marriage counseling and seem to understand the work it takes to build a successful marriage. When you get to the church the day of the wedding and you feel excited to join the couple together, it's a good feeling. All the same, it takes a surprising amount of energy to get through the wedding day, and I find that I really can't stay at the reception for too long following the wedding service. I would love to stay and celebrate, but something in me just needs to decompress. I never understood why pastors didn't always stay at the reception for very long - now I think I do. We wish the couple all the best, and immediately we start wondering if we did enough during our pre-marriage work to help them succeed.
Saturday night was the final show of "The Spitfire Grill." You can see pictures from this amazing production in my previous post. I've REALLY enjoyed being a part of this show and I know many of our audiences walked away feeling good about spending a night at the theatre in Barrett. If there's a community theatre where you live, support them! We work so hard to put on quality entertainment - it's wonderful when folks are appreciative of the work we do.
Prairie Wind Players was mentioned in yesterday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune in an article about theatre companies throughout the state. I can't say I was really impressed with the article - the writer made one glaring factual mistake and described our group from "tiny Barrett" as "decidedly lower key" in comparison with a summer internship program in Alexandria. Of course we're tiny - anyone driving into town can see that. Of course we don't put the same amount of work into our productions - we're a VOLUNTEER theatre company. If you're going to write an entertainment article promoting the arts statewide, it seems to me you could be just the slightest bit charitable. This is perhaps one problem living near Minneapolis/St. Paul, the arts mecca of the Midwest - 'outstate' artistic stuff often gets short shrift when compared with the Cities.
But that's what's happening in Barrett. It's sunny, I've got the morning to do some work on flowers, the lawn and our cars, and then we're going to have a short holiday with Beloved's sister & family. Life is good!
Scott
I did enjoy the weddings this weekend. Both couples worked hard at their pre-marriage counseling and seem to understand the work it takes to build a successful marriage. When you get to the church the day of the wedding and you feel excited to join the couple together, it's a good feeling. All the same, it takes a surprising amount of energy to get through the wedding day, and I find that I really can't stay at the reception for too long following the wedding service. I would love to stay and celebrate, but something in me just needs to decompress. I never understood why pastors didn't always stay at the reception for very long - now I think I do. We wish the couple all the best, and immediately we start wondering if we did enough during our pre-marriage work to help them succeed.
Saturday night was the final show of "The Spitfire Grill." You can see pictures from this amazing production in my previous post. I've REALLY enjoyed being a part of this show and I know many of our audiences walked away feeling good about spending a night at the theatre in Barrett. If there's a community theatre where you live, support them! We work so hard to put on quality entertainment - it's wonderful when folks are appreciative of the work we do.
Prairie Wind Players was mentioned in yesterday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune in an article about theatre companies throughout the state. I can't say I was really impressed with the article - the writer made one glaring factual mistake and described our group from "tiny Barrett" as "decidedly lower key" in comparison with a summer internship program in Alexandria. Of course we're tiny - anyone driving into town can see that. Of course we don't put the same amount of work into our productions - we're a VOLUNTEER theatre company. If you're going to write an entertainment article promoting the arts statewide, it seems to me you could be just the slightest bit charitable. This is perhaps one problem living near Minneapolis/St. Paul, the arts mecca of the Midwest - 'outstate' artistic stuff often gets short shrift when compared with the Cities.
But that's what's happening in Barrett. It's sunny, I've got the morning to do some work on flowers, the lawn and our cars, and then we're going to have a short holiday with Beloved's sister & family. Life is good!
Scott
27 June 2006
Great movies with bad scenes
So, beloved and I are watching the movie North Country last night. What a powerful movie. Having grown up in small-town America, where women weren't always treated as human beings, I felt more than a little shame at how the main characters were treated. I'm not sure how much of the movie was fact and how much was fiction; whatever was fictional was certainly believable to me, to my shame and dismay.
That is, until the final courtroom scene. The main character was being slandered right and left by the defense, all too believable, unfortunately, knowing how these things tend to work. But when the plaintiff's attorney, played by Woody Harrelson, rose to question Charlize Theron's main persecutor, something horrible happened: they movie-fied it!
I'm no screenwriter, and certainly don't have the talent to become a movie director, but COME ON ALREADY! I know enough about courtroom proceedings to know that the dramatic, over-zealous assault on a hostile witness is simply not allowed by any defense attorney or judge worth a tinker's damn, and no witness is going to be so emotionally overcome by a big ol' meanie attorney that they'll admit the truth and perjure themselves. It just don't happen, folks!
But we weren't done when Woody finally got the confession he wanted. Oh, no, we need a good 2 or 3 minutes of addressing the visitors' gallery during the questioning phase of the trial. (the line I expected, but never got, goes something like this: "Is there a question in here somewhere, Counselor?") AND THEN we gotta have the big Hollywood reversal of fortune: those terrified co-plaintiffs who wouldn't join the class action before Woody's big temper tantrum suddenly grow a spine and literally stand up to the big, mean corporation and its attorney (who just happens to be a woman, ironically).
I don't want to make it sound like I consider the historic and societal aspects of North Country unimportant; they most definitely are not. What was done (and continues to happen in some places) to women in the workplace was obscene. But just once I'd like Hollywood to stay out of its own way. Seems to me that the whole point is to tell the story so well that I never think, "oh yeah, it's a movie we're watching here."
Scott
That is, until the final courtroom scene. The main character was being slandered right and left by the defense, all too believable, unfortunately, knowing how these things tend to work. But when the plaintiff's attorney, played by Woody Harrelson, rose to question Charlize Theron's main persecutor, something horrible happened: they movie-fied it!
I'm no screenwriter, and certainly don't have the talent to become a movie director, but COME ON ALREADY! I know enough about courtroom proceedings to know that the dramatic, over-zealous assault on a hostile witness is simply not allowed by any defense attorney or judge worth a tinker's damn, and no witness is going to be so emotionally overcome by a big ol' meanie attorney that they'll admit the truth and perjure themselves. It just don't happen, folks!
But we weren't done when Woody finally got the confession he wanted. Oh, no, we need a good 2 or 3 minutes of addressing the visitors' gallery during the questioning phase of the trial. (the line I expected, but never got, goes something like this: "Is there a question in here somewhere, Counselor?") AND THEN we gotta have the big Hollywood reversal of fortune: those terrified co-plaintiffs who wouldn't join the class action before Woody's big temper tantrum suddenly grow a spine and literally stand up to the big, mean corporation and its attorney (who just happens to be a woman, ironically).
I don't want to make it sound like I consider the historic and societal aspects of North Country unimportant; they most definitely are not. What was done (and continues to happen in some places) to women in the workplace was obscene. But just once I'd like Hollywood to stay out of its own way. Seems to me that the whole point is to tell the story so well that I never think, "oh yeah, it's a movie we're watching here."
Scott
26 June 2006
THE MOST AWESOMEST WEEKEND EVER
Okay, so maybe it wasn't that great, but the past three days have been pretty incredible, and that's why I haven't updated in quite some time. Friday noonish we had visitors arrive: my brother Brian, sister-in-law Donna & nephew Zach, as well as my good friend Matt, his wife Karin & their son Tyler. My folks arrived around 4:00 that afternoon also. At 6:00 we What a GREAT weekend we had.
June 24th traditionally marks the beginning of "Old Settlers' Reunion" in Barrett, our town festival. Rumor has it that OSR is the longest continually running town festival in the state at 102 years. I don't know if that's true, but I do know that I couldn't be prouder of our community members for all the hard work they put into hosting this annual event. From parades to petting zoos, car shows to community dinners, Barrett really puts on a show this time of year, and it's become one of my favorite things about living in this community.
I am most heavily involved with Prairie Wind Players for the big weekend. This year I'm playing guitar in our summer musical, "The Spitfire Grill." It's running this coming weekend also, so if you're in the Barrett area, stop on by for a spell! Here are some pictures:
You can see in the pictures that I'm playing an Ovation guitar. That's my new baby, Red! I picked it up at Grand Central Music in Duluth when Kris and I were on the north shore for vacation a few weeks ago. So far it's been a great instrument - good tuning, solid projection for a medium-depth bowl and fantastic amplification clarity. My only complaint is a little buzzing on the lower strings at times, but that may just be my playing and not the instrument. Even though this musical has forced me to become a cleaner player, I'm still pretty sloppy when it comes to fretwork and picking. I'm getting the bug to take my playing to a higher standard, though, and so far I'm really enjoying the experience of working with a group of musicians again. The Orchestra for Spitfire has been really tight; our pianist Cheryl has done tons of work with the cast, and Arlyn and I are just along for the ride most nights. It's been great fun. For more information on Prairie Wind Players and our other shows, please visit our website!
Obviously, the other major part of a town festival for the ONLY pastor in town is the community worship service. We held ours Sunday morning at our Lakeside Pavilion. We had good attendance and even better leadership, with Orlo Thompson and two of his friends providing great music and my lovely better half running our power point and video portions of the service. I did preach for the first time in four weeks - felt good to work the old homiletical muscles again. I'll post the sermon tomorrow morning after I'm back in the office.
With all the happenings over the weekend, I thought that today would be a good day for a break. So Kris and I are at home today. Later I'll golf a round and we're going to have pizza for supper. Life is good in Barrett!
June 24th traditionally marks the beginning of "Old Settlers' Reunion" in Barrett, our town festival. Rumor has it that OSR is the longest continually running town festival in the state at 102 years. I don't know if that's true, but I do know that I couldn't be prouder of our community members for all the hard work they put into hosting this annual event. From parades to petting zoos, car shows to community dinners, Barrett really puts on a show this time of year, and it's become one of my favorite things about living in this community.
I am most heavily involved with Prairie Wind Players for the big weekend. This year I'm playing guitar in our summer musical, "The Spitfire Grill." It's running this coming weekend also, so if you're in the Barrett area, stop on by for a spell! Here are some pictures:
You can see in the pictures that I'm playing an Ovation guitar. That's my new baby, Red! I picked it up at Grand Central Music in Duluth when Kris and I were on the north shore for vacation a few weeks ago. So far it's been a great instrument - good tuning, solid projection for a medium-depth bowl and fantastic amplification clarity. My only complaint is a little buzzing on the lower strings at times, but that may just be my playing and not the instrument. Even though this musical has forced me to become a cleaner player, I'm still pretty sloppy when it comes to fretwork and picking. I'm getting the bug to take my playing to a higher standard, though, and so far I'm really enjoying the experience of working with a group of musicians again. The Orchestra for Spitfire has been really tight; our pianist Cheryl has done tons of work with the cast, and Arlyn and I are just along for the ride most nights. It's been great fun. For more information on Prairie Wind Players and our other shows, please visit our website!
Obviously, the other major part of a town festival for the ONLY pastor in town is the community worship service. We held ours Sunday morning at our Lakeside Pavilion. We had good attendance and even better leadership, with Orlo Thompson and two of his friends providing great music and my lovely better half running our power point and video portions of the service. I did preach for the first time in four weeks - felt good to work the old homiletical muscles again. I'll post the sermon tomorrow morning after I'm back in the office.
With all the happenings over the weekend, I thought that today would be a good day for a break. So Kris and I are at home today. Later I'll golf a round and we're going to have pizza for supper. Life is good in Barrett!
10 June 2006
Musical Fun in Barrett
Every summer the Prairie Wind Players, our community theater in Barrett, puts on a musical for the weekend of our summer festival. This summer I'm playing guitar in the pit band for "The Spitfire Grill," and am I ever having a good time doing it!
I've enjoyed the musicals PWP has put on the past few years, but never felt really drawn to participate until this year. I actually auditioned for a part, but wound up strumming instead. The summer musical and my brother-in-law's wedding are two events that made me think it was time to finally upgrade to a new guitar, which I did last week in Duluth. It's been great breaking in a new instrument and hearing how much my playing improves with the right kind of motivation and the structure of playing in a band again. I've really enjoyed it.
I'm discovering over the past year that I don't get motivated without a goal. Ever since the marathon, I've really had to push myself to run. This morning I just decided I needed to find another race, because I'm tired of self-rationalizing out of workouts that I know are good for me. And dammit, I would like to keep the same wardrobe for more than a couple of years, without yo-yoing back & forth between sizes! Anyway, I'll be posting my next race here shortly. If we're in town, I'm hoping to run the Flekkefest 5K in Elbow Lake in August. If that doesn't work, I'll find something else. I need to find something to run towards!
If you're in west central Minnesota the weekends of June 23-25 or June 29-July 1, you should come see "The Spitfire Grill" at Roosevelt Hall in Barrett - it's going to be a great show!
Scott
I've enjoyed the musicals PWP has put on the past few years, but never felt really drawn to participate until this year. I actually auditioned for a part, but wound up strumming instead. The summer musical and my brother-in-law's wedding are two events that made me think it was time to finally upgrade to a new guitar, which I did last week in Duluth. It's been great breaking in a new instrument and hearing how much my playing improves with the right kind of motivation and the structure of playing in a band again. I've really enjoyed it.
I'm discovering over the past year that I don't get motivated without a goal. Ever since the marathon, I've really had to push myself to run. This morning I just decided I needed to find another race, because I'm tired of self-rationalizing out of workouts that I know are good for me. And dammit, I would like to keep the same wardrobe for more than a couple of years, without yo-yoing back & forth between sizes! Anyway, I'll be posting my next race here shortly. If we're in town, I'm hoping to run the Flekkefest 5K in Elbow Lake in August. If that doesn't work, I'll find something else. I need to find something to run towards!
If you're in west central Minnesota the weekends of June 23-25 or June 29-July 1, you should come see "The Spitfire Grill" at Roosevelt Hall in Barrett - it's going to be a great show!
Scott
05 June 2006
A final thought on The Not-So-Disturbing Da Vinci Code
On Saturday afternoon, Kris and I went to Alexandria to see The Da Vinci Code. I'm mentioning this here because of what happened in church yesterday morning. Nothing happened. I have not lost my faith in the virgin birth, the many healings attributed to Jesus, the resurrection or the church, tarnished though her history may be. I saw a movie and was able to refrain from either a) setting off on a quest to deconstruct the facades the church has built to maintain her power over the years or b) deciding it's all a sham and withdrawing from any type of organized religion completely. Guess I must be doing something right, huh?
Honestly, I did think of the movie as I was speaking the words of institution yesterday morning before communion. You'd be surprised sometimes if you could hear the thoughts that pass through a pastor's mind sometimes, even in the most sacramental times. As I held the cup and said, "this cup is the new testament in My blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins," I did think about the movie. "Huh," thinks I, "I still believe that this is the truth, even though I can't prove a word of it." And off we went to share in the holy meal of Christ along with billions of our family around the world.
I believe that blasphemy is in the eye of the beholder. Yes, there are things people can say about God that make my blood boil, but if the God in whom I believe is truly the Creator of all that exists, how is God ever going to actually be harmed by anything we might say? As has already been noted in this blog, people can say all kinds of stuff, but that doesn't make any of it true, and untruth certainly can't harm us if we see it for what it really is.
Here we have two books: the Bible and The Da Vinci Code. One is a fictional bestseller that has captured the minds of millions around the world: the other has been on publisher's lists for 1700 years in one form or another, and the story it contains has changed the lives of untold billions for almost 2000 years. Personally, one was a book that captured my attention for the five hours it took to drive to the Twin Cities & back one weekend while my wife and I were still courting; the other has claimed my life, challenges me when I am comfortable, comforts me when I am afflicted, and reminds me that I am actually part of a story that is still being written by its Author. Which one should have more power over the other? If anyone's faith is threatened by The Da Vinci Code, then I would argue that the problem lies in weak faith, not blasphemous writing, and I would suggest the threatened person use their experience as an opportunity to grow into a mature, discerning Christian who has the ability to bear the burden of actually thinking about what she or he believes.
Scott
PS: It was a good movie, by the way. But if you're looking for unbelievable stuff, the thought that two people in a Smart car can outrun Paris police in reverse ought to suffice, shouldn't it?
Honestly, I did think of the movie as I was speaking the words of institution yesterday morning before communion. You'd be surprised sometimes if you could hear the thoughts that pass through a pastor's mind sometimes, even in the most sacramental times. As I held the cup and said, "this cup is the new testament in My blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins," I did think about the movie. "Huh," thinks I, "I still believe that this is the truth, even though I can't prove a word of it." And off we went to share in the holy meal of Christ along with billions of our family around the world.
I believe that blasphemy is in the eye of the beholder. Yes, there are things people can say about God that make my blood boil, but if the God in whom I believe is truly the Creator of all that exists, how is God ever going to actually be harmed by anything we might say? As has already been noted in this blog, people can say all kinds of stuff, but that doesn't make any of it true, and untruth certainly can't harm us if we see it for what it really is.
Here we have two books: the Bible and The Da Vinci Code. One is a fictional bestseller that has captured the minds of millions around the world: the other has been on publisher's lists for 1700 years in one form or another, and the story it contains has changed the lives of untold billions for almost 2000 years. Personally, one was a book that captured my attention for the five hours it took to drive to the Twin Cities & back one weekend while my wife and I were still courting; the other has claimed my life, challenges me when I am comfortable, comforts me when I am afflicted, and reminds me that I am actually part of a story that is still being written by its Author. Which one should have more power over the other? If anyone's faith is threatened by The Da Vinci Code, then I would argue that the problem lies in weak faith, not blasphemous writing, and I would suggest the threatened person use their experience as an opportunity to grow into a mature, discerning Christian who has the ability to bear the burden of actually thinking about what she or he believes.
Scott
PS: It was a good movie, by the way. But if you're looking for unbelievable stuff, the thought that two people in a Smart car can outrun Paris police in reverse ought to suffice, shouldn't it?
29 May 2006
Vacation, Teaching & an Apology
We're leaving in a few minutes for a trip to the North Shore - YAY! Camping is such fun, and it will be good to take some time off.
Over the next two months, I won't be 'preaching' on Sundays. Since the ELCA has chosen to develop a new worship resource, we'll be doing a worship study called With the Whole Church on Sunday mornings. You can find information about it at the Renewing Worship website.
I'll still post something every Sunday related to our conversation, but it won't be the sermons some of you are used to seeing. At the end of July we'll be back into a 'regular' worship & preaching schedule.
I do want to issue a slight apology for yesterday's sermon. I hope I didn't offend anyone who is a member of the Roman Catholic church, as I do have a great deal of respect for them. In talking about my frustrations with our differences, I neglected to mention the other thought I had at our meeting in Moorhead: how far the RC church has moved to even consider these conversations with American Lutherans. It's a pretty impressive thing for the RC church to be willing to set aside a few thousand years of tradition to consider how we are indeed united in Christ, and I don't mean to belittle that in any way at all. I may disagree with a few doctrines, and I certainly don't agree with the RC church regarding the ordination of women, but what unites us is Christ and Christ alone, and I do rejoice in that unity and I do appreciate the work that many Roman Catholics do in order to make Christ known for the sake of the world.
Peace!
Scott
Over the next two months, I won't be 'preaching' on Sundays. Since the ELCA has chosen to develop a new worship resource, we'll be doing a worship study called With the Whole Church on Sunday mornings. You can find information about it at the Renewing Worship website.
I'll still post something every Sunday related to our conversation, but it won't be the sermons some of you are used to seeing. At the end of July we'll be back into a 'regular' worship & preaching schedule.
I do want to issue a slight apology for yesterday's sermon. I hope I didn't offend anyone who is a member of the Roman Catholic church, as I do have a great deal of respect for them. In talking about my frustrations with our differences, I neglected to mention the other thought I had at our meeting in Moorhead: how far the RC church has moved to even consider these conversations with American Lutherans. It's a pretty impressive thing for the RC church to be willing to set aside a few thousand years of tradition to consider how we are indeed united in Christ, and I don't mean to belittle that in any way at all. I may disagree with a few doctrines, and I certainly don't agree with the RC church regarding the ordination of women, but what unites us is Christ and Christ alone, and I do rejoice in that unity and I do appreciate the work that many Roman Catholics do in order to make Christ known for the sake of the world.
Peace!
Scott
28 May 2006
Sermon for Easter VII: "Unity and the Church of Christ"
Hearers of God's Word, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: We come to you seeking the truth, Lord. We wish to know the truth about what makes us one. We need to know what it means to be Yours, and how You can be glorified in us, Your Church, with all our sins, all our separations, all our pride and idolatry. Show us the truth of unity, Lord, under Your Word. Your Word is truth, O Lord. Lead us into the truth. Amen.
On October 31, 1999, representatives from the Vatican and from the Lutheran World Federation met in Augsburg, Germany to celebrate a momentous event. For the first time since the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation were going to formally apologize to one another and revoke the mutual condemnations that had existed between the two churches since the Diet of Augsburg, which took place in the same city nearly 500 years earlier. Since the day Martin Luther first began criticizing Roman Catholic theology and tradition, conversations between Catholics and Lutherans have been fraught with tension because of how often we had disagreed and how poorly we had done it. Since the end of the Roman Catholic Council of Trent in 1563, a mutual condemnation had existed between the two churches over the doctrine of justification.
Justification is how we theologians describe the state of being 'right' or 'justified' with God. For almost 500 years, the Lutheran Church and the Catholic church had condemned each other over how we believe we are justified. Lutherans insisted that justification occurs "by grace through faith, apart from the works of the law."[1] Roman Catholics insisted just as strongly that works play a part in justification. These and other differences led to a breaking of fellowship between Catholics and Protestants, a separation that continues to this day. But on October 31, 1999, representatives from the two churches gathered to sign a Joint Document on the Doctrine of Justification. With great fanfare and not a small amount of soul-searching, the document was signed, attesting that the mutual condemnations over justification were no longer in effect, that the disagreements which had separated these two churches were no longer quite so powerful, and certainly not so hurtful.
This week I was privileged to attend a meeting in Moorhead between Roman Catholics and members of the ELCA. This is not the first time this group has met, but it was the first time I was able to attend. We met to discuss a new document, The Church as "Koinonia" of Salvation. The document is the result of the tenth round of conversations between Lutherans and Roman Catholics in America, conversations that began in 1963 and will continue next year and into the future.
It was an interesting experience, being gathered into a room with people of a different church. Being Lutheran in Minnesota can lead to a little bit of tunnel vision, as many of you should know. Ecumenical discussions here in Barrett tend to be very short and decidedly one-sided. J When you're surrounded by so many people whose lives of faith are ordered in the same way as yours, you develop ecumenical blinders whether you want to or not. This kind of familiarity may not breed contempt, but it certainly breeds a narrow perspective that needs to be broadened every once in a while.
We began our discussion with a review of what Roman Catholic-Lutheran dialogues had accomplished over the past 43 years. That list of accomplishments is pretty impressive. In the last half of the 20th century, American Christians have moved from viewing each other with outright hatred to working together in many areas. As we've become more open to engaging each other, we've worked together on public policy, social justice, relief organizations, and many other forms of mutual ministry. The ELCA and the churches who came before her were part of that conversation, and I'm proud to be a representative of the most ecumenically-driven denomination in the United States.
As we discussed The Church as Koinonia of Salvation, we found much on which we agree. One sentence that stood out for many of us was this: "Lutherans and [Roman] Catholics each experience the church in a geographically local, face-to-face assembly where the word is preached and sacraments celebrated." That's something on which Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and any other Christian can agree. (yes, John, even Baptists!)
But as our discussion drew to a close last Wednesday, we saw more examples of how far we have yet to go to truly be "one, holy, universal and apostolic church." The issue of Lutheran ordination raised its head because the Roman Catholic church traditionally describes Lutheran ordained ministry as having defectus ordinis, a "lack of order" due to the separation from bishops and the Pope during the Reformation. In an attempt to ease the condemnation against Lutheran pastors, one paragraph of The Church as Koinonia of Salvation reads "we recommend that defectus ordinis as applied to Lutheran ministries be translated as 'deficiency' rather than 'lack.'"
I don't know about you, but hearing that my church is only deficient rather than outright defective is being damned by faint praise. I do know that I suffer from an inferiority complex a rather common Lutheran ailment, I'm told. Hearing someone refer to my fellow pastors and bishops as 'deficient' just gets my hackles raised. This wasn't the only moment during our dialogue that I felt this way, either – but it was probably the worst.
Why am I telling you all of this? I'm telling you all of this because Jesus Christ, our Savior, prays for the unity of His Church – He prays that we may be one as He and His Father are one. I'm telling you this so that you might understand that our failings in ecumenism are not the failings of Jesus Christ Himself. I'm also telling you this because our ecumenical success stories aren't ours to claim, but evidence that the Holy Spirit is still at work in the Church. I'm telling you this so that you won't place your Christian hope in the work of pastors, bishops and popes, but rather in the love of God the Creator, the grace of Christ the Savior, and the power of the Holy Spirit to move the church where it needs to go.
In John 17, we have a picture of an intimate conversation between Jesus and His Father, a picture of prayer at its best. Just after this prayer, Jesus was betrayed, arrested, tortured and crucified, but He isn't praying for Himself any longer: He's praying for His friends. Jesus prays for His friends because He knows that once He is no longer physically present with them, being united in Christ will be much, much more difficult. Jesus knew that the church would begin with a betrayal: Judas handing Jesus over to be crucified. Jesus knew that the church would be broken almost from the beginning, because Jesus was present at the moment of creation, when the world was first broken by sin. Jesus knew that His friends would need help to keep going, that they would need to be guided and provoked by the Spirit to keep the faith. Knowing all of this, Jesus prayed that His friends, the earliest members of His church, would be united in the love that Jesus and His Father share with the Spirit. It is this unity, and no other unity, that holds the church together today, and it is this unity, and no other unity, that we pray for today.
While the 'official' dialogue in Moorhead last week may not have been as fruitful as I had hoped, I found that there were some things that genuinely made me feel like we were all part of one church. I was the only Lutheran at my table; I was joined by three priests and two members of a Roman Catholic church in Warren, MN. Over lunch and during some planned discussion time, we found common ground on many things: our frustrations with certain parts of our celebrity-worshiping culture, our gratefulness for the privilege of ministering to our friends and neighbors, the funny things that happen when you become part of a Christian community and live with sinful, broken, joyful saints who aren't perfect but are loved perfectly by our one God. We may not have been the great theologians who crafted The Church as "Koinonia" of Salvation, but we experienced koinonia by breaking bread together and sharing our hopes and fears in that short time together. We were unified by our great love for Jesus, not by our great accomplishments in the realm of ecumenism.
We have talked these last few weeks about the complete joy of abiding in Jesus' love, and notice that Jesus mentioned that complete joy again in verse 13 of today's reading. Jesus said, "I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in and among themselves." The joy for which Jesus prays doesn't come through parading through the streets of Augsburg, proclaiming to all the world that we Lutherans and Catholics don't hate each other anymore. The joy for which Jesus prays doesn't come through agreeing that bishops must be installed into the historic episcopate, and it doesn't come through refusing to be installed into the historic episcopate. The joy for which Jesus prays comes to the church by His Spirit, a gift we cannot earn and a reality that is already present, whether we like it or not.
When Jesus prayed that His friends might be one as He and the Father are one, He wasn't asking His friends to establish one church that would adopt every practice and every tradition together for the rest of eternity. Jesus was praying that His friends would love each other deeply, becoming united through bonds of love. Jesus was praying that His friends would serve the world that disagreed with them, becoming united through their dedication to selfless service in a world that would often be hostile to them. Jesus was praying that His friends would look at each other and see a sinner for whom Christ gave His life, becoming united through His salvation alone.
I don't think we will see a time in our lives when the Church of Christ is truly united in practice and tradition. I think the disagreements are too deep and too far-reaching to be healed by anything we can accomplish. But I also think that the Church is already truly united under its Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I think that this is the only unity we truly need. We Lutherans believe that "it is enough for the true unity of the church to agree concerning the teaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments."[2] Where Jesus is preached as the good news of salvation, where Baptism and the Lord's Supper are proclaimed as the means of grace to a world broken by sin, we are already united, and it is the work of God, marvelous to our eyes and joyous to our hearts. This is truly unity in the Church of Christ: to gather with our brothers and sisters of every time and place to praise the One who makes us One. God be praised: we are One in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.
26 May 2006
Marathon Breakdown part 1
So, here's the story of my first marathon. The Fargo Marathon (26.2 miles? Uff da!) was May 20th, a week ago tomorrow. Just got our pictures finished today.
The Fargo Marathon starts at the Fargodome on the NDSU campus in north Fargo. The course runs south through downtown & several residential areas, loops around a golf course south of I 94, crosses into Moorhead and runs through downtown and some residential areas, then crosses another bridge over the Red River before winding through the area around NDSU and finishing inside the Fargodome.
The morning of the race I was pretty pumped and really not all
that nervous. I had been training since January and figured that after doing a 20-miler in cold, wind, rain and hills around Barrett, flat ol' Fargo was going to be a piece of cake. I wasn't entirely right, but I wasn't entirely wrong, either.
We (Kris, her mom Annette & yours truly) got to the Fargodome around 7:15 that morning. I found a place to stretch and started warming up. I use a pain relief cream called Biofreeze, and did it ever work that day - no knee or ankle pain until almost the end, and that's saying a lot for me. Here I'm stretching, putting on the Biofreeze and trying to figure out how in the hell the timing chip is supposed to go on my shoe. You know, first marathon stuff. Notice also that I came to represent - that's my Husker running cap I'm wearing, the same one I've been wearing on my runs for almost five years. Ain't it a beauty? You wouldn't believe the number of times I heard "Go Big Red!" on the course. It was freakin' sweet. Gosh.
I did finally figure out how to get the chip on my shoe, but I did it wrong. The red tie is supposed to hold it on the shoe, but I looped the damn thing around itself & attached it to nothing. So I tied it through my laces and hoped that would be good enough. When you go over the starting line, a magnetic reader remembers your race number and starts your personal clock, so hefty boys like me who start in the back of the pack don't get the added two or three minutes it takes to actually reach the starting line after the gun goes off.
One last hug and kiss from my sweetie before I go to the starting line. Again, I'm reminded that I'm a lucky guy. What kind of woman marries a guy who wears running shorts like that?!?!?!?!?
And we're off! It was almost perfect at the beginning of the race - cloudy and 48 degrees with just a little drizzle. The only ominous part was the north wind that hit me as I moved out of the Fargodome toward the start; the final 16 miles were mostly going north, and a wind in your face is bad news at that point.
I should tell you that there are few things in life that are cooler than the start of a marathon. Music, cheering crowds, anticipation - it's pretty intense. Rumor has it my wife started crying just a bit. I think that's pretty awesome.
I felt really strong in the early part of the race, like most first timers. I had set a goal of around 5:00 for the marathon, which meant my early pace should have been about 12:00 per mile. Imagine my astonishment when I ran as slow as I felt I could and started hitting splits of 10:00 per mile. At mile six, Kris and Annette were surprised to see me coming almost 15 minutes ahead of schedule. But I felt like I was taking it really easy, and so I kept going. My 10K split was 1:02.
"Movin' right along [tcha tcha tcha, tcha tcha tcha]...footloose and fancy-free..."
Here I am at mile 10, the point at which the race turns north. My plan was to get to mile 10 at two hours, but I was still on my 10:00 mile pace and so I got here at 1:40. But my breathing was easy and it was still just a fun jog - a really, REALLY long, but fun, jog. Kris & Annette seemed to really enjoy their tour of Fargo, too - apparently they had time between this meetup and the next at mile 17 for Annette to go get a latte. Then they wouldn't let me have any coffee after the race. Meanies. :-(
At Main Avenue the race crosses from Fargo into Moorhead, the first of two times over the Red River. There was a cameraman sitting on the bridge, I guess, although I swear I never saw him. Anyway, he took these two pictures, right about mile 15.5 or so. We had been winding on golf car paths & bike trails along the river for almost four miles, doing lots of short but steep hills and many small but sharp curves, and it was nice to get back onto flat pavement for a while.
The Fargo Marathon starts at the Fargodome on the NDSU campus in north Fargo. The course runs south through downtown & several residential areas, loops around a golf course south of I 94, crosses into Moorhead and runs through downtown and some residential areas, then crosses another bridge over the Red River before winding through the area around NDSU and finishing inside the Fargodome.
The morning of the race I was pretty pumped and really not all
that nervous. I had been training since January and figured that after doing a 20-miler in cold, wind, rain and hills around Barrett, flat ol' Fargo was going to be a piece of cake. I wasn't entirely right, but I wasn't entirely wrong, either.We (Kris, her mom Annette & yours truly) got to the Fargodome around 7:15 that morning. I found a place to stretch and started warming up. I use a pain relief cream called Biofreeze, and did it ever work that day - no knee or ankle pain until almost the end, and that's saying a lot for me. Here I'm stretching, putting on the Biofreeze and trying to figure out how in the hell the timing chip is supposed to go on my shoe. You know, first marathon stuff. Notice also that I came to represent - that's my Husker running cap I'm wearing, the same one I've been wearing on my runs for almost five years. Ain't it a beauty? You wouldn't believe the number of times I heard "Go Big Red!" on the course. It was freakin' sweet. Gosh.
I did finally figure out how to get the chip on my shoe, but I did it wrong. The red tie is supposed to hold it on the shoe, but I looped the damn thing around itself & attached it to nothing. So I tied it through my laces and hoped that would be good enough. When you go over the starting line, a magnetic reader remembers your race number and starts your personal clock, so hefty boys like me who start in the back of the pack don't get the added two or three minutes it takes to actually reach the starting line after the gun goes off.
One last hug and kiss from my sweetie before I go to the starting line. Again, I'm reminded that I'm a lucky guy. What kind of woman marries a guy who wears running shorts like that?!?!?!?!?
And we're off! It was almost perfect at the beginning of the race - cloudy and 48 degrees with just a little drizzle. The only ominous part was the north wind that hit me as I moved out of the Fargodome toward the start; the final 16 miles were mostly going north, and a wind in your face is bad news at that point.I should tell you that there are few things in life that are cooler than the start of a marathon. Music, cheering crowds, anticipation - it's pretty intense. Rumor has it my wife started crying just a bit. I think that's pretty awesome.
I felt really strong in the early part of the race, like most first timers. I had set a goal of around 5:00 for the marathon, which meant my early pace should have been about 12:00 per mile. Imagine my astonishment when I ran as slow as I felt I could and started hitting splits of 10:00 per mile. At mile six, Kris and Annette were surprised to see me coming almost 15 minutes ahead of schedule. But I felt like I was taking it really easy, and so I kept going. My 10K split was 1:02.
"Movin' right along [tcha tcha tcha, tcha tcha tcha]...footloose and fancy-free..."
Here I am at mile 10, the point at which the race turns north. My plan was to get to mile 10 at two hours, but I was still on my 10:00 mile pace and so I got here at 1:40. But my breathing was easy and it was still just a fun jog - a really, REALLY long, but fun, jog. Kris & Annette seemed to really enjoy their tour of Fargo, too - apparently they had time between this meetup and the next at mile 17 for Annette to go get a latte. Then they wouldn't let me have any coffee after the race. Meanies. :-(
At Main Avenue the race crosses from Fargo into Moorhead, the first of two times over the Red River. There was a cameraman sitting on the bridge, I guess, although I swear I never saw him. Anyway, he took these two pictures, right about mile 15.5 or so. We had been winding on golf car paths & bike trails along the river for almost four miles, doing lots of short but steep hills and many small but sharp curves, and it was nice to get back onto flat pavement for a while.
Marathon Breakdown part 2
At mile 16 we moved over the Main Avenue Bridge into Moorhead. At mile 17 or so I passed the house where we stayed the night before - the tan house just in front of me in the picture. Thanks to Shauna for the guest house - it was really cute and much better than a sterile, boring hotel room!
I still felt really good at this point, and I was hitting 10:00 mile pace, which is unfathomable to me. I figured I'd be doing well to maintain 12:00 miles, and here I was, pushing right along at a 4:20 marathon pace. The best part is that I was just having a ball doing it, too - and I think that was the most important thing for this race.
At mile twenty I still felt pretty good. Tired and beginning to ache in my upper legs from the
constant muscle contraction, but everything seemed to be going well. At this point I figured I could walk it in if I needed to, and I still didn't know what this 'wall' everyone kept hitting was all about.Unfortunately, I was about to find out. I hit the wall HARD at mile 21. My feet just stopped working, basically - I felt like I was running on wooden feet & legs made of hard rubber. I tried to get a Gu down for extra energy, but it was far too little and far too late. All the treadmill workouts took one toll out of me - my feet weren't tough enough for 26.2 miles of pavement & asphalt. But I knew I could walk and still be in before my goal time of 5:00, so I wasn't too terribly worried. And luckily, I found inspiration all around me.
So here we were outside the Fargodome, just .2 miles from the finish, and here's where I MUST tell you about Ryan. We hooked up around mile 22 when we were both just about done in by the wind and the wall, and we kept each other going for the last four miles. For me there was nothing cooler than pairing up with a complete stranger in order to get the job done. Thanks, Ryan, and I hope your trip back to Eau Claire was a good one.
FINISH LINE!!! My actual time was 4:33:06, about 45 minutes to an hour faster than I had hoped to run. Too bad the folks who photographed the event couldn't see to get a shot of this - Annette took this picture from the stands. Kristin, of course, was in the bathroom. Natch.
I gotta admit, this moment felt pretty freakin' good - about as good as anything has felt since the day we got married.
As Annette was taking this picture, I noticed the tingling in my feet was moving into my hands & face. About five minutes later I was having trouble speaking and could barely stand up. So, it's off to the medic tent for this first time marathoner!
Dawn, the volunteer nurse, and Greg the doctor were very kind and explained to me that they thought my electrolytes were seriously messed up and I needed to lie down, take an IV and see if I could keep from losing what little I had left in my stomach. So I followed orders. Within the hour I could feel my hands and feet again and my speech had cleared up. They kindly supplied me with a banana & some Gatorade, and soon I was back on my feet and ready to head for home. By the way, it occurs to me that there were a hell of a lot of marathoners who came to the aid station asking for Tylenol or Advil. What the @!#$? You train for three months to run 26 miles and you can't be bothered to pack an aspirin? Lame - really lame.
You know I couldn't leave without a picture with the two friendliest medical folks you could encounter - they were really great. Patients at MeritCare are in good hands with these folks - they were two of the many great volunteers that made the Fargo Marathon an incredible experience.So, that's the story of my first marathon - and I couldn't be happier about it. Now if I can just get my toenails back I'll be just fine. :-)
23 May 2006
RLP on "The Da Vinci Code"
I was going to say something this week about The Da Vinci Code, but RLP has already said pretty much what I wanted to say. The only thing I will add is this short comment. Let's all take a deep breath and remember where we found The Da Vinci Code: in the fiction section. 'Nuff said, huh?
Pax,
Scott
Pax,
Scott
21 May 2006
Yes, I finished!
Fargo Marathon, Scott Johnson, runner #1089:
Time: 4 hours, 33 minutes.
Toenails: losing one, possibly two.
Knees: Achin'
Feet: Swollen.
Feelin'? Just dandy, thanks.
More details and pictures very soon - for now, I did it! :-)
Pax,
Scott
Time: 4 hours, 33 minutes.
Toenails: losing one, possibly two.
Knees: Achin'
Feet: Swollen.
Feelin'? Just dandy, thanks.
More details and pictures very soon - for now, I did it! :-)
Pax,
Scott
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