Morning Prayer

When spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil;
When summer’s balmy showers refresh the mower’s toil;
When winter binds in frosty chains the fallow and the flood;
In God the earth rejoiceth still and owns his Maker good.

The birds that wake the morning and those that love the shade;
The winds that sweep the mountain or lull the drowsy glade;
The sun that from his amber bower rejoiceth on his way,
The moon and stars their Master’s Name in silent pomp display.

Shall man, the lord of nature, expectant of the sky,
Shall man alone, unthankful, his little praise deny?
No; let the year forsake his course, the seasons cease to be,
Thee, Master, must we always love, and Savior, honor Thee.

The flowers of spring may wither, the hope of summer fade,
The autumn droop in winter, the birds forsake the shade;
The winds be lulled, the sun and moon forget their old decree;

I will praise the Name of God in song;
I will proclaim his greatness with thanksgiving.
This will please the LORD more than an offering of oxen,
more than bullocks with horns and hoofs.
The afflicted shall see and be glad;
you who seek God, your heart shall live.
For the LORD listens to the needy,
and his prisoners he does not despise.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas and all that moves in them;
-- Psalm 69:32-36


I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever,
by power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
his baptism in the Jordan river;
his death on cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb;
his riding up he heavenly way;
his coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.


I bind unto myself the power
of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet "Well done" in judgement hour;
the service of the seraphim;
confessors' faith, apostles' word,
the patriarchs' prayers, the prophets' scrolls;
all good deeds done unto the Lord,
and purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun's life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay,
his ear to hearken to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach,
his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
his heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.
But we, in nature’s latest hour, O Lord, will cling to Thee!

Unfocused Musings

I've been thinking quite a bit about Tom Fox.

I thought about him last week when the lection was: Take up your cross and follow me. Oddly enough, you can put his name in a cross:

  T
FOX
  M

He made his point by being in the way --
The early Christians called their movement "the way"

I've been thinking about him this week, as the lection is based on Jesus' outrage in the temple.

Maybe it's putting too fine a point on it, but...
Is not what Tom Fox did much the same as Jesus in the Temple?
Jesus took no weapon into the Temple -- he made a whip from cords, probably from tethers from the animals. He did not whip the moneychangers themselves, but used the whip to drive the animals from the temple. His anger is from outrage -- outrage at the moneychangers cheating the people out of their wages/money. Outrage at the corruption. "Why are we here?" -- isn't this Jesus' question as well?


I have read that the word in the Greek Bible that is translated as "love" is the word "agape." Again, I have read that this word is best expressed as a profound respect for all human beings simply for the fact that they are all God's children. I would state that idea in a somewhat different way, as "never thinking or doing anything that would dehumanize one of my fellow human beings."

It seems as if the first step down the road to violence is taken when I dehumanize a person. That violence might stay within my thoughts or find its way into the outer world and become expressed verbally, psychologically, structurally or physically. As soon as I rob a fellow human being of his or her humanity by sticking a dehumanizing label on them, I begin the process that can have, as an end result, torture, injury and death.

"Why are we here?" We are here to root out all aspects of dehumanization that exist within us. We are here to stand with those being dehumanized by oppressors and stand firm against that dehumanization. We are here to stop people, including ourselves, from dehumanizing any of God's children, no matter how much they dehumanize their own souls.
-- Tom Fox


And a quote from MLK jr:
Civil disobedience, "does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had."

And what does this have to do with a part-time pastor in Suburban Gwinnett County? Are there tables that need to be overturned here? Are there oppressed people who need an advocate? Am I standing in solidarity with the downtrodden? Who am I dehumanizing?

And then: Is this (my own neighborhoods) not a brutal environment? Especially when the headlines read: Police Shoot a Man Beating a Child; Woman Slain in Fight Over a Car; Bomb Sniffing Dogs React; Woman Indicted on Sex with Teen Charges.

Why are we here? How can I stand with God's children? Where do I start?

Morning Prayer

Theme: Christ Crucified
God Point: I Cor. 1:22-25
Prayer Point: For the courage to proclaim Christ
Service Point: Write a letter to someone telling of your experiences with Christ

Morning Prayer
Wake my soul with all things living
thanks be giving to the Source of life and day
Sunlight comes and gone confusion,
night's illusion, like the starlight
fades away.

Cry for help, when griefs assail you,
good friends fail you, life seems hopeless, death appears.
One whose child knew deep affliction,
crucifixion,
ever waits to dry your tears.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8, 9

In you, O LORD, have I taken refuge;
let me never be ashamed.
In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free;
incline your ear to me and save me.
Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe;
you are my crag and my stronghold.
Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from of the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.
For you are my hope, O LORD God,
my confidence since I was young.
I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
from my mother's womb you have been my strength;
my praise shall be always of you.
-- Psalm 71:1-7

Almighty God,
Your own Son had nowhere to lay his head:
Be with those who live alone today so that they may not be lonely in their solitude,
Help them live according to your example and follow in your steps,
May they find fulfillment in loving you and
May they find fulfillment in the love of their neighbors.

For those in the hospital today

Dearest Lord,
Be with us and be the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers:
Mercifully accept our prayers,
And give to those suffering the help of your power,
that their sickness may be turned into health,
and our sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sanctify those whom you have called to the study and practice of the arts of healing,
and to the prevention of disease and pain.
Strengthen them by your life-giving Spirit,
that by their ministries
the health of the community may be promoted
and your creation glorified; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Morning Prayer

North and south and east and west
May your ho-ly Name be blessed;
Everywhere- beneath the sun,
As in heav'n, your will- be done.

Give us food that we may live;
Every thoughtlessness please forgive;
Keep all e-vil things away
From your people here- today.

Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: Come let us adore him.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Long may he live!
and may there be given to him gold from Arabia;
may prayer be made for him always,
and may they bless him all the day long.
May there be abundance of grain on the earth,
growing thick even on the hilltops;
may its fruit flourish like Lebanon,
and its grain like grass upon the earth.
May his Name remain for ever
and be established as long as the sun endures;
may all the nations bless themselves in him and call him blessed.
Blessed be the Lord GOD, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous deeds!
And blessed be his glorious Name for ever!
and may all the earth be filled with his glory. Amen. Amen.
-- Psalm 72: 15-19

God,
You made me in your own image,
You redeemed me through your Son.
Look with compassion on all of us,
The whole human family;
Take away arrogance and hatred that infects our hearts;
Break down the walls that separate us;
Unite us and bind us together in bonds of love;
work through our struggle and confusion
So that your purpose on earth will be done.

Dearest Lord,
You cared for all who came to you
Each in their own season.
Rain your compassion down on all who suffer,
Those who are ill, even to the point of death,
Those who cannot find the strength for one more day,
Those who are overwhelmed with responsibilities,
Those who cannot imagine being free to take responsibility,
Those who through addiction have lost their health and freedom
Those who mourn.
Restore to us the assurance of your unfailing mercy;
Restore to us the knowledge of your grace,
Restore to us the comfort of you love,
Remove from us the fears that overwhelm us;
Strengthen us in the work of our own redemption,
Give to us patient understanding and persevering love. Amen.

Morning Prayer

The sun that bids us rest is waking
our family members far away
Who, while we sleep are gladly taking
their turn to worship you and pray.

So be it, God, your reign shall never
like earth's proud empires, fade and fall.
Your reign endures, and grows forever
till all your creatures heed your call.

Most merciful God, I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myselves. I am truly sorry and humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

You sent a gracious rain, O God, upon your inheritance;
you refreshed the land when it was weary.
Your people found their home in it;
in your goodness, O God, you have made provision for the poor.
The Lord gave the word;
great was the company of women who bore the tidings:
"Kings with their armies are fleeing away;
the women at home are dividing the spoils."
Though you lingered among the sheepfolds,
you shall be like a dove whose wings are covered with silver,
whose feathers are like green gold.
-- Psalm 68:9-13

O God,
Your glory is your mercy:
Your mercy is glorious.
We wander away -- and your mercy follows.

Draw my heart to you.
Guide my mind so that I might guide,
fill my imagination so completely that I cannot imagine,
control my will so that I will be yours,
make me utterly dedicated to you;
Then and only then use me,
as you will,
use me to your glory
use me to the welfare of your people.
I have found my home in you.
Help me return and rest in you,
Help me be still and know that
You alone are God.
Amen.

I've been playing

I've been playing with Google Mars. Today.
Like Google Earth, but, you know, with Mars.
Facinating.

Craddock Notes on Preaching the Death of Jesus

NOTE: I gave up on making these complete sentences. They are notes. Just notes. So they look like notes. There's a little of me in here too, btw.


Preaching the Death of Jesus
The first task of preaching the death of Jesus is to find a way to give it meaning and open the doors of the church to gentiles without kicking the Jews in the groin. The ultimate task is to interpret the execution of Jesus – a shameful death as a convicted criminal, a demeaning death – as having some sort of benefit to the followers.

In some parts of Appalachia, people place the cross on their Christmas tree as an ornament. This seems strange to some of us; not so strange to others. There’s a old picture of the crèche in a barn – a lantern nestled in the beams in a barn throws a shadow of a cross on the baby Jesus. Yes, this is a participation in the concept of “Eternal Time” and yet -- it collapses the story to be like a single event; without understanding the mystery of that event in and of itself.

The view of some is that the Gospel begins only at Golgotha – with the stories of Jesus just a preface. Rudolph Bultmann – in his treatment of the earlier gospel stories, calls then a preface. Not Craddock – do not focus on the cross and resurrection OR the life and teaching as if you can separate them. Are you preaching anything less than the gospel if you preach only one or the other? Craddock sees the entire gospel as a continuum – you must preach the entirety of the gospel, not just the cross. The cross can lead you into violence – where the cross is preached too much then there are marginalized people. Some use the cross as an excuse for abuse – Abram “Preachers Present Arms” – chill you to the bone. If you really love your enemy you will shoot them because they live under a oppressive government. Can give impetus to violence.

Treatment of pain – Jesus endured the cross, so you can endure this – other is doctors afraid to prescribe.

Make too little of it – crystal cathedral – architect said in a lecture about the instruction was that there was to be no crosses inside or out. If you want your church to succeed, don’t preach the cross – people want success

God without wrath…. Christ without a cross. “Social Justice” – Niebuhr.

No theories of atonement, washed in the blood, but to build on the text exegetically. No atonement theories. Deal with the text, do no conflate scriptures. Dominate is Paul – and central is the cross. John 3:16 has no cross in it, but it’s easy to go there if you are full of Paul. It’s not what John is saying.

Luke, John, and Paul.

Paul interprets everything by the cross – Hebrews is the second most influential – but by a priestly, liturgical way.

Paul uses Christ crucified. No empty cross.

Luke
Israel – Christ – Church The middle of time with Camelot in the middle. From the temptation to Judas, there is no Satan in the ministry of Jesus in Luke. Luke has a favorable view of the temple – no other gospel does. There in the temple – healing at the gate of the temple. The temple is it. The synagogue is central – continuity with Israel. Different than John. In this continuity, it is necessary for the Messiah must suffer and die.

Luke 24:44 -- this is what the risen Christ says. There is no doubt in Luke’s mind that the Law, the prophets and the Psalms that the Messiah must suffer. Isaiah 53 – the suffering servant is ISRAEL. Not a reference to a crucified Messiah according to the Jews.
1) referring to the way that true prophets are always treated – suffering at the hands of their own people. Elijah – healed a Syrian army officer, Elisha – healed a Syropheonician woman.
2) a belief that their would be one that would be the righteous one – that would bear on himself the wickedness – legend of the Just. Witness of the centurion -- Not Surely this man was innocent BUT the righteous one or the Just one. To bear at the risk of their own life the suffering of others. Noble death. (cmp. Scapegoat stuff)
3) Luke MAY have in mind the suffering servant. Isaiah 53. Who would tell his stories? Who would recite his genealogy? But we know this because of the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. Who would declare his genealogy? About whom does the prophet speak? Of himself – or is he speaking secretly to me? That’s why people read their bibles – they are looking for their own name.
4) There is no atonement theory about Jesus in the writing of Luke.

What then do you preach? If you preach the cross, you are not preaching Luke. To all nations that you will preach – that repentance and forgiveness of sin is the gospel. Luke contains more repentance than any other book. Ignorance is there as well. God has given the repentance from sin for us to preach.

Mark has agony in the garden, so does Matthew. Luke doesn’t – knelt and prayed. Scribes add the drops of blood? Luke has Psalm 31 on the cross, not Psalm 22. When they had done everything that the scriptures had said, then they killed him. Resurrection and ascension fulfill the story.

In Luke, he says take up your cross everyday – that the cross is not dying but living. You cannot die everyday, but you can live for others everyday.

John’s Gospel
A child can swim in John and an Elephant can drown.

Pre-existence – opposite 180 degrees from Paul. He was NOT empty – he had NOT emptied himself. From Glory to Glory in John because in John’s gospel, salvation is by revelation. It is life eternal to know God. Jesus came into the world to reveal God. God is revealed by Jesus – seven signs then speeches. One time the speech comes first then the sign.

Come and see – invitation to faith.

The cross is the way the Jesus leaves – he becomes “lifted up” – revelation of God – what is God like – look at Jesus. Secondly, there will be a comforter who will be with you. The cross is the means by which he goes back to God.

Two expressions that speak of his death:
Lifted up
Glorified

Two occasions chpt 10 and chapt 15 speak of his death as a Noble death. Some find there some sort of atonement theory.

Key significant event among the Jews that gives John his view is the Passover. Throughout the gospel, it was Passover time. Passover lamb is not a sin lamb but a liberation lamb – Jesus is the Passover lamb. Jesus launches the new exodus – the liberation from sin. I will draw all people to myself.

Paul does not use Passover, but Yom Kippur.
Obedient to death – as unto death. Completion of his own work.

Paul somehow is completed with Christ – I want to share in the story. For me to live is Christ. Easy to preach these sermons as a romantic thing, but they are big texts. Sermon – “the view from Mount Nebo” – great sermon of American pulpits. I preach Christ crucified. Christ is not gotten by philosophies etc, but through the cross. Central to the sacraments in his liturgy. Center of 1 Corinthians 11 is the cross. Center of baptisms, but center of his own life as well. Rare and powerful message.

Man in a lot of pain – beaten with rods and 5 times whipped. Night and a day hanging on a hunk of wood in the water. Stoned and left for dead. The Corinthians said that he was a poor speaker and he had contemptible appearance. As to one untimely borne – 4 times in Bible – three times in Old Testament – stillborn. Nickname – the monster? Totally unattractive. He longed for release from his body. What enables him to live like this is the cross. Use metaphors like legal language and economic terms, social terms – uses everything within reach.

Romans 3:25

Sin offering – goat
Scapegoat – Leviticus 16

Ritual – Christ is our Mercy Seat – and the Scapegoat 2 Cor 5: 21

Christ bearing the curse – Galatians 3:10 – 14

Paul never claims that HIS suffering will be redemptive. Close – Romans chapter 9. That I have unceasing sorrow and anguish for the people of Israel – I could almost wish myself to bear the curse if it would save the Jews – to be on the verge, but not quite there.

Story of a student who translated this passage – it was smooth. After class “What do you think about that?” “It’s unprofessional. You should never get that close.” Many years later – CEO of major company – “God just expects too much from ministers. I had to get out of it.” That’s what he mean by unprofessional – it requires too much.

Kiekegaard – Purity of Heart – see one thing. Thus, purity of heart is to will one thing, but to will one thing could not mean to will the world's pleasure and what belongs to it, even if a person only named one thing as his choice, since this one thing was one only by a deception. Nor could willing one thing mean willing it in the vain sense of mere bigness which only to a man in a state of giddiness appears to be one. FOR IN TRUTH TO WILL ONE THING, A MAN MUST WILL THE GOOD. This was the first, the possibility of being able to will one thing. But in order GENUINELY TO WILL ONE THING, A MAN MUST IN TRUTH WILL THE GOOD… If, then, a man in truth wills the Good, then HE MUST BE WILLING TO DO ALL FOR IT or HE MUST BE WILLING TO SUFFER ALL FOR IT.

The double-minded man stands at a parting of the ways, and sees there two apparitions: the Good, and the Good in its victory, or even in its victory through him. … With the eye of his senses he is not permitted to see the Good in victory. Only with the eye of faith can he strive after its eternal victory. Therein lies his double-mindedness. For as there is a double -- mindedness which divides up the nature of the Good which the Good has united for all eternity: so is his double -- mindedness of that sort that unites what the Good in time has set apart. The one double-minded person forgets the Eternal and on that account misuses time, the other misuses eternity.

You might be forgiven but there is always your trash lying around – sin is forgiven but you suffer the consequences of it.

Fred Craddock met Albert Schweitzer when he dedicated an organ at some Indiana University. Fred was a 21 year old student who had loaded up with questions -- wanted to ask a question about “The Historical Jesus.” The kind of question you ask as a student to let the other person how smart you are. You know that kind of question. Schweitzer said that You get to know Jesus by following him. He was 75 years old and much taller than Fred expected. Fuzzy face, Bushy hair. French accent. After the organ recital and lecture he said, “I Appreciate the hospitality of you people, I’d like to stay a while longer, but I can’t. There are people who need me at home – there are children and their mothers and fathers dying at home. I have to go. Would anyone go with me?” The smart assed questions died on Fred’s lips. Fred said, “Say what you will about Schweitzer’s liberal protestant theology – think what ever you want – but I have not even given up a meal.” Jesus’ life gave him something to follow – to sacrifice for.

From the National Cathedral

In a rare public appearance, acclaimed author and Presbyterian minister Frederick Buechner will engage in a lively panel discussion about the impact of his writings on American religious life Wednesday, April 5, at 7 pm.

The three panelists—the Rev. Dr. Peter Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard University; the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest who teaches religion at Piedmont College in northeast Georgia; and Dr. Thomas G. Long, Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta—will share their insights into Buechner’s sermons, including his new collection featured in his latest book, Secrets in the Dark, A Life in Sermons.

More here.

Boy, do I want to go to this! What an evening of excitement! (OK, maybe not YOUR idea of excitement, but it is for me!)

One of those flashes of insight

I was typing up my Craddock notes (trying to make complete sentences (a hard task for me right now)) and I came across one of my favorite quotes:

H. Richard Niebuhr’s comment on the theology of liberal Protestantism: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”

And I had a flash -- it's the message that Joel Osteen preaches! I went to the Lakewood Church website a while back and I had to dig around for the words "God" and "Jesus." They just aren't there. But the words "Joel Osteen" and "Ministries" are everywhere. There's no sin or judgement or even kingdom -- much less a Christ on a Cross -- suffering.

BUT Niebuhr's comment was made about the LIBERAL wing of the church -- and Osteen appeals to the conservative right. Wow!

facinating

While looking through my iPhoto stuff for a photo of my hair, I realized that I take all the pictures. 10,000 pictures and none of me. Wow. Maybe I'll get Chaos to take one of me -- after suitable applications of hair spray and makeup.

I suppose I'm just

easily disturbed -- or this is just particularly disturbing.

I'm more disturbed now that I know that it was just a prank. Somehow the idea of it being a hate crime is more palatable -- it's a showing of emotion, of passion. The idea of it being a prank makes me sick to my stomach.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

I think Gavin (quoting Ian) may have started something. He's relating ministry stories that end "it seemed like a good idea at the time." Hmm....

In 2002 (or was it 2001?), I did a Daycamp -- for the Girl Scouts. It was using the "God and Country" materials. It was great. 60 plus girls, almost as many adults. We did 6 to 7 hours of camp a day and at the end of the week we were going to give the girls their awards at the end of a worship service.

Well, one of the leaders suggested that the girls do their shadowpuppet show at the worship service. I (as grand poo-bah of the worship service) thought "OK, that'll work." What I didn't realize was that the girls were hams. At the first rehearsal, we let them go across the stage while wiggling the shadow puppet on the screen. It took just a few minutes -- the reading was Genesis 1 and the shadow puppets were all about the 6 days of creation.

And the girls loved it. They liked to play with the puppets. Rehearsal went great, but the day of the performance, they realized that Mommy and Daddy were watching. The first half dozen went as expected. Then they started stopping and playing with the puppets walking v-e-r-y slowly. What took just a couple of minutes the previous day started taking longer and longer and l-o-n-g-e-r and l-o-o-n-n-g-g-e-e-r. It took almost 15 minutes to push them off the stage. By that time no one was paying attention -- people were talking to each other, getting up to go to the bathroom, congregating in the back and yacking.

I caught it from the staff the next day about the sheer length of the service -- who was to know that these girls were such hams? I mean, it seemed like a good idea at the time....

OK, you're next. If you choose to play, make a note in the comments.

Craddock Report

The trip on Monday was indeed 2 plus hours up and 2 hours home. It would have been shorter if I had gone the back ways because there were horrible pile-ups on the Perimeter.

An aside: Some college students did an experiment in Atlanta -- the lined up cars across the Perimeter and went the speed limit. Look here and click on the "Meditation of the Week." Or try here.

Dr. Craddock somehow reminds me of the line "a jolly old elf" -- not because he looks like Santa, but because he definitely is jolly, round and has elfish features. He's just a tad taller than me, sharp nose, slightly pointed ears. However he exudes a certain something that demands attention, even though he would be the first to say that he speaks as one without authority.

The gist of the lecture: when preaching Lent, Holy Week and the death of Jesus, let each lection stand by itself. Look for it's unique voice. When using Luke, listen to Luke NOT Luke through the eyes of Paul. We are tempted to just jump directly to "I preach Christ crucified." Listen to each of the unique voices and discover them anew. Start with the text and stick to the text. Exegete THIS text without prooftexting and without using an hermenutic not found in that particular Gospel.

There were a couple of wonderful Craddock stories. I'll transcribe them later today.

Meme: Do you wear a cross?

Do you wear a cross? Yes, most of the time.

Is there a particular time or place that you consider wearing a cross? I don't leave home without it.

Where do you were it? Necklace, usually outside of my clothing -- except when I'm driving -- it gets caught in the seat belt shoulder strap.

What does the cross look like? a little crooked -- it's a budded cross made of reclaimed white gold and awful diamonds. The diamonds are the type that diamond cutters use to practice on -- and then throw away. Each is grey with inclusions -- they are almost industrial grade diamonds. It's on a gold chain with a little sterling silver Bible.

Who gave the cross to you or did you choose it? I had it made with some diamonds from my uncle Walter (when he was in S. Africa in the 19-somethings). And a fitting I bought seperately.

Is this your favorite cross, if so, why? Yes, because it reminds me we are all flawed diamonds -- individually ugly with dark inclusions, but we can be reclaimed and made together into something of beauty.

What does wearing a cross mean to you? I unconciously reach up and hold on to it often. It's a habit. It's a reminder. It's who I am.

Wanna play? Tag yourself and tell us if, when and why you wear or don't wear a cross.

Road Trip Today

I'm going to the Craddock Center to listen to Fred Craddock. It's probably a 2 hour plus drive. He's teaching on "Preaching the Death of Jesus."

I'm excited!

Another Radio Ad

St. Andrew's TransEucharist.

I wonder if they would do a commercial for me?

Ash Wednesday Sermon

Text Joel 2:1-2,12-17

Start with clips from this.*

And then tell people bits of this.*

We were Unprepared and Overwhelmed.

Unprepared and Overwhelmed.

You see, it’s been exactly 6 months today since Hurricane Katrina. 6 months of suffering. Six months of cleaning up and picking up.

We see it also in our text for today. The people of Joel’s time were overwhelmed by Locusts and unprepared for the threat or the promise of the coming day of the Lord.

Did they listen to the words of the prophet? I listened to Joel and was struck by one singular thought – They were overwhelmed but Joel never told them why. Joel never said – “You sinners!!” He never told them they brought it onto themselves – Just “Repent!”

Repent!

Are we listening today? Do we hear condemnation? Or sadness?

Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.

Unprepared and Overwhelmed

Lent is a time of preparation. We are preparing for Holy Week and Easter.
It’s Reminder of our own ephemeral nature.
We gather together not only to remember who we are,
but who God is and what God has given.

unprepared and overwhelmed
How many ways are we being overwhelmed today?

We are
Overwhelmed by:
Email
– full inboxes – each message either a demand “you need those papers in today” or a promise “free mortgages” “end all spam” to the point where we forget why we are getting email

By Parenting:
Do you feel you have no control over what happens to you or your family? Have no time in the day for yourself? Try to do too many things? These are all common feelings for parents…. too much stress affects our thinking and makes it harder to solve problems. We forget the joys that come from our family.

By work
A study conducted by the Families and Work Institute a few years ago showed that more than one third of employees in the United States feels overworked, or overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to do…We forget the reasons we work and the fulfillment it can lead to.

Overwhelmed by nature – Last year it was the Tsunami – this year it was Katrina.
Even if it was 6 months ago,
Survivors, counselors overwhelmed
Many victims too traumatized to discuss the tragedy yet
Deeper still lie the invisible scars of those whose families, homes, and livelihoods were swallowed up by the angry hurricane. The despair and emotional trauma of survivors … across the region are likely to linger long after the aid shipments have stopped. Among the most overwhelming feelings is guilt and depression.

Overwhelmed by emotion/grief/guilt/depression
''I wonder why I remain. I want God to take me, too," said Anna. She lost two of her four children when the water came rampaging into her living room. ''I struggled to find them. I swam, I shouted, but gave up because I had to use all my strength to cling onto a pillar." Overcome by grief.

What does it mean to be overwhelmed? From Websters:
Etymology: Middle English, from 1over + whelmen to turn over, cover up
1 : UPSET, OVERTHROW
2 a : to cover over completely : SUBMERGE b : to overcome by superior force or numbers c : to overpower in thought or feeling

How are we to prepare during this season of Lent if we are being overwhelmed?
Repent and Remember. Even Now! Repent! Rend your hearts and not your garments! Become overwhelmed with conviction of your sin and turn to the Lord your God.

In this text – people of Israel are called to repent and remember
shoob – turn around, repent – if you do – with your heart – rending your heart and not your garment, perhaps God himself will turn and leave behind a grain offering and a drink offering.

Is repentance confession?
We are a confessing society – Jerry Springer – confess to all sorts of things – is this repentance?

True repentance – complete turnaround – turn away from self, turn to God – more than a “I sorry” but more of a psychotic break / break with everything we knew before and leave it all behind. It’s overwhelming

Ash Wednesday starts the 40 days of Lent, before Holy week/Easter
40 Represents : the days of Noah, the years of Moses in wilderness, 40 days of Jesus in the wilderness. And so our 40 days of fasting and prayer and study and service.

The imposition of the ashes is a powerful thing. It’s a powerful symbol of how we can be overwhelmed by life. This last Ash Wednesday it seemed so odd to I traced the ashes onto the forehead of my own children. It was overwhelming to place that reminder of mortality onto my own children’s forehead. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

And is this not also the story of God and his beloved children? Gather my children together -- Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; Repent and remember the gospel! And what is that Gospel for us today?
That after repentance comes reconciliation
Definition ; restoration to harmony; renewal; removal of inconsistency; reunion; pacification; appeasement; propitiation; atonement; expiation.

Reconciliation – related to the word for forgivness in the Greek
Reconciliation mean to change places with the other, so much that
you will walk in their shoes,
you will laugh their laughter,
weep their tears,
hold their dreams and feel their joy.

What is the Gospel?
That we are indeed reconciled to God, through His son Christ. Through repentance we are reconciled – and he will turn and leave us a grain /drink offering / sacrifice.

In Joel, the locusts had consumed everything – they ate up all the grain, they consumed all the grapes. We are so hungry for reconciliation. How can WE offer a grain offering and a drink offering? How Can we?
God himself has to offer the bread and the wine. Can you imagine Israel’s hunger? Can you imagine how good that freshly baked bread was? How refreshing that cool wine? Can you imagine their hunger?
What do we have to offer? What is it that God wants? Rend your hearts and not your garments.

Are you hungry?

We will not be receiving communion tonight. We will not fill ourselves with the bread and slake our thirst with the cup. Instead we are going to leave hungry. Tonight is a time of preparation. We will come forward and offer to God our repentance. We will prepare – and pray for God to overwhelm us with his Grace and love – and leave hungry for right relationship.

Are you hungry?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – for they will be filled.

Blessed.

*I am blessed by knowing St. Casserole. This sermon and my prayers are for her and the people of the Gulf States who are still suffering. It's also for Wayne and Reagan, Brent, Ken and Dwayne and those who have given of their time, energy and money to help rebuild.

My Lectionary Leanings for Today

Genesis 9:8-17_Psalm 25:1-10 _1 Peter 3:18-22 _Mark 1:9-15

Could this be one of those famous Markan Sandwiches? If so, then the bread is the Baptism and the Proclamation and the filling is the temptation.

reflections:
Baptism -- water and the Spirit (what you hear over and over again in Methodist circles....)
Jesus starts the journey from Galilee to Judea -- foreshadowing the movement of his ministry later in the Gospel.

“let himself be Baptized” – passive action by Jesus. But immediately as he comes up out of the water the skies are torn apart.

HE saw, not they saw. Private vision.

"torn apart" -- Greek schizo -- used only twice, once here in Mark and once to describe the tearing of the veil (Mark 15:38) -- apocalyptic images look also at Ezek 1:1 and Isaiah 64:1. Both times a violent action – a tearing of the boundary between heaven and earth.

Dove = spirit = dove of the Noah story = also Jonah means "dove" -- could be synchronistic with Greek mythology and auguries done with birds. Does it mean it looks like a Dove or that it lights and perches like a Dove?

“YOU are my son, the Beloved” – not “This is my son” – private vision? – Beloved meaning more like “Chosen” – when the voice speaks again, it is to all present in Mark (Transfiguration)
Spoken last in Mark by the Centurion “Sure this was…” This phrase here, echoes the Coronation songs of Ancient Israel – cmp. Psalm 2

IMMEDIATELY drove Jesus to the wilderness (from the order of the Spirit hovering over the waters of the deep to Chaos – the void) No gentle “guidance” here, but his is impelled to go. Jolted, even. Used other places in Mark in exorcisms. Leaves a sense of Jesus almost being a victim. Left order for Chaos for 40 days – parallel to the 40 years of Moses in the Wilderness or the 40 days of destruction by water with Noah. Prologue starts in the Wilderness – ends in the Wilderness – Mark ends with a Wilderness of the Spirit as the women stumble from the tomb terrified.

Testing by the Accuser – like the testing later done by the Pharisees and finally in the Garden.

Wild Beasts – echoes of Psalm 91:11-13 "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot." Esp. when read over and against the other temptation stories. Maybe the wild beasts are really people? Or maybe the wild beasts are a part of Jesus himself?

"good news": The Greek word euangelion – both OF God and BY God

Good News both is a description and the content of the passage – euangelion used twice.

Tense – is beging fulfilled – continual action. Stretches in to the past and future. The time is here, the time is now. Now is the moment ripe.

Verse 15 is a synopsis of the entire message of Mark.

I keep coming back to this video

One.

Busy Day

but Sundays always are. Somehow, after months of no sermons to preach, I have 3 in 4 days. Feast or famine. I'll do the pictures about burning the palms this afternoon. Blessings to all today.

Transfiguration

The air was incredibly smooth. My silvered wings slipped through the air effortlessly. It was a magical twilight and the sun burned red and orange and gold like flames behind the skyline of Atlanta. The mountain was stunningly beautiful that night. I will always remember Stone Mountain, rising up in front of the skyline of Atlanta with that great glowing ball of fire. It was a moment of transcendence. I understood the line from the poem – and I know you know the one:

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds...and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of...wheeled and soared and swung_
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up, the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor even eagle flew.
And while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space...
...put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

That night, I felt the presence of God. I could stretch out my hand and touch His face. I felt sheer glory that moment. I wanted a camera to capture it forever. That night, right after I landed, my friend Steve Ashby landed his Cherokee Six and rolled to a stop right behind me – He jumped out of his plane and asked “Did you see that?? That was the most incredible thing I think I’ve ever seen!”

On that mountain so very long ago, Jesus was revealed to James and Peter and John as God himself. It must have been a awesome and frightening moment. Darkness, the burning light – silence and then a booming voice – a visitation from the Heroes of the past and then – nothing. They didn’t know what to do. They didn’t understand what had just been revealed to them. I know that they must have turned to each other and cried out, “Did you see that?? That was the most incredible thing I think I’ve ever seen!”

Every time I do touch and go’s, I think of that moment -- I remember it. I loved Stone Mountain airport. It was a homey place – a really old fashioned airport, built in the 1920’s as a relay station for the US Mail. There were relics for days gone by, propeller hubs holding the doors open and always a warm and welcoming fire in the huge fireplace. Framed newspaper articles about the time the mailplane crashed into the side of the mountain – and how Mark Britt climbed out of that cockpit and delivered the mail by foot. The office – the FBO had been built around an ancient fireplace that was all that was left over after Sherman had marched through. There was community there – I loved to go and hanger fly with my friends. My time at that airport glows golden in my mind.

In 1996, Atlanta hosted the Olympics and the owners of the Airport sold the land to be used as a parking lot for the tennis venue. My beloved airport was changed beyond recognition. They placed telephone poles down the center of the runway – they tore down the main building, leaving only the massive old fireplace standing. I used to think of it a memorial stone, an Ebeneezer. I wanted to put a plaque on it to memorialize the memory of a golden time in my life, but as I went back just a few weeks ago – that massive old fireplace had been torn down as well.

I mourn the loss of my airport. I wanted a memorial – a gravestone so that I could remember what had been. But I was caught short when I went by and that massive old fireplace itself – older than my memory – older than the airport itself – that huge mass of stone and mortar were gone. What I have left is the memory – that remembrance of a transcendent moment.
Peter coped the only way he knew how – “Jesus! Ah, It’s a good thing for us to be here! Shall we build you and Elijah and Moses booths so that we can stay a while? So that we can remember this moment? Like a monument or something?” Busywork in a way. He’s uncomfortable and wants to “do something” and not just dwell in that moment of stark and frightening transformation.

What are the ways we build monuments to our experiences of God? Are we willing to live into the moments of transformation instead of building booths of remembrance to days gone by?

Throughout the Old Testament, the people put up what might be called "a standing stone" after a momentous interaction with God. Maybe that's why Peter wanted to set up camp and build some booths. But Jesus didn’t want that. There were more important things to do than build a nice memorial to the moment.

As I thought about this, a realized that a camera wouldn’t have helped me on that night. And it reminds me of why I don't video tape events any more. I am the cameraman in my family – I used to drag all that stuff to every event: the video camera, the digital camera, the lights. Then I realized that I couldn’t both record the moment and BE in the moment. I would get so caught up in figuring out camera angles and lighting that I would forget to just be in the present. Peter needed to be in the moment. The Transfiguration was a vision he would need to remember in the future. If he was busy building a monument, he'd miss the real event.

What endured of that moment?

Peter was in such a hurry to build a "permanent" commemoration of the holy site. What he failed to see was how temporary our human constructs really are. If we're really honest, we would say the same about our monuments – our cathedrals and buildings. This congregation had a monument and now’s it gone. We have the memory – and the heritage of that old Chapel
on the corner, but it’s gone.

What has endured?

For me, what has endured of my transcendent moment is an abiding love of airplanes and aviation. What abides is those relationships that were built hanger flying. When Steve jumped out of the plane and asked “Did you see that?? That was the most incredible thing I think I’ve ever seen!” He experienced that moment with me. Steve remains close to me. What has endured is that relationship – Steve was with me for a few minutes every day for weeks after my mother died. I have held him dear and close – I held his son Patrick in prayer for weeks as he lay in ICU after a horrible car accident. What has endured?

Relationship – that is what will endure.

Jesus took three of his closest and dearest friends onto that mountain with him. Peter became the foundation of His Church, James was the first of the disciples to die as a martyr. John was the beloved disciple – to John Jesus entrusted his mother. The relationships were given strength on that mountaintop.

They each went on and did not build a memorial to the past – but went into the future, strengthened by the memory of Jesus in Glory. It somehow becomes a memory of the future – a peek into what will be. Just as Moses went into the wilderness afterwards, so did they – so did Jesus. Instead of a trip via the wildnerness – it was the Via Dolorosa. Years later, in the light of the glory of this moment, they could realize the glory of the cross. Jesus was transfigured on a Mountain – and then he was crucified on a Mountain. Jesus showed his glory between two heroes – two historical figures of great regard. Jesus showed his glory between two disreputable thieves. On one hand his garments made as white as snow, on the other his garments stripped from his body and gambled over. There were three witnesses on that mountain. Later, Mary and Mary and Salome watch from a distance. There was a thunderous voice from the cloud saying boldly “This is the Son of God.” Then we hear the voice of the centurion – “Could this be the Son of God?”

It took years for them to see that the glory of the Transfiguration IS the glory of the cross. That the glory of the Son of God is completed in a painful death on rough and splintered wood.

And it’s that glory that we celebrate today as we come to His table. Let us join together and confess our blindness to His glory – Let us confess our sin.

Merciful God,
We confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have not see your Glory. We have built memorials instead of missions.
We have failed to be an obedient church. We have not done your will,
We have broken your law,
We have rebelled against your love,
We have not loved our neighbors,
And we have not heard the cry of the needy.
Forgive us, we pray.
Free us for joyful obedience,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Transfiguration -- Mark 9 -- Notes

Right before this – He started to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer.
Who do you say that I am?
Conditions of Discipleship – Transfiguration – Coming of Elijah

Mark 9:2-10
2Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
9As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.

Verse 2 – paralambano cmp. I Cor 11:23
Same three that were in the garden at the end – witnesses to the healing of Jaius’ daughter earlier. healing, Transfiguration, agony??

How did they know it was Elijah and Moses? Cmp Moses face shining in Exodus 34:29 after being on a high mountain. Jesus an incarnation of the Word – Moses and Elijah incarnations of the Law and the Prophets. OR Resurrection and revelation. Talking WITH Jesus, the eternal Word, spoken himself by God. Then they are gone – leaving only Jesus, the incarnation of God. An unveiling of what IS, but what is now concealed? Are they the two witnesses in Rev 11? Thin Space.

John the Baptist = Elijah, Jesus = Moses in Matthew, but here he is clearly set apart from them.
Not only was Jesus metamorpho, but Peter, James and John were, too.
Witnessed to by 2 Peter 1:16-17 40 years later. And John as well in chapter 1:17
Alluded to by Paul in Rom 12:2? Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of you minds. Lectionary Text – 2 Cor 3:7
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV) 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed [same word as Mark 9:2 “transfigured”] into his likeness with ever-increasing glory. . .

Jesus made a statement when he didn’t use a tabernacle – a dwelling. If he was God, then God would stay with us and walk along and among us.

Voice from the cloud.
Cloud as the same as with Moses in wilderness.
Overshadowed – enveloped.
This is my beloved son – cmp. John’s Baptism
Mountain – echos of the mountain in the temptation?
In Luke – during prayer, here as they are apart from the others.

Earth, Air, Fire and Water – elemental
We yearn to be changed – but we also fear it. Earth, Air, Fire and Water can fundamentally change things. From the earth we came to the earth you shall surely return. Air sculpts trees, Fire refines, slow pressure of water can wear away – but there is indeed conservation of matter. – transmutation. Alchemy. As mysterious to us as alchemy.
Two other theophanies in Mark – perhaps? Baptism (voice from heaven) and the “I am” to the High Priest 14:62: Jesus said, "I am; and 'you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power,' and 'coming with the clouds of heaven.'" – this one is both hearing and seeing?

Mark has no sight of the Risen Christ – except for this. Even mentions the resurrection.

Center of Mark’s Gospel. Maybe a disconnect? Jesus talking vertically / conversations with Moses and Elijah – Jesus talking to the doofuses with him / talking horizontally with the disciples. The Sublime to the Ridiculous.

An Exodus – the cloud, the appearance of God, the voice of God – not from Egpyt from from Death? Not via the wilderness but the Via Dolarosa.

Law given on a Mountain -- Transfigured on a Mountain – crucified on a Mountain.
Between Hur and Joshua -- Between two heroes/historical figures of great regard – between two disreputable thieves
Face Shines so that he has to veil himself -- Garments made as white as snow – garments stripped from his body and gambled over
Nation of Israel witnesses --Three witnesses to his glory – Mary and Mary and Salome watch from a distance
Voice from the Burning Bush -- Voice from the cloud – voice of the centurion
Predates Elijah -- Elijah was there – Is he calling to Elijah?

Peter didn’t want to come down off the mountain – but Jesus was all about coming down off the Mountain.

How do we domesticate God? Where do we try to put god in a box?

It changed Jesus – It changed the disciples – it changes us. Gave Jesus the strength to do what had to be done. It gave the disciples an image of the Glory – how does the transfiguration change us?

I love

Church Chick. Seriously. I do.

Very Sad News

It seems that Smauglybob has been slain. Two knights cruelly pierced his heart with a magic spear, as Smauglybob went to England to visit the Queen. Charges have not been pressed because her knights were trying to protect the Queen, not understanding that Smauglybob meant no harm. Smauglybob was a Draconus Liturgicous. He will be missed.

(I was told this bad news at dinner by Entropy. She's exploring now the churchyard of the local Presbyterian church. It seems they have a Draco Calvinious infestation. One might say it was predestined to happen.)

How to burn palms

I've been asked by someone how to burn the palms that we saved from last year -- that we made into crosses. I'll do it in the next couple of days and post the pictures.

Remember! Ash plus water equal Lye. Lye will burn skin. Do NOT mix your ashes with water, unless you WANT a chemical burn on your forehead. Use oil instead.

Continuing Thoughts

First, I want to thank Juniper68, Rev. Dr. Mom and Songbird for their comments. I've been where you are, I know what you are saying, I've said it myself.

In fact, I've been there VERY recently. I have recently felt body-slammed by two different groups, who each would have body slammed each other. Sometimes it's overt, sometimes it's subtle -- and usually hostile. I've had several experience at funerals that have been jaw-achingly awful. There is something about the stress that occurs during the death of a loved one that can bring out the absolute worse in a person. I've had a parishioner whose son died tragically. He was a member of a different church, different denomination. At the funeral, I wasn't even allowed to pray with the family. And I became angry, rightly so. At another funeral, I was asked by a very distant relative of the deceased "And who do YOU think you are?" I answered "Called by God." And I became angrier.

I've been known in discussion groups as the "angry radical feminist" -- just because I like to overstate my points, calling men "mutants of the race." After all, all fetuses start out female -- it's only after the toxic wash of testosterone that they mutate into males. (I love this stance. Generates lots of discussion.)

After the anger wears off though, I end up with a deep, abiding sadness that goes down into my bones. I think it's the sadness you can feel in some of the prophets when they realize the futility of preaching an unpopular word to a unregenerate nation.

The only way I can say that this particular denomination is living in integrity is that they DO remain in conversation with the topic. After all, it took them almost 150 years to begin using a hymnal instead of just the Psalter. I talk to the minister of this church on a regular basis -- we grew up together. We look at the passages together -- we struggle to understand each other in love. We use several exegetical tools -- some the same, some different and usually end up in similar places. He's given me an understanding of his struggle -- I gave him Phyllis Tribble. Our conversations become passionate -- but not hostile. We laid out the ground rules a long time ago that we would not attack each other -- or become automatically defensive. He's not a Fred Phelps -- or a Jerry Falwell either. And my idealistic self would hope that there are more people like my friend out there than there are like Fred Phelps. (Actually, I think there are more out there that just don't give a flip b/c they've never even been IN a church.) This denomination is still moving, is still thinking. I like to think of this denomination as the Ents of the Protestant world. They move and change, it's just very slow.

My denomination has accepted women as clergy for 50 years (or they have at least on paper.) I find my friend's honest struggle with this issue to have more integrity than someone who will say "oh yes, we have women clergy" but will not have a woman as an associate much less work for a woman AS an associate.

And all I can do is to live my call in integrity -- doing what I am set apart to do. The witness of my ministry has actually done more to convince my friend of the validity of the ordination of women than any discussion. And just as some of my African American friends know, laws and polity can change overnight, but true change will take lifetimes.

More about the previous

Not only do I think that women pastor differently, and perhaps preach differently, I think we sometimes are more sensitive to the climates within our congregations. The climate in my Gwinnett county church is distinctly different than the climate in the DeKalb county church I grew up in. Not only was the denomination more conservative, the society was more conservative. I grew up in an area that had been stable for a long time with pretty conservative people, theologically and politically.

I now bop back and forth between the liberal atmosphere of Emory to Conservative Gwinnett County. (Hmm... is there any other Gwinnett County?) The atmospheres are so distinctly different. Inside the perimeter, at the smaller, more established churches, women seem to be accepted with little qualm. Here is Gwinnett, things are different. Just as we want our corporate structures to be led by males, we want our churches led by males. Church is not a place of refuge and sanctuary for an aging congregation here -- it's an exciting, growing happening. But at what cost.

I have watched the previews for The Second Chance. I want to see it in the next few days. I wonder if those tensions will be brought out in this movie. More later.

Musings about Churchstuff

The senior pastor and I were sitting in his office, discussing different guest speakers to come and speak at our Lenten Lunch series. He suggested a couple of names, I suggested a couple of names, I suggested a couple of the pastors of local churches and he said a curious thing. You see one of the churches is from my old denomination -- in fact, I was a member of this congregation for a while. He asked me, "Do you really want to invite a pastor to preach who would not let you in his pulpit?" This denomination still does not allow for the ordination of women. This denomination did not sing hymns in worship until 1964, when it was decided that hymns MIGHT not be of the devil. When I was a child, women were not allowed to collect the offering, serve as ushers or serve on the Board of Deacons or the Session. I belonged to this denomination for so very long -- switching over to PCUSA, then Baptist, then Episcopal then back to this denomination right before I was married. I find myself slipping into language that is different than what we use in the Methodist church -- I ask to be forgiven of my "debts as I forgive my debtors." I say that I believe in the "Holy Ghost," not the "Holy Spirit" in the Apostle's creed.

But back to the question. Upon reflection, I don't mind asking this pastor to speak. In fact, I'm glad they've stuck to their guns and against the popular tide of affection in this country, have decided NOT to ordain women. I'm glad that tension exists. Not that I think that they are correct for me, personally, but their decision gives them an integrity. They believe what they believe and they are not afraid to stick by it. And this is admirable.

I went into this church this fall -- just a few months ago during one of their Saturday events. I bought some BBQ and wandered around. They were able to salvage a good many of the furnishings and architectural elements from their previous sanctuary and were able to give their new building the essence of the old. It's a peaceful place. I sat in one of the back pews and I realized a feeling that was so very strong. I know I will never be able to speak from that pulpit. I will never be able to claim my authority in that church. And sitting in that back row, I think I knew something of the plight of so many of my brothers and sisters -- that because of who I am, I will never be one of those in power in this denomination. That because of my gender, I will always be an oppressed voice in that church. And the understanding of that oppression is a gift. Something my current church wouldn't be able to give me, well, overtly.

Now, the role of women clergy in my conference is not as my idealistic self would have it. Most women in my conference will never be a senior pastor of a "significant" church (whatever THAT may be.) Women clergy will be seen as "useful" for small membership churches or associate pastors. There are significant numbers in my denomination who will never accept women clergy -- although the polity says they will. And I am not glad with this. To speak the words with the mouth, but not to feel them in the heart -- this is NOT living in integrity.

And there are still those who believe that a really bad male pastor is infinitely better than an excellent female one. And those who believe that I am Satan because I call myself clergy. And I can accept their more conservative theology -- but not the hostility. I'm sure that this posting will bring out the trolls again. I don't see what their hostility will do other than anger people. It certainly is not persuasive.

Women do indeed pastor differently than men. Some of the difference is because society demands that women act differently from men. A behavior in a man that would be called "assertive" and "bold" in a man might be called "pushy" in a woman. Typically women focus more on relationships and nurture. As I struggle with my pastoral identity, I've realized that maybe women SHOULD pastor differently. Women should also maybe even preach differently.

I'm ramble on more later.

Yesterday

I had a horrible revelation in class.

I like to observe my classmates and their behavior and sometimes label them -- like "feminist" and "social activist."
Some others are "angry man," "angry woman," "passive," "inattentive" and so on.

There is one type that is in every single class I've had at Candler -- the "smarty-pants Candler student." Yesterday I was thinking "how nice, there is no smarty-pants in this class!"

I then realized that I had participated in the discussions several times* -- and each time everyone in the class would turn and look at me with "that look" and it hit me.

I AM the smarty-pants Candler student in that class! Oh no!!

*of course, at the end of one of my comments a fellow student turned to me and said "Do YOU understand what you just said?" Whoops.

Update:
Ok, you wanted to know the statment, so here it is (or a facsimile thereof)
"So, Dr. Hacket, what you are saying is that Ambrose here is concerned with the priesthood of the celebrant because he is a flesh and blood incarnation of the spoken word, the verba at the time the words cross his lips? That somehow he BECOMES the verba? That not only is the Body apparent on earth in the elements themselves and in the gathering of the congregation, but somehow the pre-existant, eternal, ever-exisiting Word, the Logos of Hellenistic thought, the Word in John is incarnate in both the spoken words and the priest himself at the same time? And by doing such, he is participating in the priesthood of Jesus, like what's found in Hebrews and the priest is participating in the Word and by such becomes a co-creator with God -- like what's found in Romans 8?"

Yeah, I'm a geek. And a smarty-pants.

why i am so glad

to be a mommy.

I wake up at 2:00 am with Entropy poking at me, "Mommy! Mommy!"
"What?"
"Here -- my teacher wanted you to have these papers."

!?!?

AND

If everyone were jumping off a bridge...

Here is the link to my Johari Window. Please visit! Thanks!

Here's the results.

And the Nohari.

A Transcript

Of a deep theological conversation on Real Live Preacher's site. Enjoy.

[church nerd] 9:01 pm: it would be easy to make a big loop and visit everyone on my frappr map
[reverend mommy] 9:02 pm: I think you should do it in a canoe.
[church nerd] 9:02 pm: i like canoes
[reverend mommy] 9:02 pm: while wearing blue.
[reverend mommy] 9:03 pm: and playing the kazoo.
[tglaser] 9:03 pm: i live on the ohio-erie canal, nerd, and i think rick lives near it too...
[church nerd] 9:03 pm: i play a mean kazoo
[reverend mommy] 9:04 pm: but no tutu.
[church nerd] 9:04 pm: no tutu??!!?? then the trip is off
[reverend mommy] 9:04 pm: fine. In a tutu.
[reverend mommy] 9:04 pm: hold pots of glue.
[reverend mommy] 9:05 pm: looking for a clue
[reverend mommy] 9:05 pm: warding off the flu
[enz] 9:05 pm: ah-choo
[church nerd] 9:05 pm: with a new hairdo?
[reverend mommy] 9:05 pm: impersonating a Jew
[HotAnorak] 9:05 pm: Hope you don't catch the flu
[church nerd] 9:05 pm: watching Dr Who?
[reverend mommy] 9:06 pm: Dr. Who!
[tglaser] 9:06 pm: a televangelist hairdo
[reverend mommy] 9:06 pm: Boop Boop de doo.
[church nerd] 9:06 pm: doing kung fu
[reverend mommy] 9:06 pm: while hunting a gnu
[church nerd] 9:07 pm: smelling like poo??
[reverend mommy] 9:07 pm: and not stepping in poo
[church nerd] 9:07 pm: in the pouch of a kangaroo
[tglaser] 9:07 pm: eating tofu?
[reverend mommy] 9:07 pm: in the zoo
[church nerd] 9:07 pm: with Lucy Liu
[reverend mommy] 9:07 pm: Woo Hoo!
[reverend mommy] 9:08 pm: A Chinese lass to woo!
[church nerd] 9:08 pm: wearing all blue
[reverend mommy] 9:08 pm: in a tutu
[reverend mommy] 9:08 pm: floating in a canoe.
[tglaser] 9:09 pm: picked up a one legged buckaroo
[church nerd] 9:09 pm: with fun coming out the wazoo
[enz] 9:09 pm: are we through?
[church nerd] 9:09 pm: that's up to you
[tglaser] 9:10 pm: ended up at mizzou at quarter to two (AM)
[church nerd] 9:10 pm: i like the one legged buckaroo. tg gets 50 points
[tglaser] 9:11 pm: oh, yeah, the buckaroo left his shitzu in his Subaru....what to do?

This requires no Commentary.

Best Church Commercial. Ever.

I don't know to be outraged -- or amused. Or both. Two reactions: "That's AWFUL" and "I wonder if we can do that...."

I am blessed

There are times that I realize I am extraordinarily blessed. I am blessed with a very supportive spouse who I love beyond words. I have healthy well behaved (well, in public well behaved) children who are beautiful and unique personalities and very attractive, as well (if I do say so myself.)

We have a nice home, not extremely well picked up all the time, but warm, comfortable and inviting. I get to go to school (yeah!) I have a wonderful position at the church. It's exciting, rewarding, fulfilling, invigorating. I enjoy the people in my congregation so very much. There are some that I have come to dearly love. I love my senior pastor -- I love the way he and I bounce ideas off each other and somehow become more than the sum. I've learned so much from this church and from him.

And there are no buts today. I'm just feeling effusive. And grateful to God.

More musings about churches

I think Songbird is onto something when she says we are different than the 1st century. And we are different across denominational lines. I have Baptist collegues who don't feel they are sucessful unless they have "saved" a certain number of souls per year. (hmmm, doesn't God "save souls?")

In my denomination, we hear "moving onto perfection," "discipleship," and "spiritual transformation." A little harder to quantify.

I'm in an unique position -- I'm part of a fairly moderate church body that's growing so very fast that keeping up with all the congregants is a challenge. My job isto guide them on the right track for certain things and to facilitate their spiritual growth in others. To help plan relevant and spiritually transforming worship. It's exciting.

People here yearn for the Word, for relevance, for spiritual growth. We have had maybe 3 or 4 spontanous baptisms already this year when people at the end of the service (almost always someone who we've been counseling to begin with) just walk up and say "I'm ready!" This is really pretty unusual in a Methodist church.

Then I go to some of the churches of my peers here in North Georgia (mostly student pastors and people in their first appointment) and they seems so discouraged. Not that they should expect the same sort of response we get, but I was talking to a friend yesterday and he got the comment from a congregant "just preach on Sunday -- and do my funeral." His congregation is not into spiritual formation and transformation. It's almost a spiritual hospice. Which is a legitimate need but -- we are not prepared at Seminary for this.

We closed 7 chuches last year in North Georgia -- maybe one percent. And we started a few as well. There seems to be a life cycle for a congregation -- birth, adolescence, maturity and death. We are trained for the middle two -- and the first and last are usually not even discussed.

Not only do I not know how to close a church -- I don't know how to plant one either.

My job is/will be/has been to help people down the path of discipleship, spiritual growth, spiritual transformation. That is the charge I accepted as a minister. How can that be measured? To what plumbline do we hold ourselves? It's not my place to judge a person -- that's beyond my payscale (or anyone else's for that matter). We need to know how true we are being to our charge to baptize and make disciples. How then can we measure effectiveness? Of a church or a pastor? I know you cannot look for external validation in the ministry -- you validation must come from within. But is validation the same as measuring effectiveness?

Brilliant Idea!!

Let's use Dropshots to sermon blog!!

Yeah!!

(Gavin? you there Gavin? Jonathon? John? Anybody?? Hello-o-o-o-o)

I've been reading

a lot about churches/pastors and what not for your basic 10 page paper.

There is a fascinating article from Pulpit and Pew.

In my report on clergy supply and demand,I pointed
to evidence of two trends that have direct implications
for clergy careers.First,a growing number of small
churches cannot afford to hire a full time pastor.
Second,there appears to be a declining number of
larger churches.While the data on available clergy
positions leaves much to be desired,the distribution
of jobs that it suggests has a direct impact on the
opportunities for clergy mobility in these
denominations.When job opportunities narrow
sharply at the top,and when this is combined with a
growing number of small churches unable to afford a
full-time pastor,the chances of gaining a good
pastoral position right out of seminary or advancing
throughout one’s career begins to decline.
If the number of senior pastor positions is shrinking,
this suggests that the majority of clergy will spend
most of their working lives in mid-career positions,
that is,as assistant or associate pastors or as pastors
of small and medium sized churches.This means that
newly ordained seminarians will have fewer chances
to be hired into these positions,since they will be
competing with clergy who already have a number of
years of experience.

.. .Clergy ordained between 1970-1980
had a far better chance of getting a parish job within
the first two years after seminary graduation.In this
cohort 85 percent of the men and 70 percent of the
women could expect a parish placement within the
first two years (and the majority received jobs within
the first six months),but for those ordained after
1980,only 60-70 percent received parish jobs within
the first two years (again,the majority received their
jobs within the first six months).This suggests that in
this cohort between 30 and 40 percent of new M.Div.
graduates either get jobs in non-parish positions,in
secular work,or drop out.

Next to consider is if pastors are effective or not. There is a body of research done from by Hartford Seminary (Faith Communities Today, among others) and Concordia that large segment of the ministers in the UMC are considered "not effective" -- unlike those in denominations that operate on a call system. I can't find the reference right now, but it was around 22%. (I can't find that reference and it bothers me.)(if you know the reference PLEASE let me know.)

My question is: if Ms. Chang in the Pulpit and Pew report is correct, then why even attempt to go into the parish? If there are declining numbers of large churches and declining numbers of small churches that can afford a minister, AND ineffectual ministers that cannot be disposed of easily, why even try?

Perhaps the problems are not related -- perhaps the ineffectual ministers are not CAUSING the small churches to not afford apportionment. Perhaps these smaller churches are the canaries in the mine shaft -- indicative of the death of denominationalism in America. Of course, having ineffectual ministers in these churches does not help.

I'm thinking primarily of the churches my peers are pastoring too. I could name a half dozen in North Georgia off the top of my head. All with a chapel mentality, all with a VERY aging population (average age over 60 -- maybe closer to 80). How can these churches ever be effectual themselves? How COULD a minister succeed in these churches?

Maybe the answer is to cut deadwood -- not just in the pastorate, but eliminate killer churches that destroy good pastors.

I know that sounds cold hearted, but we either need to train pastors differently -- at least those who are going into dead and dying churches or those with toxic environments, or find a Godly way to admonish these churches.

My musings for this morning.

Hmmm.....

The mom in me is going hmmmm....

Chaos not only shaved her legs after lunch today, she took a bath in scented bath oil, brushed her hair for a very long time, took forever to select her clothing, put on her lip gloss, took it off, put it on again and is saying things like "but mommy, I HAVE to go to youth."

Color me suspicious. What do YOU think is going on?

I've been thinking

a lot about being clergy. I took on more/new responsibilities at church and am thinking about balance. It remains a part time job, since I have school and the children as well. I think alot about effectiveness as a pastor, about where my batteries are charged, how to "be" first and then be a minister second. So I want to posit some questions. Please answer them either here or on your own blog, and point more clergy my way so that I can gather responses. If you do not wish to make the answers public, please email me at candlemb@bellsouth.net. Thanks.

: 1. Is being a pastor detrimental or helpful to your faith?
: 2. Is being a pastor harder or easier than you imagined from your seminary days?
: 3. Have you developed a passion/focus to your pastoral ministry?
: 4. All this talk about clergy burnout-- is it any different than any other job?
: 5. How does the congregation show its support? What are the hidden perks to being a pastor?
: 6. How do you keep your children safe in their faith and church life?
: 7. Do you admonish parishioners? If so, how?
: 8. Do you pray for your flock? How?
: 9. Is it enough to be approachable? How do you approach them?
: 10. Do you change lives?
: 11. Do you aim for greatness? What is your aim in ministry?
: 12. How do you keep the enmeshment of church/ministry/family from being overwhelming?
: 13. Would you say you have deep relations with church members? Tips on barriers or boundaries?
: 14. What is the difference between a mediocre and a good and an excellent pastor?
: 15. What is a must read author/website?
: 16. Is there a difference in the way that men and women pastor? How would you describe the difference?

Note: I reworded this posting after reflection. My church work invigorates me and is extremely rewarding. In fact, I feel that the work I do for church is much more educational in ways than my studies at school. I willingly took on these additional responsibilities -- and received a raise and a new office. With beautiful new furniture that my loving husband help me assemble. However, I want to know about others -- I realize that I need to maintain balance. How do you do it?

transformative

the oil on my forehead

marks me with a life that is not

mine but life is that is transcendent in nature



powerful

and personal redolent

with perfume that is both healing

and funerary which recalls both the fragrance of life



and the

stench of death i

am become transformed immediately

yet the core remains the same the weight and



warmth

that is laid on me

is/is not a burden and to me

transformative in nature yet transitory is its passage



as perfume

oft is dissipating

on the wind or perhaps the

fickle breath that comes and goes and we



know not

transformative and

maybe it will mark me with a moment

of forever and that will be all that is necessary



for me

to be healed

transformed by that which is other

and yet that which is always with/within/above/beside/beyond



transmogrified

i become that aroma

that smacks of radical yet it seeks

to be before dispelled upon that breath is it forgotten



the next

day the spice follows

me marking me for eternity or perhaps

just a transcendent rememberance of what it is to be healed


Written a while back. We had a healing service tonight -- after the chili cookoff. It's always a moving service. I enjoy the silence, the candles, the intentionality of it. It was beautiful. It's just a awful, awesome responsibility to do the laying on of hands. It's a time when I really feel a conduit -- when I wish self could melt away.

I wonder how much we conflate healer (little h) with the Healer (big H). And how we confuse healing with just a physical state of being.

This Week's Video

Is found here.

This one was difficult. To make and then to watch. Feedback welcome.

More about the previous

Interestingly enough, the comments on the previous are a sort of way of illustrating my point.

I will first say that, as the cookie crumbles, I sway toward inclusivity rather than exclusivity. It is a Wesleyan principle that membership in a local church congregation is a means of grace -- which means something very particular in Wesley-speak. (Metho-speak?) The means of grace are many: some are sacramental, some are not -- all are ways for God to act. There is previenent grace, justifying grace and sanctifying grace. Church membership could be any of those three. For me to begin to think of denying membership is something that I struggle with.

With that said, Methodists do not have a fully developed theology or doctrine of church membership. As I stated, to determine if a person is a member of the Body of Christ (the Church Universal) is way beyond my pay scale (as my government friend would say). It is not my decision to make.

Determining who becomes a member of the local church congregation is a matter for a Methodist pastor. In other denominations, their polity might require a vote of the governing body or the entire membership of the church. In a Methodist church, it is done by the pastor.

Personally I have never seen a person turned down, but I have not be a lifelong Methodist.

But in conversations with some of my pastor friends, I have heard discussed incidents where one might want to turn down a request for membership.

First, an incident in an inner city church where many of the kids were exposed to drugs everyday in almost all venues of their lives. Many had tried drugs -- many did not have a safe place that was not drug free. A man began to attend the church. Shortly after he began to attend, the pastor learned that he was the owner of one of the local crack houses. The man requested membership. He was willing to take the pledge to support the church with his prayers, presence, gifts and service. In conversation with the man's live in girl friend, she revealed that the man was insincere. He wanted membership into the church as a stamp of legitimacy and to expand his business. Confronted, the man admitted as much. The pastor turned the man down. (This was not a Methodist church and circumstances have been tweeked to preserve anonymity.)

Is this what Jesus would do? Theologically, membership in the local church could have been previenent grace. But the pastor felt that the threat to his flock was significant. The man appeared repentant on the service. If the authority of the pastor to decline membership in a local congregation is removed, how could incidents like this be handled?

As much as the incident early this year disturbed me, I think I'm more disturbed now. My vivid imagination can find other situations where the health of the flock could be harmed by the inclusion of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

This is a situation that I feel must be discussed in Methodist circles before we hastily change polity that has existed for quite some time -- two centuries. And a theology of membership needs to be developed.

The Judicial Council Rulings

The Judicial Council rulings this year have had me reflecting. I wonder if we are missing the issue. If you were to read in the papers about the Karen Damman ruling and the rulings this year about Beth Stroud and the pastor who refused membership to a homosexual choir member, you would believe the issue is all about homosexuality. And, of course, it is. But if we begin to reflect seriously about the events, I begin to wonder if the issue is more about our very badly formed understanding of church membership.

What is the Methodist theology of church membership? Do we even have one? Where do we start to discuss it? I of course start with the Bible. I understand the chuch to be the Body of Christ here on earth. This has Biblical backing. I understand each of us to be a part of the body. Some of us are hands, some are feet -- some of us have to be earlobes. Can the earlobe tell the hand that "no, you aren't a member of the body?"

I know this is really more about the Church Universal than it is about the local church body.

The more I think about it -- the more perplexed I become.

I also know the passages about rebuking those that continue in sin. I know that we don't do this as much or often as perhaps we might because membership in a local church body can be a means of grace. So within our midst we find drug dealers, prostitutes, forgerers and worse. (Maybe even the people Jesus would hang out with.) We are letting our feelings/emotions/opinions about homosexuality cloud the issue.

Another issue that I struggle with is the authority of the pastor. There is a part of me that really does not want the authority of the pastor to be diluted. The pastor should have the authority to say to a perspective member "no, as long as you are running that crack-house, I wonder if it is the best thing in the world for you to join this local congregation." Or "no, if you are not willing to pledge your prayers, presence, gifts and service, I don't think it's time for you to join us as a member." Or "no, you are continuing in sin -- you are still doing XXX which would be very destructive to XXX members of this local congregation. When you have stopped doing XXX, let's talk." I know this is not a particularly popular view right now. But if eating meat causes your brothers to lapse into sin ... (that again is a Biblical reference, btw.)

When we deny membership in the local church, we are NOT denying them membership in the Body of Christ universal. I don't think that any of us have the authority to do that.

Therefore, what I feel the United Methodist church needs is not more debates about homosexuality. That is not a clear-cut issue. There are no *clear* passages in the Bible (like "do not allow a homosexual into your midst, for yea verily, they are going to hell.") All the passages that are used are open to different interpretations. (In fact, I have never heard what I think is the strongest argument against homosexuality -- and I've never posted it or even written it up because I get tired of the Bible used as a weapon. And because the exegetical tools to build the arguement are usually considered "liberal" by those who gay-bash.) There are clearer passages about church membership. I think that we need a study done -- much like "By Water and the Spirit" and "This Holy Mystery" to explore what exactly a Methodist means by local church membership.

Time to think

For more than a month now, I haven't had time to think. I don't know if it is a normal or usual thing -- but most mornings (weekday mornings) I will get the girls ready for school, Daddy drives them to school, I shower and sit down with a cup of coffee in a warm sunny spot and think. Literally. I'll spend some time sketching out things I've thought about the previous day, the things I've thought about that morning. And then I'll take some time to just sit, meditate, read a couple of verses (Lectio Divina style) and pray. And then I'll think some more.

For 18 months we have been building a new building. I thought the stress would ease up over Christmas (Now, Christmas, that was an entirely different level of stress.) We moved into the building. Our minister of media had to resign over some issues in his life not under his control. I took over some of the media responsibilities. I started moving into a new office. I've done a lot of video and MediaShout. I've not been chatting with friends. I've been building furniture with the husband. I've done a lot.

But what I've missed the most is my time to think. And that time is probably some of the most important time I spend all day. So.... I resolve to spend some time thinking.

Note: OK, I've heard that today is the most blue day of the year -- most people have already broken their New Year's resolutions -- well, I'm so behind, I haven't made any. But now I have.

Crossposted from the RevGalBlogPals site b/c I'm lazy:

I have a blogger meet-up today with one of our number -- Gavin -- for lunch. Fun, fun, fun!

Then today is first day of classes at Candler. Only one class, but it's a 3 hour one. And parking on the first day of classes at Emory is SO, uhm, FUN! I'll have to watch out for the traffic monsters..... Pray that one doesn't grab me!

UPDATE:
Gavin and Jonathon made it to Grayson.... but not in time for lunch. At first, the receptionist thought they were homeless guys.... (Actually, it seems that Jonathon's intuitive driving took them about 2 hours out of the way... but they had a good time being lost.)

While I wait for Gavo and Jonathon, I sit at the receptionist desk because my "some assembly required" office furniture that was delivered yesterday came in some VERY flat boxes. I assumed if "some" assembly was required, that some assembly was done. If this is "some" assembly, then a "unassembled" desk would come as an un-sawn log.

In the meantime, I get a call "Mama...I feel sick." I rush to the middle school to pick up Chaos. By this time, it's getting really late to leave for class. I get her to the office. She gets sick in the ladies room. No janitor. I call the husband. No answer. I interview Gavin and Jonathon for the Sunday project. I clean up the ucky. I get her home. I get a call from the husband, just in time to *not* make it to class. By the time he would get home to care for the girly and I drive to class, I could get there just in time to be dismissed. Sooooo..... instead, I call the Library committe chairperson and tell her to please send me the minutes, as I will not be there. I call my cancer support co-leader and tell here I will not be there. I fix myself and nice big salad and leave it untouched. I eat chocolate.

BIG UPDATE:
Video of Jonathon and Gavin!! yes indeed.

Another quiz

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Rev mommy!

1. The water in oceans is four times less salty than the water in reverend mommy.
   


2. Banging your head against reverend mommy uses 150 calories an hour.


3. Reverend mommy is incapable of sleep. (Ain't that the truth!)


4. Without its lining of reverend mommy, your stomach would digest itself!


5. The porpoise is second to reverend mommy as the most intelligent animal on the planet!


6. Reverend mommy is worth her weight in gold - literally.


7. The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of reverend mommy is blue.


8. Reverend mommy has little need for water and is capable of going for months without drinking at all.


9. There are roughly 10,000 man-made objects the size of reverend mommy orbiting the Earth.


10. If you put a drop of liquor on reverend mommy, she will go mad and sting herself to death!

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

On MLK's birthday

Here is Bishop White's yearly letter to Martin Luther King. I admire Bishop White enormously. He is unfailingly polite to everyone at Candler -- everyone from visiting bishops and ex-presidents down to the janitorial staff get respect and a warm greeting. He greets you as if you were a valuable human being, meeting your eyes when he talks. And in his eyes is the light of Christ. A beautiful man.

Sunday afternoon

And I am tired. A good tired. We are now doing 4 worship services and two Sunday School hours. I celebrated communion for the first time in the new chapel. I realized that it was a red letter day -- for the first time in the history of Grayson (that I know of), the celebrant/preacher was female, was assisted by a female, the musicians were female and the acolytes were female. All the major participants were women. Wow.

I did a full sung liturgy. You can hear a snippet here. It is really refreshing to do the Great Thanksgiving so very intentionally. There were no announcements, no offering, a short homily, a warm atmosphere.

I checked in on the Sunday Schools -- then I did the media in the 939, assisted in the 11:00, praise and worship practice at 12:30 and now I'm tired.

No big theological revelations. No quiet reflections. Just a good Sunday.

Just a minute

to post something.

So here it is. Something.

I haven't downloaded all my pictures yet. I'm no longer in a hurry. I'm learning MediaShout and am going to teach it on January 21st. (Is that REALLY next week??) We have a brand spanking new computer lab, so that I can REALLY teach it, the way I used to teach computer classes. I may plan to teach a couple of others -- maybe basic word processing, HTML stuff, PhotoShop. I'll stay away from (bleh) Excel and Access -- an anything having to do with numbers/finance. Yuck.

I'm collecting media/song lyrics/video to use. This is going to be so much fun! I love this sort of stuff. The video that I built for the grand opening went over well, even though I wasn't 100 percent happy. Of course, I'm NEVER 100 percent happy -- they would never be "finished" if it were up to me.

I must say that as much as I love traditional liturgy, I love contemporary worship as well. And I think that contemporary can BE good liturgy.

I also am going to preach in the new service in the Chapel on Sunday. I'm selecting a full sung communion liturgy. What fun! I'll do the full high church thing and then go directly to the contemporary service. Hope it doesn't lead to too much culture shock!

It all worked

Everything went as planned. There were a few snafus -- the spotlight and the camera didn't stay together too well at times. We skipped a part of the liturgy -- and then had problems getting the correct text on the screen once. But we swapped computers/live feed/DVD etc. according to script. It was hot in my robe and stole. The wicks on the candlelighters got totally melted before the procession.

Oh, and the bulletin I did said "2005" instead of "2006" -- all three people and myself who proofed it missed it. I didn't even notice until after the service. Sigh.

And now I'm tired -- tired-er than I think I've been in a long while. After services today, I plan to sit and stare at a wall for several hours. After opening a bottle of Merlot.

I'll post pictures -- tomorrow.

Dancing as fast as I can

I'm busy. REALLY busy. Like a one-armed paper-hanger in a windstorm. With a bucket over her head kind of busy. Just had to say that.

And here's a URL to aerials of the new building. Isn't it beautiful?

We are having a "Gumball" (consecration service) on Saturday at 5:00 to 8:0 or so. It's going to be wonderful!

OK

I'm taking a break. I'll blog about it later. Lots to do. Little time to do it in. We're in the new building -- LOTS of work. Grand Opening on Saturday (actually consecration of the building, dinner and a concert, fun!) and I'm doing the media. LOTS of work, but fun.