Morning Thoughts

Today is the last day. The last day that we have to get up at 5:00 a.m. for morning Lenten services, that is. The practice here at our internship congregation has been to have 3 daily servcies for Advent and Lent - 6:30 a.m., 12:00 noon, and 6:30 p.m.

As for getting up at 5:00 a.m., those of you who know me know that this is a rare feat - I don't do mornings. It is not that I don't do them well, I just don't do them. I am the one who, when I was traveling the world, would sometimes stay up all night when I had to leave for the airport at 5:00 a.m. (knowing that I had a 12 hour flight during which I could sleep). Early mornings just are not my thing.

But there has been something about 6:30 a.m. Morning Prayer that has touched me. There is something about getting up and dressed, and being in the sanctuary as the sun comes up, praising God for the day to come. Morning Prayer at 9:00 a.m. might be just fine, but there is something powerful about Morning Prayer as the sun rises.

It is easy to understand why many cultures begin their day with prayer as the sun rises. It is not something we do often as Christians, except for those who still have a sunrise service on Easter Morning. It may be a practice that we should reclaim more often.

Try it sometime. Get up before the sun rises; take your favorite hymnal or devotional, and have morning prayer as the sun rises (for Lutherans, try LBW p. 161). Morning prayer, or devotions, become more powerful as we witness the wonder of God's creation at the same time. Whether it is watching the early morning rays of sunlight as they penetrate the stained class windows of the sanctuary, or watching them rise over the trees in the back yard, or come in the kitchen windows, pray as the sun arrives.

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24 , NRSV).

Finally, a new post!

Well, it happened again. I had about ½ of a post written, and then IE shut down on me (I know, I have said before that was going to write the post in Word, then cut and paste it into Blogger, but I was in a hurry…).

As I think I was writing, it is hard to believe that it has been so long since either of us has been able to post anything. I guess it just goes to show how busy Lent can be. In addition to usual business of Lent, we have had lots of volunteers come in (college spring breaks) plus we have both spent some time in Enterprise, AL. For an update on Enterprise and LDR, click here.

While I am sure that we did expect our internship to be somewhat unique, I am not sure that we expected it to be as different as it has been. We have learned a lot about disaster response – on many levels – and have learned a lot about the various organizations that help make things happen. For example, a year ago, I had no idea what VOAD stood for, or that I would have anything to do with it. VOAD stands for Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster and is one organization that we have become very familiar with. We attend both the Mobile County VOAD meetings on a regular basis, as well as the state VOAD meetings. We have even shared our work on Congregational Preparedness at these meetings.

In addition, a group at St. Paul’s have decided to get our HAM radio licenses so that we will have communications in case of another disaster here. We had classes so we could pass the test, bought radios, and now are having classes so that we can operate our new rigs. If you are interested, my call sign is KI4UDZ.

All this adds to the confusion that arises when someone ask, “What do you want to do after seminary?” The first answer is that we will go where God calls us; the second answer is that after this internship, it will probably be somewhere unique (or at least very interesting). Our candidacy committee recently sent representatives to visit with us, and I think they were overwhelmed with what they found here. I can imagine that most anyone would be – disaster response work is never easy. It certainly puts us in unique situation.

For the meantime, we pray for the strength and stamina to get through Easter; then we can take a few days off and recharge. Enterprise is about to enter a new phase where outside assistance such as LDR has been providing will be minimal, so we won’t be spending as much time traveling. On the other hand, internship is on the downhill side and we still have things to finish, goodbyes to prepare for, and packing to do. August will be here soon enough. Then we move and start a new adventure – that of senior seminarians.

Seeing God at Work

A few weeks ago, Ray and I traveled to southeast Alabama to give two presentations on congregational disaster preparedness. One of those presentations was at a LC-MS congregation, Christ the King Lutheran Church, in Enterprise, Alabama.

As we do each time in our presentation, we explained what LDR is and described the work LDR is doing in Alabama, we discussed what kinds of disasters are mostly likely to occur in Alabama, and then talked about how congregations can help their members prepare individually, how the congregation can prepare to care for their members and their facility, and how the congregation can do ministry in the community following a disaster.

Less than three weeks later, we heard on the news of the devastating tornado which struck Enterprise. I know that both of us were struggling with our emotions and our memories of being at Christ the King as we listened to the news reports of the extensive damage to the community and the nine deaths – eight of which were students killed in the collapse of the local high school.

After several phone calls and emails within the LDR staff here in Alabama, I quickly packed a bag and drove to Enterprise to join other staff already on site. On a Sunday morning exactly three weeks after our presentation, I found myself worshipping at Christ the King and attending a special called meeting of the congregation to discuss their plans for ministry following the disaster.

I stayed for a day and a half, helping run the volunteer reception center as over 600 volunteers came into Enterprise to help with the cleanup and removal of debris in the first few days following the storm. I talked with many volunteers as they arrived to help, some from the community and some who had traveled much farther to be there. I also talked with the members of the congregation – especially those who were taking active roles in their newfound ministry to the community.

For this small Lutheran congregation, in the center of town, just a few short blocks from the heavily damaged high school and other devastated neighborhoods, surrounded by many much larger churches of other denominations, is taking an active role in the recovery of their community. While other churches are feeding and housing victims of the storm, Christ the King has been designated by the mayor as THE location for all volunteers to check in, so that they can be registered, receive safety training, and their hours of labor can be tracked, which is crucial to help the city reduce its emergency-related expenses.

While I know that the congregation did not have time to develop concrete plans after our presentation, I also know that our presence and our presentation did help make them more aware of LDR and of ways that the congregation could respond in the event of disaster.

I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to walk with them both before and after this event, and I know that I will be returning to continue to walk with them as the recovery process continues. A few nights spent sleeping on the nursery floor in my sleeping bag, and a couple days without a shower are a small price to pay for the opportunity to see God at work among his people!

New and Improved

I know that I had a specific idea in mind when I first began the sign-in process tonight, but after fighting with Blogger and the requirement to change from the old Blogger sign-in and system to the new Google system, I have completely forgotten what it was. Change, especially a difficult change, can make you completely forget what you were going to do in the first place.

Why are we like that? Why is change so hard? Why do we fight it so much? I suppose that these are good subjects to reflect on in this season of Lent. Reflection, repentance, change. Lent is a time to reflect. It is a time to repent. Reflection and repentance should lead to change. But we usually do not want to change.

Change is one of those things - like death and taxes - that happens, whether we want it to or not. We are never ready for it, we usually fight it, and are never sure it was a good thing. Change is especially difficult when it is someone else's idea, rather than our own. We might diet if we want to improve our chances of fitting into last springs new suit, but not if the doctor tells us to. We might change how we perform a particular function if we decide that it might be easier another way, but not if someone else suggest it first. We might live differently if we thought we had something to gain, but not because God told us to. The 10 commandments might as well be the 10 impossible things that we'll never get around to, because they are just too hard (or the 10 suggestions, for similar reasons).

Reflection is hard because it causes us to examine ourselves. Why is learning a new system so hard? Why is creating a new user name and password so hard? If it was something new that I wanted to do, I would think nothing of creating a new log in and password, and reading the instructions to make it work more smoothly; but let Google force me into it and I want to fight it - one of the reasons I have ignored their suggestion for the past 4 months about switching over while it was optional - I had to wait until they forced it.

We are like this when it comes to examining our own lives. Why don't I treat people with more respect? Why do I not follow a healthier lifestyle and diet? Why can't I see that these things would be better for me? Because I am human; because I am a sinful creature who wants things my way.

During Lent, the challenge to each of us is to reflect, repent as needed, change as necessary. Most of all, ask forgiveness, and pray that we might become better creatures. We know that God will forgive us. Can we see that we need forgiveness and ask for it? Can we forgive ourselves? More reflection. And so the season of Lent.

Studying the Sermon on the Mount

We have had an unusual opportunity for the past few weeks to study the Sermon on the Mount with Dr. James Bailey, Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Wartburg Seminary. He has been teaching a five-session class in three separate locations in the conference. In order to fit into our schedule, we have attended this class in two of the three locations over the past few weeks, so this has turned into not only an opportunity to study the Bible, but also an opportunity to get to know members of two local ELCA congregations better.

As part of last week’s lesson, we took a closer look at the Lord’s Prayer, which is at the center of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. At the conclusion of this session, we were asked to write our answers to one or both of these two questions.

From your experience, what does it mean to ask for “our daily bread”?
It means that we admit our dependence on God’s providence, that we take time to ask him for:
• the basic necessities of daily life
• the means and abilities to earn those essentials through our own work
• freedom from worry about the essentials for ourselves, so that we can really act and work in God’s kingdom here and now
• justice, that “all of us” might have the necessities and this same freedom from worry
• all of us to experience God’s gracious and abundant love!

From your experience, why is forgiveness so essential to our living?

I have shared my answer to the first question from my class notes and invite others to reply with their answers as well…

Work to be done

It is my turn to post to the blog, so I have been told. The difficulty with this is that we have been so busy the past few weeks that it is hard for either one of us to find time. Since time has been the issue, let me catch you up with what is going on with internship.

After our trip to Texas (see On the Road Again), we came back to a funeral and a site visit from our seminary. Site visits are normal, expected, and so on, but they can also be intimidating, time consuming, and exhausting. Ours went well, but over the course of a week, it took several hours and phone calls to pick a date, set an agenda, notify everyone of the agenda, and then modify the agenda when someone was not going to be available. This happened a couple of weeks before. We returned from Texas Monday night, late, and then dealt with the funeral on Tuesday, then picked up our contextual education professor on Wednesday morning. Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much one meeting after another, with some driving in-between. By Friday, we were both exhausted, and still had sermons to write for Sunday. We also had 41 volunteers sleeping at the church and working for LDR. Friday afternoon sermon writing was interrupted to open the travel agency office as several people were trying to arrange (or re-arrange) their travel home.

By Monday, our normal day off, we might have rested, except that we had not really had a day at home for almost three weeks, and the apartment really needed cleaning and the cupboards were bare. That means that our day off was really as much or more work than a normal day! Much of the week was spent catching up on some things from the previous week, plus some planning based on suggestions made by our professor during the site visit.

For some reason, by the time we got to Friday again, we were heavily involved in doing some repairs around the church. With the number of volunteers we have staying with us, and the remodeling project that is almost finished, there always seems to be something that needs to be fixed or modified or replaced. Since we had no volunteers in this weekend, it seemed like a good time to get some of these items finished. Saturday (and some of Sunday afternoon) was spent going up and down a step ladder, installing new smoke alarms in the areas that the volunteers sleep, repairing a light fixture, finishing the battery replacement project for our emergency lighting and exit signs, and fixing a couple of door stops. All of this was followed by a couple of hours of cleaning (cleaning up after ourselves, and after volunteers, and after the sexton as well)

I suppose it is appropriate to follow up a post titled The House of God with one about the work done in and on the house of God. In small congregations, with a mostly older population, there are always things to fix and work to be done. One project begets another. There is always something to do. Lest we become bogged down in these projects, though, we must also remember that we (even lowly interns) are called to care for each other. This weekend is past; tonight a new group of volunteers arrive; tomorrow we travel upstate to learn how to handle facility closings in a pandemic. Chores need to be done, but life cannot be spent on them. The world calls; the people call; there is work to be done out there as well.

The House of God

We often talk about the church building as the house of God. But how many times does the church building seem more like a sterile, empty building than a house? We usually think of a house as a place filled with a family, their belongings and their activities, but the church often stands empty and quiet for hours or even days at a time, we don’t bring in many personal belongings, we eat only the occasional meal there, and we treat at least parts of it as though they are too special or sacred to be used for routine activities.

I was struck the other afternoon by the image of the church as the house of God AND God’s people. With over forty volunteers living here this week, nearly every room in the building is filled with inflatable mattresses. Most are covered with a pillow and blankets. In every corner, there seems to be a suitcase, many open with personal belongings spilling out into an area around the bed. These beds are in all the classrooms, the church parlor, the choir room, and even in the sanctuary. Every room is filled with the signs of people who live, at least for a short time, together in this place.

By mid-afternoon, the church was mostly deserted with a meeting going on quietly in one room, and most of the volunteers out working on jobsites, but there was a flurry of activity in the kitchen – and the enticing aroma of dinner began to fill the entire building.

In that moment, the church really seemed like a home; a place where a family lives, eating together and sleeping under one roof. A home where the family takes turns using the available shower facilities. A home where you have to really look for a quiet corner if you want to sit quietly and read, or pray, or just think. A home filled with activity as later in the evening, music filled the choir room, the sounds of the television came from one room, and the sound of conversations mixed as dishes were washed and the kitchen was cleaned up, while others gathered around a table to play a board game. Outside, rain fell and a cold wind blew.

Inside, the building was filled with people, happy for the shelter from the cold, wet weather. People not afraid to use every room in the building. A family, truly at home, in the house of God. What a delightful concept.

On the Road Again!

You might think that interns would stay close to home, preaching and teaching mostly in their internship congregation. But we seem to spend large portions of our time on the road. It felt like we had just gotten home from the Carolinas, but we were on the road again this weekend. We had an invitation from a classmate to visit her congregation and give a presentation on what LDR is doing on the Gulf coast. So, last Friday, we packed up the Cruiser and set out for Texas!

We made a stop in Slidell, Louisiana to visit the LDR site at Peace Lutheran. There is an amazing transformation taking place there – repairs to the flood damage in the church building, renovations and additions to house and feed about 90 volunteers at a time who come to work in the area. Pastor Barb and her congregation are doing great things – with the help of volunteers from all over the country.

We then drove through New Orleans for the first time since Katrina. Even from the interstate, the devastation was appalling. Block after block of stores, homes, and apartment buildings stand empty – with gaping holes in the roof or all the windows broken out. The parking lots are empty, the buildings dark and abandoned. Words fail me, but pictures wouldn’t do it justice, either.

As we drove through, a couple was being interviewed on the radio to talk about their experiences – their escape from New Orleans before Katrina, the months spent living with family in Baton Rouge, their return to New Orleans, the additional months spend trying to decide if their home could be repaired. Fortunately, their story has a happy ending. They had insurance and were able to locate a building contractor who could do the work for the amount the insurance company was willing to pay. Now they have just moved back into their home. Unfortunately, those stories are far too rare.

Thanks to Vicar Christi, Pastor Steve, and the wonderful people of St. Mark’s in Cuero, Texas, we had a great experience on the rest of our trip. We preached at both the Saturday evening and Sunday morning worship services, spent the Sunday school hour talking with the youth and adults about our internship experience at LDR, and following a potluck lunch, gave our congregational preparedness presentation.

Monday morning found us back on the road, heading east for Alabama. It was a long drive in the rain, but we stayed in front of the sleet and freezing rain that some areas were experiencing, so we arrived home safely and right on schedule – and ready for a good night’s sleep! After a morning off to catch up on laundry and chores, we were back to work, with a funeral to attend this afternoon and an LDR presentation tonight at a nearby congregation.

Coming Home

Being in ministry (on internship or as a pastor) means that you don’t have Christmas off. On top of the decorating and shopping and baking and sending cards and wrapping gifts, we had many preparations at church. I taught adult Sunday school on the morning of December 24th (we were discussing the birth of Jesus as recorded in the second chapter of Luke); then assisted with worship for the fourth Sunday of Advent. After worship, the sanctuary underwent a transformation from the blue of Advent to the white of Christmas. A busy afternoon followed.

By evening, we were back at church again – to celebrate Christmas with a candlelight communion service. Home then to fix a late supper, finish the laundry, and pack. We left first thing in the morning to travel home to visit family for a few days. On our drive we listened to a variety of Christmas music on the radio. One holiday favorite kept repeating: “I’ll be home for Christmas.” We could identify with those lyrics as we sped along the highway on our way home to spend a week visiting with family and friends.

Before the end of the week arrived, though, I realized that I was ready to be home – back to my own pillow and bed and other familiar surroundings. But just as I said that to Ray, I realized that I wasn’t so sure where home is anymore! We call North Carolina home, but haven’t really lived there in over two years. We have library cards in two major cities, cars registered in two states, phone numbers in three area codes, and belongings in storage in one place and in an apartment over 500 miles away. You could say we have roots in one place, but are roosting in another.

Just as I began to be melancholy about not feeling like I can really call anywhere “home” anymore, I realized that this is a very real part of our seminary education. We haven’t just left behind too much stuff and our ties to one place, but have gained so much more. We have had the opportunity to learn so much, to meet so many people, and worship in so many different congregations and settings. We now have many new friends in several states just because of this amazing journey. We are becoming “at home” in many different places. Something tells me that this is a lesson God needed for us to learn…

I trust that God has a plan which he will reveal to us at just the right moment. Most of all, I know that we always have a home with him. In the meantime, I can’t begin to imagine where the path of this journey leads, but I do know that it felt good to be back in our apartment last night, and to be welcomed “home” by someone at church today!

A Time to Relax

Wow! And I thought that end of semester finals were tough! As interns, we have just finished our first Advent/Christmas season where we not only attend more church services than usual - we are leading and/or preaching at those services! I did not know that a person could be so tired.

This is the comment that I left for Pastor David on his post at Postings from Prairie Hill. He has just completed his first season as a solo pastor; I guess his comments give me something to look forward to - being very tired!

Yet, it has been a time of great uplifting, as well. We each did things that we had not done before, such as three services each Wednesday of Advent, chanting Evening Prayer (LBW) for the first time, and multiple services on Christmas Eve. A lot of work - yes. A lot of planning - yes. A little nerve-wracking - at times. But oh so uplifting. Even the noontime service with only a few people - worth every minute.

In some ways, I look forward to the Lenten season where we have Wednesday services for 6 weeks instead of 3, but I also dread it. Twice as long - I have to believe that I will be twice as tired by the Monday after Easter; but if it is even half as uplifting as Advent has been, I believe I can make it through.

The season of Advent - the waiting, the anticipation, will be different from Lent, which is more reflective, but it is still a special time in the church, one which leads the preacher into a more contemplative time as he/she prepares for each service, each sermon. More time spent preparing, a feeling of being more prepared; a better connection with the word proclaimed and with the receiver of the word.

In the meantime, we are enjoying a few days off, time to have a late Christmas celebration with family, to have a little after-Christmas snow at Mom's (which we would not have in Mobile), and a chance to recharge before beginning the New Year. It is also a chance to connect with many whom we have not seen since we left on internship. Sunday will be at our home congregation in Charlotte, where we have not been since last Good Friday.

Time with family, time with friends, time to rest. Gifts from God, gifts to be treasured, gifts to be shared. May each of you have time to relax, and to recharge, and we wish each of you a most blessed New Year!

Merry Christmas

To those who read this blog, but may not receive our email updates, we would like to wish each of you a Merry Christmas!

This picture is of Vicar Ray, who was the preacher at Bethel Lutheran in Biloxi last week. Bethel was nicely decorated and included their children's pageant during the worship service.

As we reach the end of the Advent season - our watching and waiting almost over - we anticipate the birth of the Christ child - the babe in the manger. We wait - because we know He is coming. We watch - for miracles do happen. We are breathless with anticipation - because we already know what His birth means, and where it will lead. We celebrate, because our Savior has come.

We wish you a very Merry and Holy Christmas season, filled with the warmth of time spent with family, and with the knowledge that Jesus has come, God become flesh, for you - and for us.

How real is your Christmas?

An article caught my eye on one of the on-line news links a week or so ago. A story about the church in Alaska that was targeted by PETA because they advertised a “live nativity scene” prompted the following thoughts:

The question this raises – can you be convicted of being a Christian if your baby Jesus is plastic? Is your faith any more real than your animals? Is political correctness more important than truth? Just how real is your faith?

While I in no way want to suggest that using (or misusing) live animals just to make your nativity scene more realistic (there are many dangers – to both people and animals that are not given thorough consideration), it is an interesting parallel to our faith. How real is your faith? Is it a plastic doll, in a manger of straw? Or is it the son of God, the one who became flesh and lived among us? Is the whole manger scene too “real” for us? Or do we want it to be a “nice story” that we tell because it sounds good?

It reminds me of the old question (usually raised at Lent, not Advent), if you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? In this case, do our Advent practices prepare us for the coming of the Christ Child? Or for a holiday season of shopping and partying?

On Dec. 1, a new movie opened that re-tells the story, The Nativity Story. Having seen this movie, it is both a “feel-good” Christmas movie, and a realistic tale of what Mary and Joseph might have had to endure. It just might be a great way to celebrate the Advent season and begin the Christmas season…

On becoming an angel

No, I don’t mean dressing up as a member of the heavenly host as part of a Sunday School Christmas pageant. Or even magically being transformed into a heavenly being after death. I’m thinking about being an angel, right here on earth.

At its most basic, ‘angel’ simply means ‘messenger.’ From malak in Hebrew to angelos in Greek, the Scriptures - both the Old and New Testaments - contain many stories about angels serving as messengers of God. Think of the beginning of the Gospel of Luke: the angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah to foretell the birth of John the Baptist; then later tells Mary that she will bear a son, the son of the Most High, to be named Jesus.

This week, I realized that I had become an angel – a messenger for God – for a woman in Bayou La Batre. The story begins a few weeks ago, when our congregation began collecting toys to give to children in the Bayou. After the pile of donated toy trucks, games, and baby dolls had begun to collect in the narthex, we realized that LDR was not planning to distribute Christmas gifts, so we didn’t have an automatic outlet for the items we had collected.

After a bit of research, I discovered that the Bayou La Batre police department was partnering with the local Lions club to distribute toys in this area that was hit so hard by Hurricane Katrina – and is recovering so slowly. I called their contact number and talked with a local woman who is helping to organize this project.

What does this have to do with being an angel, you ask? Well, after a couple of phone calls to her; to arrange delivery of toys and stuffed animals donated by members of our church, a local senior citizen’s group, and more toys purchased with funds that have been donated by individuals and congregations from all over the US, she told me this about the morning I first called her:

“You know, just that morning, I was sitting in my chair, praying to God, crying, and asking what we would do if we didn’t have enough toys for all the children that needed them. Then the phone rang, and it was you, and you told me that you had toys already gathered and were able to buy even more, once you knew what we needed…”

I had the joy of receiving that type of miracle several times last winter at the Distribution Center in Ocean Springs; but this time I realized that I had become an angel, a messenger of God, to this lovely woman who is working so hard to make Christmas merry for the children of Bayou La Batre. What an incredible experience!

She and I are both convinced now that somehow, there will be enough toys for the 600+ children that may not receive any gifts besides the ones this project can give to them...

Progress!

To borrow a phrase from Garrison Keillor, “It’s been a busy week here in Mobile.” A significant part of internship is to complete a project in the internship setting – and of course write about it in a paper which is submitted to faculty on campus. Our project has grown out of our work with LDR. Since a major component of LDR’s plan for our work this year was congregational disaster preparedness, we selected this area for our project.

We have spent about half of each week in October and November reading and researching on this topic, compiling resources from LDR, other organizations like the American Red Cross and VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster), and government agencies including FEMA, Homeland Security, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Using the information from all this research, we have compiled a CD of resources and prepared a presentation which can be given to congregations to help them plan and prepare for disasters BEFORE they occur.

Two big deadlines were on our calendar this week. First, we reported on our progress and gave our presentation for a group of LDR staff members here in Alabama. Second, after some quick revisions, we gave the presentation to members of our internship congregation. We really worked hard to get the information together and prepare the Powerpoint presentation and a script, so that we won’t leave out any important information. It was quite a relief to come home Thursday evening and relax because both of those initial presentations were done!!

We still need to make some additional revisions and complete a manual that congregational teams can use as a guide for preparations, but the bulk of the research is behind us. We are already in the process of contacting Lutheran congregations all over the state of Alabama and will begin traveling with the presentation soon.

But for now, our attention has shifted from LDR to the congregation. We are busy today preparing for the Adult Sunday school class and worship tomorrow, and the first midweek Advent worship this week. As I go back to work on my sermon for Wednesday, I'll leave you with these words - the first verse from "The Advent of Our God" (hymn #22 from the Lutheran Book of Worship, written by Charles Coffin.)

"The advent of our God shall be our theme for prayer;
Come, let us meet him on the road and place for him prepare."

Giving Thanks

Some things I’m grateful for this Thanksgiving:

For not needing too many of the things that are safely stored in a warehouse in South Carolina, and for being able find - fairly quickly - the couple of things that we did need to retrieve while we were back on campus recently!

For the opportunity to visit with classmates and friends on campus at this point in our internship year. Sometimes we need to be reassured that we are not the only ones challenged by this process! The fellowship and community we find with our classmates and in the church are certainly signs of God’s grace.

For patient tenants, since the much-needed new dishwasher won’t fit without some modifications to the kitchen counters. (The previous owners didn’t plan ahead sufficiently when they remodeled the kitchen.) I am reminded of how often my plans don’t take into account the bigger picture or the long-term view.

For a precious two year old who reaches up her arms to me and says “I want to hold you.” She reminds me of how I reach out to God to be held and comforted, trusting that he will indeed reach down and pick me up and hold me close in love.

For children who are patient and generous even though some of our roles have been reversed. (Now we visit them when we are in town!) I suspect that “Honor your father and mother” has taken on a significantly new meaning.

For thirty years of marriage to a loving, supportive spouse who shares not only so much of my past but also looks forward with me to an exciting future as we continue to discern God’s plans and prepare for ordained ministry.

For friends and family who read this blog and stay in touch via phone or email, even though we are far away on internship. Your love, encouragement, and support make a huge difference.

This is certainly not an all-inclusive list, but simply things that came to mind as I contemplated the meaning of Thanksgiving this week. Hope we can each take time to contemplate the things - both large and small- that we are grateful for and give our heartfelt thanks to God.

The Shema

I am not usually one to post full sermons, but this one received some strong (favorable) reaction, so I though I would post it for your reaction. As a student, it is always interesting to hear the reactions of others – to see if the same points that strike me affect others. The texts for this day are the LBW lectionary for the 24th Sunday in Pentecost.

Mark 12:28-31 28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" 29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. {29 Or the Lord our God is one Lord} 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' {30 Deut. 6:4,5} 31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' {31 Lev. 19:18} There is no commandment greater than these." (NIV)

In our Gospel text for today, Jesus is asked one of those questions – one of those questions that, under some circumstances, might be considered a trap. In this case, a scribe is actually agreeing with Jesus. He knows that Jesus has answered correctly – according to scripture, if not according to current politics. Since Jesus seems to be on a roll, the scribe asks him a question of his own – what is the greatest commandment?

Jesus, having been raised as a good Jewish boy, answered in the way he was taught – by reciting the Shema. Listen to this in Hebrew. Jesus may have said it in Hebrew, or in Greek, but most likely in Aramaic.


Sh'ma Yisrael, Adonai Elohaynu, Adonai Echad.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4 )

This is the beginning of the Shema.

Sh'ma Yisrael – Hear, O Israel –means to hear and listen, hear and obey.
Listen up! This is important!!!
This is important to hear – and to obey –
to not hear and obey is to imperil your very life!

Adonai Elohaynu – the LORD is our God
Not Baal, not the goddess – the great I AM is our God

Adonai Echad – the LORD alone
There is only one God, and Him alone do we serve.

The Shema was, and is, a profession of faith – to be taught in the synagogue, to be taught and recited at home, to be written on the hearts of each son and daughter of Israel. Not only on their hearts, but on their houses, and written on tiny scrolls and bound to their hands and forehead. The Shema is so important that every person who professed faith in the God of Israel was to know this, to memorize it, and to live by it.

The Shema includes two commandments – what Jesus calls the most important. The first is to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. This command – to love with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, is a command to love with all of your being, all of your existence, all that you are. Nothing less is acceptable.

When Martin Luther first began visiting neighboring parishes, he discovered that no one knew the commandments – no one knew the creeds of the church – many did not know the Lord’s prayer. He wrote, in his preface to his Small Catechism:

"1] The deplorable, miserable condition which I discovered lately when I, too, was a visitor, has forced and urged me to prepare [publish] this Catechism, or Christian doctrine, in this small, plain, simple form.
2] Mercy! Good God! what manifold misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the villages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian doctrine, and, alas! many pastors are altogether incapable and incompetent to teach [so much so, that one is ashamed to speak of it]. 3] Nevertheless, all maintain that they are Christians, have been baptized and receive the [common] holy Sacraments. Yet they [do not understand and] cannot [even] recite either the Lord’s Prayer, or the Creed, or the Ten Commandments; they live like dumb brutes and irrational hogs; and yet, now that the Gospel has come, they have nicely learned to abuse all liberty like experts. "

This is the nicer part of what Luther wrote on the subject. Like the Shema, Luther wanted the basics of the Christian faith written in a simple way so that everyone could learn them, pastors could teach them in church, parents could teach them at home, so that all would know and live by the most basic of all Christian doctrines – the 10 commandments, the Creeds, and the Lord’s Prayer. For almost 500 years, Luther’s Small Catechism has been our way of writing God’s commands on our hearts, and on our doorframes, our way of binding the Word to our hands and our foreheads.

This first commandment – to love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength – this is to know the commandments that God gave us, to remember all that God has done for us, to remember the covenant he made with Abraham.

The second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. This might be the more difficult of the two commandments. It brings up questions of who is our neighbor? Is it that guy next door who plays loud music all night? Is it the woman in the next apartment who always takes my parking space? Is it that co-worker that you just can’t seem to get along with?

How much do I love myself? If I don’t even like myself very much, how can I love my neighbor? If I don’t like my neighbor, how can I love him or her?

What does it mean to love my neighbor? Do I have to like them? Do I have to speak to them? If I just put on my best suit and find my neighbor out on the street, struggling to change a flat tire, do I have to stop and help them? If my neighbor needs money to pay a bill, do I have to help him? If my neighbor is starving and I have food, do I have to share?

These, and many other questions come up. What is the answer?

One of my jobs in my former life was as a customer service manager. As with any profession, there certain maxims that go with the job. In customer service, there are two rules: Rule number one – the customer is always right. Rule number two – if in doubt, see rule number one.

When Jesus talks about the Great Commandment, he gives it to us in a similar fashion. Rule number one: Love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Rule number two: Love your neighbor as your self. If you don’t understand how to do this, see rule number one.

To love the LORD our God with all of our being is to love so much, that loving our neighbor is automatic. When we see someone in need, we reach out and help. When we see someone who is hungry, we feed him or her. When we see someone in need of clothing, we clothe him or her.

This is what Jesus meant when he told the scribe that he was not far from the kingdom of God. When this kind of love becomes automatic, when we help without asking why, when we give because we can, then – and only then – are we “not far from the kingdom of God.”

As we gather with family and friends today, and again on Thanksgiving Day, remember that God has commanded us to love him – with all of our being – and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

God does this because he first loved us – so much that he sent his only Son – Jesus – the messiah – to die on the cross for our sins, and to be raised up on the third day.

We can be thankful because God first loved us, came down and became flesh, and lived among us. We can be thankful because in the waters of baptism, we are washed clean, our sins forgiven. We can be thankful because we can come to this table, receive the body and blood of Christ Jesus, and be renewed. We can be thankful because of all that God has done for us – not be cause we deserve it; not because we asked for it; not because of anything we have done; but because God first loved us. Thanks be to God!

Lost in space...

I tried to post to the blog the other day, but lost it between one mouse click and the next. It seems, that for as technical as I am, to be my curse to discover new ways of losing electronic documents in new and exciting ways.

The worst part of it is that I really don’t remember all of what I wrote. It was late, I was on my son’s computer, and when the words were deleted from the screen, they were apparently deleted from my brain as well. Based on conversation with another blogging friend, I will write post in a new way – they will be written in a Word document (with frequent saves) and then copied and pasted into the blog entry screen. This may take some of the challenge out of it, but it will hopefully remove some of the frustrations as well.

As to why I was trying to post the other night – mostly because it has been awhile. A couple of phone calls, a run-in with someone who reads the blog and commented that we had not posted anything new recently, and the realization that it is almost Thanksgiving and we have not done an update for a while. Yes – we have been busy. Our internship project has meshed well into a project we are doing with LDR – Congregational Preparedness, but it is also turning out to require a lot of time. While the terms of our project (as far as the seminary is concerned) are for us to finish it this year (before Aug 07), the reality is that we need to finish most of the work by the end of November (in just a couple of weeks).

The nature of our internship with LDR is that we are working in multiple departments, so that we gain experience in several areas of disaster response. For October and November, the focus has been on congregational preparedness – which is also our project. Hence, a lot of work has been done on the project. In addition, we are doing the first trial run of our presentation on congregational preparedness the week after Thanksgiving! That means that most of our research has to be done and our presentation has to be in a pretty complete first draft – Power Point slides, handouts, and all by Nov 28! The part of the project that goes to the seminary is a written paper discussion the project, how it went, results, etc. That part does not have to be done for a while, but since letters starting going out to congregations this week, asking them to let us come and do the presentation, we have to be ready to go soon.

I would like to think that once the presentation is ready, things will slow down a little, but the reality is that then we begin Advent, along with a new department at LDR, holiday preparations, etc., etc. We might even be doing some presentations in early December! I don’t think we will slow down again until next August – just in time to start classes again.

Saturday Reflections

Officially, I am spending much of today preparing for tomorrow’s Adult Sunday School class. Right now, I’m taking a break from reviewing Christian history from Emperor Decius (about 249 CE) to Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicea (325 CE).

It is a pretty typical Saturday. We both attended a meeting at church earlier this morning – today it was a First Communion training class for those who will come to the Lord’s Table for the first time next Sunday on All Saints’ Sunday - then spent a little bit of time with our supervising pastor reviewing the plans for worship tomorrow on Reformation Sunday and then the schedule for the next few days. After that we came home to work from here.

In case you are worried that our schedule is all work, let me clue you in – Ray is currently sitting on our deck reading a science fiction novel, with Smokey curled up by his feet, supervising the neighborhood. It is a beautiful fall day and we are enjoying having the windows open to let the fresh air and sunshine into the apartment.

It has been a busy week, with a large group of volunteers staying at the church. That means that after a day at the LDR office, we normally join the group for dinner and some fellowship; sometimes at the church, sometimes at a local restaurant. Of course, everyone needs to eat, but more importantly, it is a time of sharing.

We all come away at the end of the evening grateful for the work we are able to do, for the food and the fellowship, and for the opportunity to rest before the next day. We also gain a sense that the church is something larger than one congregation. Rather, it is something much larger - a community of believers that circle the globe and span across time. This Church, with a capital C, has the capacity to both touch individual lives and to transform the entire world. As the Body of Christ, we are indeed blessed – with God’s grace and love and with a sense of purpose. What we cannot begin to experience or accomplish alone, we can together, with God’s gracious help.

It has been a joy to experience the group this week. They are truly members of the body who have enjoyed being together, and it showed. They were enthusiastic and energetic, with some practical construction skills, from plumbing to painting. They have worked and played hard. I believe they will arrive home later today tired, but with a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

Does internship require 4 wheel drive?

Seems that it might. After recent storms that brought five tornado warnings and heavy rain, this was the road to the LDR office where we are currently working. This photo was taken about 4 hours after the heavy rain moved away; earlier this same morning, there was about a foot of water on parts of this "road."

This is one of many instances that have convinced me that our Jeep is a good vehicle for our internship. There are many roads in this area that look like this, and it is good to be able to travel these roads with confidence, knowing that 4 wheel drive will get us back out!

Studying Again (or is it still?)

A member of the congregation asked us the other day if we were studying or 'just working' this year, since we are on internship. Our first answer was that we are 'just' working at the church and at LDR, since we aren't officially taking any classes on campus. But a more accurate answer would be that we are also studying - and it's actually quite a wide range of subjects!

For example, we have taken Red Cross Shelter Management training along with members of the congregation, to learn how to run an emergency shelter in the church. We are also participating in an enrichment class for the confirmation age youth; where we are all learning basic Latin from a member of the congregation.

We are teaching a 10-12 week Adult Sunday School class on Early Church History. While we have each taken two semesters of church history, these were not the classes that either of us enjoyed the most or did the best in during our first two years of seminary, so we are doing quite a bit of studying to review each week in order to do a good job of teaching!

And, last but not least, we are also doing considerable research on disaster preparedness and response, as we begin to prepare the presentation we will be giving to churches all over Alabama for LDR on Congregational Preparedness. Much of this research is done over the internet while we are in the office, but we have also located several recent books on the subject.

Plus, we have some books on congregational ministry that we both want to read. So, in any spare time we have, you can likely find one or both of us with a book in hand as we continue our studies...

Traditions

I’ve been thinking lately about traditions in the church. Not the core traditions of worship or liturgy, but matters of adiaphora – the things that can be changed from one place to another.

We attended the Fall Festival at our internship congregation today; seems that this is a tradition each year for kicking off their stewardship drive. The festival is a big lunch after church: hot dogs and bratwurst (cooked in beer and onions, of course, before they were grilled), plus an assortment of salads, side dishes, and desserts that members of the congregation brought to share. Now brats don’t say either ‘stewardship’ or ‘festival’ to me, but they do to members of this congregation – so what makes something a tradition?

Can it be just one or two occasions, or how many repetitions does it take? When is a tradition something that should be honored and continued, and when is it just an old habit that should be changed? And how can we tell the difference in the church?

I certainly don’t have the answers, but I do think it is important for a pastor-in-training to consider. After all, in a couple of years, I hope to be beginning my ministry in another congregation – which will probably already have its share of traditions. Some that I will want to embrace and unfortunately, some that I will very likely want to change. How does one go about learning the traditions of a congregation? And how do you begin to change them?

I suspect I will rely on my experience here during internship, and try to learn about and experience most (but probably not all) of the congregation’s traditions before I would attempt to make any major changes.

(I suddenly had the urge to go look for the lyrics to the song “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof! Interestingly, those lyrics only apply to the roles of the papa, mama, sons, and daughters of the Jewish family. Wonder what verses we could write for the Christian community?? The chorus, of course, would be: “The church, the church! Tradition!”)

All this has me thinking about the traditions of our home congregation – what has been the most meaningful to me at Incarnation, what I miss most after being away for over two years, and – especially now that our congregation has just this month merged to become part of two point parish with another quite different congregation – what I may never have the chance to experience in quite the same way again.

Monday musings

I know, it's been over a month since I posted anything new. My calendar keeps reminding me that I should add some news for those who have been following our journey. Truth is, I'm not sure what to tell...

We are settled into our apartment (as I look around, the boxes that remain to be unpacked are my share of our home office) and learning our way around Mobile (it's about twice as big as Columbia, but only about half as big as Charlotte, so it's not at all overwhelming to us, but we certainly haven't seen it all yet). The big traffic jams all seem to occur on Airport Blvd, so if you can avoid that one street, traffic rarely slows you down significantly - except maybe in school zones first thing in the morning! We have found our way to the major hospitals to visit members of the congregation, and have found the essential post office, grocery store, pharmacy, etc.

There are some beautiful and quaint neighborhoods that I look forward to exploring when it gets a bit cooler. We've made one trip down to the beach and plan to go again when it is cooler. Detect a theme? The heat and humidity have sapped my energy. Most days since we have been here have topped 90 degrees. Just this past week it has finally dipped below 60 at night and highs are only forecast in the 80s. We will really enjoy being outside more after it cools down a bit!

Talked to someone on the phone today, explaining that Monday is our day off. "So what are you doing?" came the question. We then explained that we had a really exciting day planned: after doing some housework, we were going out to visit the local public library, pick up something at Radio Shack, find a Chinese buffet for a late lunch, then grocery shop. Later in the afternoon, we took Smokey across the street to the park for a walk. Quiet, relaxing, very normal day.

Some days are like that, others are much more busy. Our internship so far has been both exhilarating and exasperating; sometimes in the same day! We are pulled in two directions - responsibilities and activities at the church AND needs and meetings at LDR. We are trying to be good stewards of our time and of resources, especially since it's about a thirty minute drive between the two places. But so far, balance between the two has been very difficult to attain.

It's been important to set a schedule, so that that others will know when and where we will be and what we will be doing, yet it is very difficult to firm up that schedule, since there are conflicting demands. I know, normal experiences for an intern, typical too of a pastor's schedule. Yet the division of responsibilities makes it even harder, keeps me feeling scattered and disorganized. Those who know me, know that I don't like feeling that way, so I've not been very - shall I say happy ?- about the situation.

I'm praying that as the days and weeks turn into months, and we continue to settle into our duties, that we will be better able to balance the conflicting demands, because I know that all the needs, responsibilities, activities, and meetings won't go away! And I don't want them to, because they have also brought great joy. Visiting church members, preaching, helping with case work at LDR, and leading worship have all been great experiences - and I look forward to more of those opportunities as the year goes on.

Sticks and Stones

NET Mark 7:15 "There is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him."

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

How many of us learned this when we were kids? Or taught it to our kids? Or Grandkids? It sounds good, and it may make us feel better at the time, but it really isn't true.

Too many people suffer from verbal abuse - kids, spouses, employees - at the hands of other kids, parents, spouses, in-laws, fellow employees, or bosses. The truth is, words can hurt. They hurt the one who hears them, and they hurt the one who says them.

The sad thing about words, is that we really can't take them back. We say we take them back; we really did not mean what we said. But once the words leave your mouth - they are out there - forever. You cannot take them back, make the other person un-hear them.

Jesus tells the Pharisees, and again later, his disciples, about this. The Pharisees have harassed Jesus and his followers about how they eat, how they do not follow the rituals for handwashing, and bowl washing, or anything of the rituals used to prepare one for eating. They defile the food they eat by eating with unclean hands.

Jesus tells them - it is not what you eat, or how you eat it, that makes you unclean - it is what comes out of you - what you say - what you do - that makes you unclean.

Words can hurt you - and the one to whom you say them. Those foul words that roll off the tongue so easily - they do defile you. They are unclean - and they came from within you. In fact, at this point, you might realize that those words you said may hurt you more than they hurt the person at whom you directed them.

How do we keep from doing this? Jesus gave us two commandments - love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Let what comes out of you be love, which will not defile you. Let love be what others see in you, and receive from you, and be clean in heart and mind. Let the blood that Christ shed on the cross be the only ritual cleansing that you need, and the love that you share with others.

Katrina Anniversary

Sunday, Sept 4, 2005 - the first Sunday after Katrina - I was preaching out at Lake Murray. The sermon included a description of the devastation Katrina left behind, at least what we knew from the news. I had not seen it, had no idea how bad it really was. But I knew that as Christians, we had to respond - with prayer, with food and water, with money, and with our own hands.

Fast forward to December 28 - we arrived in Ocean Springs, MS to spend the next 4 weeks as long term volunteers. We worked with other volunteers at Christus Victor Lutheran Church (http://www.christusvictor.com/ ), some days as many as 250 volunteers. We saw first hand the devastation on the Gulf Coast - clothes hanging 20 feet in the air on tree branches, house foundations or pilings with no house left, and we met many, many people who had no home, no food, and were fast running out of hope.

Fast forward again to this weekend. We participated in an anniversary commemoration at Bethel Lutheran Church in Biloxi, MS. We met several pastors who had lived through Katrina, who shared stories of the storm, and the first several weeks after Katrina. We heard several people remember friends and family who lost their lives, or their homes, to Katrina. We heard the fear in their voices when Ernesto was mentioned - no one was prepared for another storm - not even a small one. They know that the infrastructure is still fragile, they know that their FEMA trailers won't withstand much of a storm, and they don't have anything else.

Tonight, sitting in Mobile and knowing how much damage there was on the Gulf Coast, we watched the NBC anniversary special - which only covered New Orleans. What about the rest of the Gulf Coast? What about their stories? Even here in Alabama, there are families in FEMA trailers, trying to figure out how to rebuild. They had damage from Ivan, then Katrina destroyed what was left, then Rita rubbed salt in the wound.

Much has been done. One of the larger casinos is re-opening in Biloxi this weekend. While I am not a fan of legalized gambling, I am in favor of the hundreds of jobs that the opening brings. Driving through Long Beach and Biloxi yesterday, there are still many, many homes and businesses that have yet to be touched.

President Bush was in Biloxi today - a photo op as 40 families received new homes. We saw the Governor of Alabama last week - another photo op as another shrimp boat was launched in Bayou la Batre. Recovery is happening - a little bit each day, but only a small dent has been put into the recovery. LDR (www.ldr.org) is still predicting 8 years for recovery, and I believe that it is true. Much is left to be done, much help is needed. The saddest part about the anniversary is that most of the volunteer camps are closed due to a lack of volunteers. At the anniversary service in Biloxi, only one volunteer was present. Camp Victor only has a few volunteers; our own LDR site in Bayou la Batre has no volunteers, and none are expected until later in September.

Today, the Gulf Coast breathes a sigh of relief as Ernesto keeps turning more North and the track moves East. In the meantime, the recovery effort continues, one family at a time, one business at a time, a few volunteers at a time.

Food for Thought

There have long been jokes about Lutherans and food, especially about the Norwegians and their lutefisk, the Germans and their beer, or coffee and jello salads at meetings and potlucks; plus comments like "If you serve food, they will come!" But I have realized that Ray and I have been assigned perhaps the only internship site where the majority of our meals will be at church!

You see, St Paul's provides meals for the volunteer work teams that stay at the church. If you bring a team to work, you can expect to be taken out for pizza the night you arrive, served southern fried chicken and biscuits one night, enjoy an Italian night (ranging from home made spaghetti to frozen lasagna), and go out to eat at a local seafood house one evening (that excursion is dutch treat). Plus, the church provides food for teams to prepare breakfasts, pack lunches for the work sites, and prepare their other evening meals themselves.

This all means that three to four nights a week we have meals with the mission teams as part of our internship! Add to that a get-aquainted dinner with our internship committee members, a welcome potluck with the entire congregation on our first Sunday here, a lovingly prepared funeral luncheon, and a Sunday lunch to celebrate a member's birthday and you will realize that we have eaten very well since we arrived two weeks ago! Plus, the vicars' office is next to the kitchen, so we often walk past tables and counters laden with breakfast, lunch, and snack goodies for the volunteers. What temptation!!

Many meals at the church may actually be a good thing, since our apartment kitchen is small and is equipped with an electric stove. Ray, the chief chef, is struggling to cook to his usual high standards in the challenging space. And I, chief bottlewasher, struggle to clean up the mess he sometimes creates...

I'm not sure what brought all this to mind - perhaps it was preaching Sunday on one of the John 6 texts where Jesus declares that he is the Bread of Life. I realized when I was preparing that I was struggling with explaining his statement that the one who comes to him will not hunger and the one who believes in him will not thirst (John 6:35), given our constant need to eat and drink; not only to sustain our bodies, but also to experience fellowship and strengthen our communities. And yes, I did get to the point of the text in the sermon: when Jesus tells us to come and to believe, he is inviting us into companionship with him in eternal life.

First Internship Sermon

Well, we have both survived our first Sunday of preaching on internship. It was really interesting. The arrangement for us, since both of us serve the same congregation (as well as LDR), is that on the 3rd Sunday of each month, we both preach. One of us here; the other at one of the other Lutheran churches in the conference. In some ways, both of us preparing sermons at the same time is interesting; in other ways it is a royal pain.

It might be easy, even fun, if we were preaching on the same text, but we aren't. Our internship congregation does not use the revised common lectionary, but the rest of the congregations in the conference do. No matter what, we will most likely never preach on the same text (expect maybe advent and lent - I haven't checked those, yet).

We did spend time talking with each other about the text we had, and about what ideas for preaching struck us, but then it was down to writing two sermons that are completely different. In some ways, that might be better, since we each preaching to different congregations anyway. There is certainly no room to "share" sermons here, not that we do that anyway. Our styles are too different. I want a good set of notes; Ruth Ann wants a full script. Still, being able to share some research might be nice...

At any rate, we both preached today, and from reviews so far, we did OK. I believe our Homiletics professor would have heard the good news, and we both preached from the text for the day. We did read each others sermons this afternoon (after the preaching was over) and do some of our own review. We gave each other passing grades! Wednesday will be our review with our supervisor - so we'll have to wait to see how that goes.

One thing I re-discovered about circuit riding preachers this morning - allow plenty of time to get lost at least once. I drove about 25 miles and took one wrong turn about half way there. Fortunately, God was watching out for me and my wrong turn brought me right back to where I needed to be. Even with maps and good directions, there are still ambiguous road signs to deal with.

Next Sunday will be pretty easy - I just have to learn to chant a part of the liturgy that I have never done before. Oh - and begin our first week with LDR and start learning our roles there. One thing about internship - it will not be boring - not at all!!!

Photos of Internship

For those of you who might wonder what a newly installed intern/vicar looks like, here are a couple of photos. Since I am usually the shutterbug, these are unusual in that I am in both of them. The congregation has their own photographer who has a very nice digital camera and loves to take pictures (sound familiar?). Guess I'll get a taste of my own medicine for a while.

The first picture is as we assembled for the beginning of our first service, where we were installed as Vicar Ray and Vicar Ruth Ann (that's going to take some getting used to...)



The next picture is of us and Pastor K. We are already becoming a well-known trio on the Gulf Coast as we attend meeting after meeting, with VOAD and LDR, as well as with other congregations in the area.




More later - time for dinner with the volunteers who are working here this week.

Prayer

As you read our comments about moving and all of the various things God did (and is still doing) to make all of this work, I hope you realize how much prayer is a part of this. Ruth Ann wrote about our tire problems - nothing but prayer got us through that night. As I read a classmates blog:HERE I STAND: Pray Without Ceasing, I thought even more about prayer.

A friend recently emailed me and asked to pray for a friend (not uncommon). I replied that I would gladly do so, and then thought about it. Do people ask us to pray because they think seminarians know a better way to pray? Or is it because they think we need the practice? Or is their prayer life just not up to praying for someone else? David brings up a good point, in talking about Luther and his instructions to his friend the barber. Maybe as people ask us to pray, we should not only agree, but also offer instruction on how to pray for themselves.

Another thought about prayer is the question of "Does it really do any good?" or "Does God answer prayers?" A story to answer these questions. On Monday morning, we were enjoying our first day off as new interns. We were sitting down to breakfast, and I was thinking about all of the service requests we had put in. For almost a week, we had been trying to get our phone installed and working - without any success. We had put several maintenance request in with the apartment management - with no response. The final straw came Sunday night when our upstairs neighbor had problems with his washing machine, and we had water streaming down the hallway walls, out of light fixtures, etc. I called the emergency maintenance number (on my cell phone, since our land-line did not work) and tried to get them to come and clean up - no such luck.

So Monday, I was thinking about having to call the phone company, and the apartment manager, and how I was going to have to threaten them in order to get something done, when I thought - no, wait. Let's just pray about this and see what happens. I prayed for maintenance, and patience, and before I finished my breakfast, the phone man came and fixed our phone. Mid-morning, the pest control man came (not one I had called, but always a good idea). Then, by mid-afternoon, one of the apartment maintenance staff appeared, and fixed all of our known problems. So in response to the question of does prayer work, the answer is yes! Why the extra guy? Just to make a point. When asked about coincidence, one of our professors had remarked that once was coincidence, twice was something more, three times was a definite pattern. So the pest control guy was just to make sure that there was no question about my prayer having been answered.

Pray without ceasing, then give thanks that your prayer has been heard.

Thanks be to God!

Arrived

Just as God led the people out of the wilderness to the promised land, so he brought us through packing, loading, long miles of driving and heavy rain, to our new home. I am reminded that when we pray the Lord's prayer, among other things, we pray for our daily bread and protection from evil, not an accumulation of goods or an easy journey!! This journey has NOT been uneventful, but God did bring us here safely! As an illustration, I'll tell a story about our travels.

We stopped at a rest area between Augusta and Atlanta to stretch and eat a picnic supper. When I got back in my car and pulled onto the highway, I realized that the car had suddenly developed a 'wobble' and was pulling to one side. We pulled over on the side of road to check the tires. I was fully expecting to see one completely flat, but they all appeared to be okay. It was already growing dark and we had about 100 miles to go before we would reach our destination for the night, so we pulled back onto the highway to continue on.

The wobble seemed to lessen as we reached highway speed. But I remained very conscious that there was likely a problem with a tire, so I kept both hands firmly on the steering wheel for the rest of our evening's journey and prayed fervently for safe travels.

We arrived at our hotel late that night. (We had made reservations in advance at a hotel that would accept our pet and traveling companion, Smokey.) In the process of parking the truck and shuttling us and our bags to our room, Ray drove the car briefly and decided that there was something seriously wrong - we wouldn't be able to continue in the morning until we had it repaired. So we both went to bed wondering how serious the problem was...

In the morning, after breakfast, Ray went back outside to look at the car, and in the daylight, he was able to see the problem with one of the front tires - the steel belt was coming loose. Fortunately, there was a tire shop nearby, so this was a relatively quick and inexpensive repair. But if the tire had blown while I was driving, it could have easily been disastrous.

So, I was reminded again of how God cares for us, and leads us on our journey. He didn't miraculously fix the tire, but I am certain that he intervened, holding that tire together as I drove, until we could have it repaired.

Of course, there are many more stories about our trip and unpacking that could be told. Ask one of us about the multiple rainstorms visible from the top of the bridge as we entered Mobile, or driving the truck in city traffic in the pouring rain, or the leaking bathroom sink, or the water pouring down from the ceiling shortly after we moved into our apartment...

Yes, I'm sensing a water theme in many of these experiences, but I'll have to consider them more before I can write about them!!

Good news, Bad news

It's Saturday night. We are supposed to have most of our stuff loaded onto the truck, with Sunday afternoon being a finish-up time - take our bed apart and take the computer desk apart, and some cleaning. Instead, we only have a few items loaded.

Our hope for help in loading the truck seems to have been in vain. Our son was the only help that showed up. No one from campus, no one of the many other people who knew we were moving, no one. Then a big thunderstorm hit and it rained for hours. We needed the rain - we need a lot of rain, so I hate to complain about the rain, but loading furniture in a thunderstorm just doesn't work too well.

The good news is that we got rain, the truck that I have to drive several hundred miles is a great truck, and we know we will have more help Sunday afternoon. After another email to everyone on campus, there are already a couple of volunteers, plus Rusty, Lisa, Rhonda, and Chris will all be here. If the weather cooperates, we should be fine. It just means we have a lot more work to do tomorrow than we had planned, which means most of the cleaning gets moved to Monday morning. We HAVE to be on the road by noon - that deadline cannot shift by much or we don't get to our destination in time on Tuesday and we don't get unloaded and have any time to unpack. Internship begins with a Thursday morning meeting at 10:00 a.m. - whether we can find our clothes or not.

The very best news is that our house is rented! A new student, who is getting married soon, is renting the house. It will be their first home together. We are happy for them, and happy that the house will be taken care of. Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers and support during this long waiting period. It has certainly taken time, but everything is coming together, just as we knew it would.

God is good! Amen!!!

Reckless faith?

A favorite quote of mine is one I discovered just before Ray and I began Summer Greek two years ago: "I love the recklessness of faith; first you leap and then you sprout wings." (William Sloane Coffin)

That quote describes so many steps on this journey. Quitting work to attend Greek, selling a house and moving near campus, taking out student loans to finance our education, volunteering on the Gulf coast last winter, and now packing up to move into an apartment we have not even seen...

Add to that the financial concerns of not having our house rented out, not knowing if we should leave extra 'stuff' here or move it into storage, etc. As we wrote in a recent email to many of our friends and family, and have discussed with one of our classmates here on campus, this uncertainty - or rather, the willingness to proceed in spite of the uncertainty - seems to be a major component of the internship experience and the whole seminary process. Sort of a test of your resolve - first you leave home and come to campus, then you leave campus and venture into the unknown again - knowing that you will be returning again in a year. Just the sheer logistics of moving repeatedly are enough to deter the faint-hearted!

So is it recklessness that brings us to this point, or is it faith? When should a sane, sensible person say "Enough!"? Or does faith enable us to leap and simply trust that the necessary wings will indeed sprout? How much are we responsible for and how much should we leave in God's hands?

Yesterday in worship, as the gospel was read and preached (the feeding of the 5,000 from John 6: 1-15), I was reminded again that the God who created the heavens and the earth, led his people through the wilderness, and sent his own Son to feed and heal and redeem - this same almighty God will lead us through our wildernesses and feed us and provide for us here on earth AND bring us to eternal life.

So, by the not-so-recklessness of faith, I'm back to packing boxes with a calm spirit, preparing for the move by doing the part that I can and awaiting God's action to take care of the rest.

Packing Blues

This past week has been spent packing and moving things to storage. It has been hot (95 - 100 each day), so we have been moving during the mornings and packing in the afternoon and evening, as well as running errands and working on campus. It seems that no matter how much we pack, there is still at least that much more to do.

The heat is making it difficult to get enough done each day, so how are we going to be ready to move in another week? Somehow, it will happen. Rusty and Lisa were a big help today, and more help will appear as the week goes on. The bigger concern is that we still have not rented our house.

We have prayed for a renter, and many of you have joined us in those prayers. The problem with prayer is that God answers in his time, not ours. We are never patient enough, we want everything to happen now, on our timetable. These words come to mind:

Colossians 1:11-12 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

So we keep praying, and packing, and in 8 days, we get in the truck and drive off to internship. God's time, not ours. God's will, not ours.

Being 2 places at one time

It has been a busy summer, with many opportunities for preaching and assisting at various churches. We have been to our home church, helped with the campground ministry out at the lake, been to our seminary partnership congregation, and preached a few times as supply while a pastor was on vacation.

The interesting part of this, as a couple that are both in seminary, is that we don't mind getting double-booked for a weekend. We do enjoy leading worship together when we can, but it is also interesting to do it separately - especially since we do it differently.

Quite often, when we are together, one of us will do the liturgy and the other will preach; sometimes we split it differently. On one occasion this summer, Ruth Ann sat and watched while I did everything (of course, she is going back to that same church this weekend by herself, which is why I did everything last time).

Our most interesting Sunday so far this summer might have been last Sunday. I had been asked to supply preach at a church way out in the country (by a classmate who had filled in there before, but was booked for last weekend elsewhere) and Ruth Ann was preaching out at the lake. I had never been to this church, and had only sort of met the pastor at a funeral, so I really did not expect anyone to know me, nor did I know what to expect. Turned out to be a wonderful congregation and a joy to be with. The real surprise was the email from the pastor after she returned from vacation, telling me how wonderful her worship committee thought I was, and then going on to tell me that she spent her vacation Sunday, at the lake, on a boat, listening to Ruth Ann preach!

The church is a small world; that is no surprise, but it still surprises us sometimes to find out just how small it is.

Sermon Writing

I have been working on my sermon for Sunday and it is just not "gelling." Now, it's only Thursday morning - there is still plenty of time, so there is no reason to worry - yet. But I can't help thinking about why it won't gel.

Could it be because the gospel text for this Sunday is Mark chapter 6, verses 30-34 and 53-56? This gospel tells about the 12 apostles returning to gather with Jesus after being sent out to do ministry and their profound need for rest. Then it tells about the crowds following Jesus, seeking healing. What, you may ask, happened to verses 35-52? Good question! The left-out section in the middle is the Mark's telling of the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus' walking on water and calming the storm. Two (or three) major miracle stories, probably kept to be told as separate gospel stories, on another day.

But what are we to make of these bits put together for today? I don't think I miss the story in the middle as much as I struggle for a cohesive meaning for the assembled text. There are so many possible directions to go with this text... our need for rest, our need to get together and tell the stories of what we have done and experienced, Jesus' compassion for the hungry and ailing multitude, or his tremendous power - those who simply touched the fringe of his cloak were healed (Mark 6:56).

Since I've just finished reading a book on 'a Sabbath way of life for those who serve God, the church, and the world,' The Sense of the Call, by Marva Dawn, the sermon will probably focus on our need to rest and be refreshed in order to be sent out again to work and witness. But the reality of our need to go to Jesus in prayer to tell him all we "have done and taught" (Mark 6:30) and to gather together to tell each other those stories is very powerful as well.

Guess that's what led me to this entry. May we each take time today to talk with Jesus AND to talk with each other about our lives - our work, our experiences, our needs, our hopes, and our dreams. That is the way we can help build up the community of believers, the church, the body of Christ.

Sabbath Time

This summer has been a sort of sabbath or sabbatical for us - a blessed time. Don't get me wrong, we have been plenty busy, but it has been a different pace. For example, we have rarely set the alarm clock - instead allowing ourselves to catch up on much needed rest.

Lest you think I've been lounging around all day eating bon-bons, I should explain that I have been working some each week at the campus library. I've also spent some time reading several books that I checked out from the library earlier in the year. My goal is to finish and return them BEFORE we move. Most of these are non-fiction, either theological or spiritual, but typically not quite as deep as most of our assigned textbooks this past couple of years!

We have also had the time to catch up some long-postponed chores. For me, that included spending a couple of days doing nothing but mending. (After Ray helped me clean and oil the much-neglected sewing machine!) Some of the items in the mending pile had been there a LONG time!! I've also pulled out my knitting and worked on a couple of projects that have been partially completed for a long time. I still have to put the fringe on a shawl and sew a zipper into a sweater before they are finished, but they are much closer to complete than they were. Finishing up some of these things provides a restful but productive way to spend the hot summer days and provides a tremendous sense of accomplishment!

In a complete change of pace from our usual class schedules or our previous business experience, our plans this summer typically revolve around our weekend plans - specifically where we will be worshipping, assisting, preaching. We have worshipped in several different churches the past few weeks, in North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Illinois. It is great to be able to worship in so many different settings, yet know they are all part of the same church - the body of Christ.

Praying that each of you can experience some of this sabbath rest that God wills for each of us...

Home Again

After two week of traveling and visiting, it is great to be home again and to sleep in our own bed. Even Smokey seemed happy to go for a walk around our own neighborhood.

Being home also means catching up. We both have sermons to prepare for this Sunday, a pile of mail to go through, and tons of emails to sort and read. Reading emails this morning brought up an interesting subject.

Please don't be offended by what I am going to say here, but do think about it. There seem to be a lot of emails circulating these days with the basic message of "Pass it on ... or else." Some of these play on basic superstitions, some play on Mark 8:38 (Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.").

Of course, those that quote Mark usually truncate the passage, so that it is no longer in context. Even out of context, though, this should not carry the message that failure to forward an email means that you are ashamed to say that you are Christian, or that you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Not forwarding an email may mean that you have already seen it 100 times; it may mean that you do not believe in forwarding emails which deliver an ultimatum. It may mean that you just don't forward most emails.

The ones that I think bother me the most are the ones that promise that dire things will happen if you don't forward them. I take my faith much more seriously than I do these superstitious threats. Quoting Paul, (Romans 8:38-39) "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." This is much stronger than any perceived threat contained in an email.

For those who forward emails like this to us, don't be offended but know that we are not likely to forward them or to respond. Occasionally, if there is something in an email that is really good, I will edit the "bad" out of it and then pass it on. Maybe this is an idea that we can all take on - edit this superstitious stuff out of emails then forward them and see if they come back later in the form we started. Replace the threat with this quote from Paul, or this one from John 13:34 "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." No threat attached, just the love of Christ, as it is given to us.

In the meantime, please keep in touch, and keep us in your prayers as we begin the packing process. In the next 3 weeks, we have to pack and be ready to move for internship. Please also pray for someone to rent our house. We have talked with several seminary students about this, but so far, we do not have a renter. I don't even want to think of the financial impact this will have on us. It could mean not being able to go on internship, but I believe that God has a plan and that this will be resolved. Your prayers will help!

Now, which box was I working on...

Resting; gearing up

We ended the semester exhausted. (And the end was delayed because we had extended deadlines on some papers.) But I think after about ten days of no alarm clocks, we have finally caught up on our sleep!

Those ten days were also filled with driving and visiting. We didn't catch up with everyone we wanted to during our stay in Illinois, but we did see quite a few old friends and extended family members. (If we missed you, we're sorry - call us or send us an email, we would love to be in touch!) It was good to have a chance to visit - especially since we haven't been there in about three years and are pretty sure we won't make it during the next two, because of our school and internship schedule.

I'm glad we took the time to rest up, because we are back at home with a flurry of activity on weekends as we will be supply preaching at several churches in the next few weeks, and it is now time to begin the HUGE task of sorting and packing for our move. So we need to get busy again!

Happy 4th of July!

We are spending the 4th with family and friends, a little relaxing before we begin the big packing adventure. We hope all of you are enjoying a day off as well. For those of you traveling, drive safely.

Plans for Mobile continue - we have been told we have office furniture and a dinner meeting with out internship committees on Saturday night after our arrival on Tuesday. A couple of days to unpack, then we get started.

Peace be with you.

"Stick a fork in it"

Yes, that was the profound advice we recently received from our Pastoral Care professor. We've been working on the project paper for a contract course based on our Mississippi trip with LDR. And working, and working, with no apparent stopping place. You see, everywhere we turn, there is new information being published or posted on-line about disaster response, hurricane recovery, and the questions of "WIGIAT - where is God in all this?" Our professor knows we want to keep looking at the new material, but he also - wisely - knew that we needed to get the project to a stopping point!

For two good examples of this information on-line, check out this link to a photo essay by the NY Times - which just happens to feature Bayou la Batre, where we will be working for the next year AND Ocean Springs, which is where we spent January! I hope there will be more of these photo essays available as they travel further across Route 90 toward New Orleans.
http://ROAD_FEATURE

Or check out this blog from Drew Genszler, Director for Domestic Policy from the LOGA (Lutheran Office of Governmental Affairs) in Washington, DC. He is currently touring the Gulf coast, beginning in New Orleans, and providing a great faith-based look at the situation. http://www.elca.org/advocacy/how/blog.html

Yet another example is the upcoming Bible study, written by Faith and Terence Freithem in the Lutheran Woman Today magazine entitled "Hope in God in Times of Suffering." The introductory article appears in the July/August 2006 issue - the study will appear in the next 10 issues.

At any rate, the difficulty for us has been where, when, and how to stop writing this paper. Following his sage advice, we have finished, printed it out, stuck a plastic fork inside the binder cover, and delivered it to the professor for his review.

In the meantime, new info keeps coming to our attention... Clearly, the paper may be done, but the work on the Gulf continues, just as our internship looms ahead!

BTW, if you want any suggestions on materials to read on this subject, let us know - we have a whole list of great resources!!

Matthew 6:31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?'

This verse is one we so often overlook. Many of us tend to believe that God needs our help - that we need to worry at least a little. The reality is, God does provide - just not on our timetable.

A few weeks ago, we were winding down the semester and beginning to look at things that needed to happen before internship. One of those things was that the condo we own was currently empty. (Yes, we would love to sell it, but have not been able to.) Our last renter had moved out and we had made the switch to the leasing manager who handled most of the development. We had really been too busy to think about it, but as we began to look at budget for the summer, and for internship, we realized that if we did not have a renter, we were soon going to be in financial difficulty.

One of the problems with being an older, married couple who are both going to seminary, and on internship, is that the stipend provided is really based on either a young single person with very little in the way of expenses, or a married couple where the other spouse is working. Two of us - on internship, with a mortgage (actually, 2), a couple of car payments, etc., and suddenly the financial picture does not look very good. So we prayed. And prayed, and prayed. And a few days later, we received a phone call from the leasing agent saying that he had just signed a lease for our unit! And then, a couple of weeks later, we received another phone call - the one and only scholarship for which either of us was eligible while on internship had come through.

We will still be poor seminarians, just like our classmates, but God has seen to it that our basic needs will be met. We will be able to eat, and drink, and put gas in the car, and have clothes to wear. God has made sure of that. Whatever it is that you need, God will also make sure that you have that as well - maybe not on the timetable you would like, but when you need it - God will see that it is there.

Busy Times Continue

Sorry it has been awhile since our last entry, but we have been busy. (Yes, we ARE still working on papers!) I was concerned that I would really miss daily chapel on campus when the semester ended. And I have; but we have been able to participate in worship in a variety of settings that have been really wonderful, too.

For example, we were invited to the Lutheran retirement home where I did my CPE chaplaincy last summer to talk about our experiences on the Gulf coast. So we went for a midweek chapel service; I was able to share the good news about the great things taking place on the coast, and renew some aquaintances from last summer as well.

We also attended an ecumenical worship service at our field church on Ascension. It is truly a great feeling to sing God's praises and share communion with a large group of believers from a variety of denominations! I appreciate the opportunity to celebrate the things we have in common rather than dwell on the differences.

We have also been helping with the campground ministry and lakefront worship at a nearby congregation again this summer. So on Saturday afternoons, we put on our walking shoes and sunscreen and go visit with campers at the state park, distributing flyers and inviting them to worship. Then on Sunday morning, we help lead worship in an open air chapel on the lakeshore. Some people come into the chapel area, others sit in lawn chairs or in their cars, still others stay on their boats. With the help of a tremendous sound system, we are all able to worship together. (There is also a later service in the air-conditioned sanctuary - and by mid-morning, the cool air feels really wonderful!)

The weekend (well, Thursday-Saturday), we attended synod assembly, which is always a good chance to see people from all over the state - both old friends and new. Worship there was also wonderful. We used materials from the new soon-to-be-published ELW (Evangelical Lutheran Worship) and Renewing Worship materials and got to experience all the seasons of the entire church year. Thursday afternoon was Reformation, Thursday evening was Advent, Friday morning was Christmas and so on ... ending with Pentecost Saturday morning at the close of assembly. Tremendous preachers, glorious music, and God's presence in Holy Communion - everything worship should be!

It really has been a busy and inspirational time for us. We are also filling up our calendars with more worship services - we are already scheduled to preach and lead worship several times this summer. Now we are trying to get the last papers finished quickly, so that we can have some vacation time before we pack for our move to Alabama. The end of July will be here before we know it!