A Time for prayer...

I was sucked into the television last Friday as we received over a foot of snow over night and school was canceled for Friday. This gave me the time to literally sit in front of the tv and watch the manhunt ensue as reporters and news stations did whatever they could to get those of us watching "breaking news". It wasn't too long that they same information was just being regurgitated and although I should have, I didn't turn the channel or turn the tv off, I found myself in prayer for the suspect. I could not seem to shake some internal sense for the need to pray for him. Every time his picture came across the television there was something, something that just didn't make sense. Well, some of you will say, of course it didn't make sense, he intentionally killed innocent people. Yes, I know; that isn't it though. I can't explain the overwhelming urge to pray and want to love like Jesus would love this person I don't even know. I really hesitate blogging about this, but the reality is that there aren't a whole lot of people that will read this and if they do, well I think that what I was being called to that Friday was / is something we as Christians and followers of Jesus are all called to. It isn't easy to pray for the enemy.... but we are called to do just that.

As I have been searching blogs and other internet postings on this side of the issue, I have found two posts that have made me feel OK about praying for Dzhokar. The first came Saturday night on the Facebook clergy page. Rich Melheim posted what he was going to be doing for his children's sermon on Sunday. When I read it, I wished I was doing the children's sermon at my church...

Rich Melheim A CHILDREN'S SERMON THAT CAN GET YOU IN TROUBLE TODAY (A Jesus kind of trouble, that is...)

Here's what I'm preaching for the children's sermon at Trinity in Lansdale this morning, after handing out paper and crayons:

I follow a Jesus who said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Any kind of kind kid can write a kind letter to the families of the victims of the Boston bombing, and every kind kid should.

It takes a Jesus kind of kind kid to write a kind letter to the boy who did this terrible thing.

Please take this back to the pew with you, and if God puts it on your heart to act the way Jesus would act toward people who hurt him, draw a picture of yourself, your house, your family or something beautiful that you love.

If you dare, explain that you are a Christian, and since you follow a Jesus who teaches you to love and forgive, you love and forgive him.

Close your letter saying Jesus loves him, and that you are praying one day he will know love and forgiveness. Tell him you hope and pray that one day love will crowd out the hate in his heart, and that he will be known as the kindest, most loving person in prison.

Rich Melheim

To: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
330 Brookline Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

To read the whole thread if you are a member of the ELCA clergy Facebook page click here.


The next came today, which prompted me to go ahead and blog this off my chest and out of head and heart. Professor Mary Hess from Luther Seminary and the professor for one of the classes I am taking this semester (Gospel and Global Media) posted on her blog something she read on another blog. I am going to link you to the blog of James Martin, SJ. His blog post is entitled, "Praying for the Dead, for Peace and for our Persecutors." I hope you take the time to read the entire blog, but here is the same excerpt that Professor Hess reposted:

But at some point in this process Christians are called, by Jesus, to pray for those who persecute us, to love our enemies–and even to forgive them. This doesn’t mean that we in any way condone what they did, or that we don’t hope that they receive a just punishment, or that we don’t do everything we can to capture criminals and bring them to swift justice. But we are called to do something more by Jesus: pray for them, love them, forgive them. As he said, if we pray only for those who do good to us, “what are you doing more than others”? Yes, it is hard. For me, it’s almost impossible. But this is what we are asked to do.

When they read this part of the Gospel, some people say that Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about. Jesus didn’t know our world, people say. Or maybe he was just naive. So, therefore, they say, we can ignore this statement. And so some Christians dismiss this part of the Gospel. But if as a Christian you say this, then you must admit that you are saying, in essence, that the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, God Incarnate, didn’t know what he was talking about. Or that Jesus of Nazareth, who himself lived in an extremely violent time, when life was held cheap, didn’t understand violence. Or that Jesus, who was himself the victim of a violent and unjust death, and who nonetheless forgave his executioners from the cross, didn’t have the moral stature to ask us to do this hard thing. And if you refuse even to try to love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, and forgive those who sin against, then you are also saying that you are taking the first step in walking away from Jesus, just like some of the disciples did all those years ago. And where, I’ve always wondered, did they end up?

Here is a link to a Facebook conversation on the flip side saying that

It is disrespectful to those murdered and those maimed, and their families, to quickly jump to the Christian "we love and forgive the bomber" attitude. Michael Cofey

Here is a link to the conversation (if you belong to the ELCA Facebook clergy page)

It is indeed hard to pray for the enemy and for our persecutors, but we have too don't we? This isn't about saving the enemy from the justice system or punishment, but it is about being called to Love Like Jesus.

A Testimony to technology... and the Pope

This caught my eye with all the technology talk happening in The Gospel and Global Media class this semester.

Check out NBC's photo blog HERE for more...

"Thank you I see you."

A classmate from IC2643 (The Gospel and Global Media) posted this TED Talk on her blog and I had to share it here along with a few thoughts that came to me as I watched it...



So Amanda is speaking of "profound encounters" she experienced with people as a street performer and how she doesn't want to loose it. She talks about the non-verbal exchange that took place between their eyes that went something like, "Thank you, I see you." "Nobody ever sees me thank you." This got me wondering about the people that fill the pews at church. How many of them feel the same way. "Nobody ever sees me." Do we see them? Do we see everyone in our pews or do we only see the ones that are "worth" seeing, help pay the bills, are attracive and dressed well, make the most noise, etc.? Who are the people in our pews and do we see them?

She talks about the question that fear has us asking, "Is this fair?" What is fair anyway?

The most profound piece of this video comes in the idea of asking. Asking people to help you. She said, "Asking makes us vulnerable" Brene Brown would say, "Yes! being vulerable is OK! Being vulnerable is where creativity and imagination start!" (Brown actually highlights this talk in her blog post the other day!) Palmer says, "I didn't make them... I asked them! Through the very act of asking people I connected with them and when you connect with people they want to help you."

She leaves the video with this: The music world is asking "How do we make people pay for music?" and I think we should be asking ,"How do we let people pay for music?"

Immediately I went to our dying church and thought what if we stopped asking "How do we make people come to church on Sunday mornings?" and instead started asking, "How do we let people come to church on Sunday, Saturday, Wednesday, Friday?" So, yes how do we stop making people feel like they have to come to church, but create a space, a place, a time that actually sees people, allows for vulnerability to take place, asks for help and suddenly maybe people we be able to say, "Thank you, nobody ever sees me."

I wonder when...

I wonder when things will start to settle down a bit? I find myself a bit overwhelmed right now. Classes for another semester have just started. I wonder whose bright idea it was to start the semester on the week of Ash Wednesday? Well, I suppose it wouldn't be so bad, but it has been a full week of preaching for me. Tomorrow the week draws nearer to its end and I will just start to find time to dig deep into this weeks assignments and readings. I have managed to work ahead in a couple classes knowing the schedule for this week, but still am overwhelmed.

I found myself this morning in a conversation in the teacher's lounge with a staff member about what she gave up for Lent. I was caught off guard. I think that I am so sensitive to and of my pastoral identity now that I am working as a long term sub in the high school, that I find I try to avoid "God talk" because I don't want to be accused of well, "God talk." I know this sounds silly and feels hypocritical, and it is a weird place to be. I guess it is kind of like the reading from Matthew tonight - what God really wants from us is to pray, and fast and give in secret. That our responses to God be for and about God and not about drawing attention to ourselves. So at school I really try not to draw attention to who I am as a Christian, while all the while I pray for our school, the faculty and staff and the students who think it is ok to walk into my classroom as say, "YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Anyway, way off on a rabbit trail here. Back to the teacher's lounge conversation. She told me that she had given up chocolate and a lovely looking chocolate cake sat on the table in front of us. She looked at me and said, "What did you give up for Lent?" I must of looked like a deer in the head lights. I didn't know what to say. I was not prepared for that question. I hadn't even considered it for myself. It must have been a long enough silence because then she says to me, "Or do you take some thing on and do something good?" My reaction was, "yeah that is what I do, I do something good." WOW! How ready and prepared are you for Lent to start? Do you fast, or give something up? Do you take on a project or give or do good deeds? You see for me, Lent isn't about giving something up or doing good deeds. This kind of behavior and way of thinking shouldn't me reserved for six weeks during Lent. This is the way God wants us to act, behave, respond, pray, give and fast our whole lives not just now.

I did see a neat 40 day challenge on Facebook yesterday though and it might be something I give a try. It is taking a picture everyday that reflects the given word. Today's word(s) are Who am I? I guess the photographer can interpret the word(s) how they want in the form of a picture.

I hope that I can recover this weekend. Get caught up on school work. Pass my first Hebrew quiz. Visit my new baby niece Piper. Get some rest. I just remembered that I won't have to teach on MOnday because school is closed for President's Day! Yeah! Now I think for sure I can make it through the week!

Blessings to you this Lenten Season may you find whatever it is you are looking for.

Wondering about a few things tonight...

Well, the T-ball season is over for another summer. The kids won their first game this morning but lost the second. It was a fun season! Zach will move up to Pee Wee's next summer. He is really excited about that. Hannah... well we will see. She really is not very competitive. Maybe she will just want to cheer her brother on?

I am wondering if I will ever get my history final done? I really need to just make myself sit down and do it. Maybe well I get done writing here, I can try and get through a few more questions. I have four left. It really is just a matter of getting started.

Tomorrow will be another day on the boat! It is supposed to be 87 and sunny! We have been on the lake a lot in the last week which is wonderful! I am getting my vitamin D stored up for the winter! I think it will be just us tomorrow. We can swim and tube and probably use our first place prize from the Fourth of July boat parade to eat supper out.

Exciting news, we have decided that Zach and Scooby will both go on the Guatemala trip this October! It will be such a wonderful experience! Wish Hannah could come too, but she is just too young. Zach is mature enough to handle the new culture as well as the physical labor. I am really excited!

I am working at getting my focus and balance back at work. I have allowed myself to let a few situations and people get me off balance. The trick is finding focus once again that doesn't included the situations and people, but instead includes God and the ministry at hand. The Guatemala trip, the trip to New Orleans next summer, formation of a youth and family ministry board will be great focuses! Part of me actually wants to just run away and not fight to get the focus back, but realize that running doesn't really get you anywhere in the end. Fighting to get my focus and energy back will be more rewarding, it will be a great learning opportunity and in the end will be successful!

I am wondering tonight too about how I will work at contextual ed to be a new experience for me. I look forward to seeing what new ministry opportunities there are at Trinity that I can experience, lead, learn and grow from. We shall see!

Well, we have a family movie playing tonight so I am going to sign off to watch a little of the movie as I sort through some church history.

Until next time...

I wonder if there will be more days like today yet this summer...

WOW! What a great summer day it was today! We worked around the house this morning and then headed out to the lake to take the pontoon out. We tried fishing a little but that turned out to be a disaster. So the kids jumped on the tube and away we went. The sun was shining and it was warm! Hannah came in first off the tube because she got water in her eyes. Then it wasn't too much longer and Zach waved to come it too. He was cold. We fished a little more and went to comes friends on the lake's place and had a BBQ. It was a beautiful night to be on the lake. The kids each took a turn at driving the boat. Now it is time to hit the hey and start again tomorrow.

Church is at 8:30 so that means we will have to rise and shine early. I have to work for a while at the Lion' million dollar sale tomorrow and then a funeral in the afternoon.

Until next time...

Lots to wonder tonight...

Just got back this evening from two weeks at Luther Seminary for summer intensive classes. I took three classes in two weeks! WOW! The easy part was sitting in class for 7 hours a day, the works now begins! Each class has a final paper due sometime between July 10th and August 15th. I better get started right way or I am sure I will be pushing the August 14th time frame!

For two weeks we learned about early church history. We studies Augustine, Aquinas and Anslem; of course there were a lot more ... but I think they have already left my mind... Professor Sundberg was fantastic! His passion for the church and its history was obvious and made it fun to learn from him! We were given a list of 12 questions at the beginning of class. The answers to all twelve questions were given in the lecture and powerpoints over the last two weeks. The task now is to answer six of the twelve questions by writing a three page paper on each. I did two questions earlier this week so I have four to go and better get to that sooner than later!

Then I took Mission 1 which was mission of the Triune God. Basically an introduction to mission in the church. This was a good food for thought class. Most churches (or at least the ones that I have had experience in) really don't have much mission. Mission isn't the occassional mission trip or left to the missionaries the church may or may not support. Mission is about reaching outward. Mission is about share the love of Jesus with our neighbors, friends, families and others that don't know Him or His love. For the final for this class we had two choices. The first was to pick a topic related to mission and right a research paper. The second and the one I picked, was to interview 5 - 10 people in your congregation on mission. There will be some data collection on the history of the church, the interviews and then reflecting on the findings. I decided to so the congregation study because I am not sure that the church I service in now is very "mission" oriented. We are embarking on a long awaited renovation project and all resources, time and energy are (and have been for a long time) focused inward on our own project. I hope to invoke some interest and curiosity within the congregation on how we can start to turn more outward, even as we are building. Why wait? There have been mission trips in the past and there are a few very mission minded folks in the congregation, but the congregation as a whole I would say lack any kind of mission mind. I wonder what I will find? I am looking forward to sitting with folks and interviewing them on this very important aspect of Christianity and the church! I am be very surprised! I hope to get interviews set up this week!

The third class I took was Mission 2 and it was World Religions with a focus on African Traditions. It was a great class! We were blessed to have about 7 international students all from Africa in our class! We took a trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts one day to spend time with African art. We were to find a piece of art that brought about a reaction. What drew you in or scared you? How did you feel? What were you thinking? It was really a great experience! We did case studies and the group I was in had to make a decision about whether we would marry a couple that came to the Protestant Pastor as a compromise. The bride is Roman Catholic and the groom was a form Christian but now is practicing traditional African Spirituality. They was some of the traditional African rituals to be a part of the ceremony. There is a lot to think about here. What I learned about myself through this case study is that I am pretty liberal! Our final project is to find an African community and interview someone from the community about traditional rituals with the hope of possibly being invited to experience a ritual or practice. I am thinking that unless I drove to Duluth, there will be no such community near Cook. I asked the professor if I could visit the Native American reservation near by. I hope this works out and I know I can experience a Pow Wow, but hope to be able to see some other rituals and traditions too. I have started making contacts for this project already so hope by early next week to have something set up!

I am LOVING school, the learning, the stretching of my mind and self discovery that is happening! I think I would go to school for the rest of my life if I can!

There is a lot of wondering and wandering to take place the next few days as I continue to process all the information from the last two weeks.

A very big loss for not only our faith community, but for the community as a whole has happened while I have been gone, so there will be a lot of wondering going on the next few days as we prepare to celebrate the life of a very loving, caring and gentle man. What a tragic loss.

It is time to turn in! It was so great to be greeted tonight will lots of hugs and loves from my family! I sure missed them and boy will my own bed feel great tonight!

I wonder if I can sleep past 6:37 am tomorrow? My guess is YES!!!

Until next time...

I wonder...

Well, the semester is coming to a close! It is hard to believe that we only have two more weeks of postings and then on to the final papers. I wonder how these weeks have managed to go by so fast! I have learned so much this semester. Three full classes has been a lot of work! Good, fruitful work nonetheless!

There is so much going on at work as well. Change, change, anxiety, change, transition, anxiety... The congregation has filly got their "real" pastor. It has been three Sunday's now that the "real" pastor has been with us. An interim. Sorting through the hurtful label of what the opposite of "real" is (FAKE), has been tough. Giving my heart and soul to the congregation, making every effort to lead worship with respect, reverence, maturity, an enormous love of God and them, and get nothing but a slap in the face about how offering will rebound as well as attendance as soon as the "real" pastor arrives. Well.... I wondered how long I could keep that in. If they only knew how much it hurts. I guess I am just chopped liver to them.

I wonder if I will look back and think about how great of an experience this was and how much I grew from it? Or I wonder if I will always be bitter when looking back? I found some permission to let myself be hurt. I have found permission to feel angry and even feel sorry for myself. I have always figured that I should have done something different or tried to be better so it must be my fault. Instead, I am trying to allow hurt and pain so that I don't carry bitterness.

I wonder if there is any chance my first call will be to a congregation that respects, loves, prays for, embraces, that will walk along side me? I pray for the congregation that happens to be my first call. I don't know who you are, but I pray for you. I pray that we will be ready for one another. I pray that we will have mutual respect. I pray for you...

I wonder what the next few months will bring. My heart is heavy and today as I say in worship, I wanted to pack my office, and slip out the back door where no one would have noticed. I wonder if things will improve of the next months? I wonder if I am just in need of a true vacation from the office?

I know though, that I don't have to wonder about God's love for me. I know that I am a child of God and that nothing or no one will ever take that away from me!

~Blessings this Holy Week...

I wonder...

I wonder if I will find any other ways to procrastinate writing the paper due today for Pentateuch.

I wonder if the snow will ever melt this winter?

I wonder if it is a good idea to make this blog public and link it to my facebook page?

I wonder why it is snowing outside AGAIN?

I wonder if it is possible to see God face to face these day? (I think so, do you?)

I wonder a lot these days as I study the Pentateuch, Creation and the Triune God and the Gospel of Luke. Quite a combination that somedays all together make my head spin! Great things to wonder about as I wander through the Old Testament, a Gospel and the Triune God. So much to think about. So much to wonder about and so much to just take in.

I am loving these classes and look forward to one's to come. Most of all though, I belong to a great cohort! A cohort on the same track, in the same classes, wondering the same things, but most of lifting one another up in this journey. The journey that has taken us from so many different careers, experiences, families and places in the world to one place and one journey. It is amazing that God calls each of us to this special place and special journey and I am privileged and honored to be a part of it.

I hope to share stories from seminary. Questions as I wonder. Experiences as I enter contextual ed and other pertinent or not so pertinent thoughts.

Today was camp Sunday at church! It was awesome! A Sunday set aside to celebrate outdoor ministry and more specifically Voyageurs Lutheran Ministry. It was great to have staff leading worship today! For me it was a nice break to sit in the pew and worship! Thanks VLM!!

Well, I need to write a paper of Pentateuch, work on the Ash Wednesday service, clean the house, finish the laundry! But first, I need to stop procrastinating!

~ peace to you

no longer wondering...

Well, last week I sat here and wrote and wondered how long it was going to be before the process of more paperwork, interviews, more paperwork, more interviews and other baby steps were going to start.

I know longer wonder... the remainder of the paperwork is close to being finished.  All interviews are either done or scheduled and the most important of them all - entrance interview with the Synod candidacy committee is scheduled for June 2!!  I am sooo sooo sooo excited!

These steps that really can be dragged out for months and months, has literally taken place for me in a few weeks and start to finish will be about 5 weeks!  Praise God!  I guess there are times when you answer God's call there is no stopping it!

I am looking forward to two more inventories.  An initial interview next Monday with a candidacy committee member.  A three hour appointment with the psychologist, and then finally the entrance interview.  I already did the interview for the distributive learning program and Luther and won't hear anything until the Synod makes a decision and recommendation.

Looking forward to wandering through the next few weeks!