An Eventful Thursday

Yesterday was eventful.

This semester, as per usual, I've had two classes. Now I've mentioned them both before, but for a quick refresher, I'm taking Reading the Audiences and Hebrew. At the moment, there's nothing to report for Hebrew. It's business as usual. However, RTA is a bit of an odd ball in that it started on campus in January, and then finished online. The online portion runs through week 6 of the semester, which incidentally ends today.

Are you picking up what I'm putting down?

This week, our assignment was to post up a draft of our final paper (3 total for the class) by Tuesday night, comment on one group member's paper by Thursday and then post the final draft by next Monday. I posted my final draft yesterday morning. It was done, I figured there was no point in delaying it...so I posted it.

RTA is done!!!!!

This leaves me with only a single class for the rest of the semester. Which makes me happy...and will ensure that I get a little more sleep in the upcoming weeks than I've been getting lately. Also good.

Yesterday was the first really nice day we've had so far this spring. The temperature got somewhere between 50 and 60 and the sun was out most of the day. I got home from work and the family wanted to go for a walk. So we busted out the stroller for the small one and the wagon for the tall one and we headed out. We walked a fair piece to, probably 2 or 3 miles all told. It was gorgeous, but unfortunately we all knew it was going to be short lived as a cold front was rapidly approaching.

The final eventful thing was a night of total slacking. I did zero homework last night...and I'm really proud of it. Sadly, there was no good tv as everything is superseded by the NCAA basketball tournament. Actually, now that I mention that, I'm reminded of one more thing. I'm in a yahoo bracket pool with a batch of my friends. Most of them are sports buffs. I'm not. However, after the first day of games, I'm in second place (out of 8) trailing only one guy by a single point. The really funny part of the whole deal...if there is any guy in the world that knows even less about sports than me, it's this guy.

I really hope the rest of the guys are cringing about getting beat by the two novices. Of course, there's a lot of tournament left. A lot can happen in terms of points, but I'll take my voctories where I can get them.

secret society part 2

on my 24th birthday

A year ago things were different.
... perhaps in both big and small ways.

Over the past year I made some transitions and even more are to come. I'll be sharing some of those with friends in the coming week, but for now thanks to all of you, friends and family, who've been a part of this year.

peace,

tim

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Seriously? Internet Yellow Pages

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secret society part 1

Go Public Like A Prophet

Listen to @LuthWorldRelief Rev. John Nunes call on us to "go public like a prophet" at #luthersem

  
Download now or listen on posterous

Memo.m4a (3089 KB)

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The Game Feed

This may appear slightly outdated, but its been a busy few days.

Last Friday was the peak of the Men's Ministry at my church. Every year, we put on an event called the Men's Wild Game Feed. This was our 10th Annual feed, which is crazy. I can't believe it's been 10 years that it's been going on.

Admittedly, I haven't personally been involved with it that long, but pretty close. I was not at the first event, which occurred in the Fellowship Hall of our old church building. About 25 guys showed up and at that time, each guy cooked his own game and brought it. Really more of a pot-luck type situation.

However, we had a chef from a local resort in attendance that night, and he stood up and said "Okay guys, next year bring your game out to the restaurant a couple days ahead of time, and we'll cook it up there."

So starting with the 2nd Annual feed, we had a new location. This was the first time I attended. We actually lived about half a mile away from the restaurant at the time and our patio doors faced the street. I knew the event was going on but had it in my head that it started later. So after watching about 50 cars go driving by I thought maybe I should head that way. I was the last in line...figures. But that would be the start of a trend.

Starting with the 3rd annual event, I was on the planning committee. To be honest, I don't know how that happened, but okay. My part of the event was pretty simple. Together with another guy, we manned the money table the night of the event. Other than that, we pretty much showed up at occasional meetings for it.

The event remained at the restuarant for the next couple of years, but once our new church was completed, along with a huge fellowship hall, we moved the event to the new facility. The first one that happened there was teh 7th Annual event.

Okay, background is done now.

Friday afternoon I jetted out of work early and headed to the church. In addition to sitting at the money table (which ironically I didn't do this time) I've also inherited the role of leading the dining room setup and cleanup. Really it's pretty simple, but I enjoy it.

I got there about 1 and the first thing I did was map out the layout of all the areas that we would be moving around. That took me a little bit, and then we (me and a few other guys that were there to help) started moving tables, setting up chairs, setting up a stage, etc etc. It took us a couple hours and I tell you what, its a fun time.

The odd thing about this year was that I needed to leave while all the guests were arriving. I have a weekly conference call for Hebrew class Friday's at 5:30, so I headed home after the setup was completed. Once the call was done, I took my son and we headed back out to the church for supper. This was his first time going and he was pretty pumped for it. We got there about 6:45 and I figured by that time the line would be pretty minimal. I was wrong.

The line was clear down the hallway into the Narthex. So we had some waiting time. Considering that we were the tail end of the line, I took advantage and put the Narthex back in order. Once less thing for "cleanup time" after supper was done.

Finally after awhile, we made it to the food. The food. Let me tell you. It was amazing. Venison, elk, goose, duck, pheasant, fish. You name it, we had it. A good friend of mine (also a former chef, though different from the original guy) is in charge of the cooking now and it is spectacular.

The event was very successful. We had 240 people there plus all the kitchen help, so the fellowship hall was full.

The program went well. We had a great speaker and as a whole things went great. Cleanup went quickly too and I was home by 9:30. All in all, a great night.

Paul Soupiset SketchNotes! (good for your imaginations)

via soupiset.posterous.com

My good friend Paul Soupiset has been hitting up the SXSW festival in my old stomping grounds of Austin, Texas. His illustrated "sketchnotes" are brilliant, fun and will get your imaginations flowing this morning. Jump on over to his posterous and see what I mean: http://soupiset.typepad.com/

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God discourages church attendence

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DST

Did you show up to church an hour late today? Seems like the pews were a little empty today. Maybe more than a few people forgot. If you still have no idea what I'm talking about...this late in the day...Daylight savings time people!! Change your clocks!

birthday community

My birthday is on Friday. 27. What happened to the 80's? 90s? 00s? Kevin put together the perfect gathering of friends on Wednesday night. Seminary friends who I respect, admire, and can be myself around. We gathered in the Roy Harrisville Dance Hall (2nd floor in Stub). It's still creepily decorated with Roy's photo. I have only had one negative interaction with him: he scolded Hannah and I for playing Christmas Carols on the piano in the OCC cafeteria. We were bringing beautiful Christmas tunes to the lunch room, and he yelled at us. Whatever.

Back to the birthday bliss. A group of friends, an ice cream cake, salsa, and a box of Honey Bunches of Oats with Cinnamon Bunches completed the evening of fun. So grateful for this final year to celebrate with friends. I realize it will never be like this again. Next year we'll all be scattered all over the globe. LOVE LOVE LOVE all of you!

heatherlyn (folk) rockin'

Tonight some friends and I hit up Minneapolis to see my friend Heatherlyn play at a benefit show for Haiti. The event was hosted by friends at the Fall Out Urban Art Center. About four years ago I was introduced to the Fallout by Aaron Strumpel and Tracy Howe who have long been friends and partners with their work. They do some amazing work especially with homeless youth and with creativity as a catalyst for impacting the neighborhood. Honestly some of the most loving people you'll ever meet are just hangin' out there, waiting for you to stop by.

There's still so much of these cities to see...

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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God's Voice

When planning my mom’s funeral, there was one hymn that we all agreed should be used, “I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry.” I first learned of the hymn when I was asked to choose a hymn for my son’s baptism 13 years ago. My mom had requested we use this song because it was one she really liked

Since then, “Borning Cry” has become one of my own favorite hymns. The lyrics are meaningful to me and I find them full of God’s love and promise to be there my entire life. I get a lump in my throat at the best of times when singing this song, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to get through the entire thing at my mom’s funeral. I thought I would at least get through some of it. Silly me. I didn’t. I got so choked up after the first few words that I couldn’t even see the hymnal through the tears. Instead, I just listened.

The building was packed for my mom’s funeral. She was only 60 when she died and had touched so many lives. My brother and I also had a lot of people there to support us, some who had never even met my mom. They sang for my mom when I couldn’t and they sang beautifully. There is something about a congregation singing a hymn that makes it more beautiful than any other large group singing together. There are always “choir people” in the group and they instinctively harmonize. Even non-believers stand up a little straighter and sing a little louder at a funeral. When I didn’t have the voice to sing for my mom, God provided a voice to sing for me.

Only a week later, God provided me the opportunity to be another’s voice. The husband of an older church friend died exactly a week after my mom. One of the hymns selected for his funeral was, of course, “Borning Cry.” It still hurt to sing this song and it probably always will, but I made sure to attend the funeral because I know how important it is to lift my voice in song when others cannot; to sing praises to God when others are too broken to do so themselves.

Random Happenings

A few things have happened in the past couple days that I want to talk about.

The first happened Wednesday night. We were all at church for our weekly Lenten service. During the initial period we were singing various songs, as is the custom. In an introduction to the final song, which was supposed to be The Old Rugged Cross, the music leader was going on and on about the author of the song. He elaborated on how the author came up with the notion of the lyrics. The whole time he was doing this, the words on the screen were for Amazing Grace. I think we were all wondering if he realized what was going on.

Finally, as he's wrapping up, he says "The Old Rugged Cross is a wonderful song and truly inspiring. It's one of those songs that simply speaks to you." Then he looked up at the screen. After a momentary blank stare during which he realized the error he said, "This one's good too."

It could be considered an epic fail...but as it turned out it was good for a laugh. Sometime in worship, you've got to roll with the punches. Been there, done that.

The next thing worth mentioning happened yesterday. My daughter is approaching school age. This fall she'll start Pre-K. Let me tell you how excited she is for it. She's been talking about it for a year now. Yesterday we had her initial visit to the class room. It only lasts for 20 minutes, and after having done the same thing for our son a couple years ago, we knew what to expect. But do you think that dampened her mood towards it?

Heck No!!!

My wife picked her up from day care yesterday and then they swung by the office to pick me up (which is very handy considering I'm about a block away from the school. I can literally walk 5 feet to my left and see the building right now. I got in the car and she was about bouncing right out of her seat.

"Daddy...I'm going to school...I'm going to school."

"Yes, but only for a few minutes today right?"

"Yes." And then she promptly stuck her thumb back in her mouth. We haven't cured her of that yet, but I'm not overly surprised. I did it for years as a kid. Imagine Linus from Peanuts...that was me. I asked her about it and she said, "I'll take it out at the school." Which she did. I guess appearances are half the battle aren't they?

The final thing that happened was a going away party for some friends last night. A family from our old small-group is relocating to Kansas and so the whole crew got together to show them support as they depart. It was a fun time and hopefully they felt good about it. It was enjoyable to pray over them as they go and makes me hope that one day that will happen for us as well. Eventually I will finish up school and will accept a call, and it's fairly unlikely that it will be here. So I'm guessing that a move is looming down the road for us as well.

But now I sit here, waiting for my next big thing, which will be this afternoon and tonight. Our Men's Wild Game Feed happens at church tonight and I'm on the planning committee. My role is in dining room setup, so I'm knocking off early today to do that. The only weird part of it this year (my 6th or 7th year of involvement) is that I have to leave for my Hebrew conference call right when the thing is starting. My call is at 5:30 and that's right about the time people start showing up for it. However, my cohort that also man's the door is aware of my absence and his son is going to take my spot. Then after my call is done, I'll head back out to the church. Taking my son along for the first time this year. Hopefully he enjoys it.

aa

Addictions. I am taking this class with Gary Wilkerson and learning a TON about drug and alcohol addiction. One of the requirements for class is to attend four AA or NA meetings. I got a chance to attend one last Tuesday. Earlier in the day, my mom asked me, "What do you have going on tonight?" I said, "I'm going to an AA meeting." She started laughing at me, not knowing I'm taking Addictions class. I don't drink, so I guess I understand her amusement. Showing up at the site made me a little nervous. What would I talk to these people about? Are they going to ask me how long I've been in recovery? Even being slightly dishonest kills me, so I found myself being the most extroverted I've ever been as I quickly found a seat and played busy. The meeting was the most high liturgy experience I've had in a while. Reading the same thing week after week, almost computer generated responses from people...maybe this wasn't the meeting for me.

I was most struck by hearing people introduce themselves as, "I'm _____, and I'm an alcoholic." They actually say that. As if they are identified by nothing more than their addiction. Some of these people have been in recovery for 20 years, and they still have to say they are an alcoholic. They never reach a milestone where they can stop saying that. They are always in recovery. I hated that. After 20 years, can't they just be Joe, or Molly? I was really surprised how even after the meeting, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I'll be praying for those people. I don't remember the names of any of them, but I carried them with me last week, and will likely do the same this week. By the time I let my sadness go for that group of people, I'll have to go to another meeting and will enter the cycle again. Proud of those in recovery. Praying for those who still struggle with their addiction.

chapel gone wild!

Incase you missed chapel yesterday or today, something crazy is happening. Crazy awesome. The furniture, the style, the formality, all changed. It's an awesome change. One that had people emotionally connected to worship, wiping tears, participating, and worshipping today in a new way. Here's a preview so you can see what I'm talking about. You can view the whole service in its experiential goodness online.

BlogTalkRadio w/ Andy Root now posted

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This afternoon I sat down with Andy Root and talked about his new book The Promise of Despair: The Way of the Cross as the Way of the Church. The book offers a serious push back on both those of us in this emerging church conversation and those who critique the movement out of claims that its too nihilistic. No, says Andy root, the emerging church doesn't (yet) go far enough! It should more fully embrace the nothingness, the void, the death until we can name God in that place. God is found in the Crucified Christ. So, check it out, post some feedback, send it to your mom (I am...) and all that.

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Lent

Lent,
We're almost half way through it already. How did that happen?

I've been finding myself comparing this season with the same season from a year ago. There are some measurable differences. A year ago, I was up to my eyeballs with school work, taking Systematics with Dr Sponheim and Pentateuch with Dr Schifferdecker. Both very heave work loads. In addition, I was preaching a lot at that time (if memory serves me I preached on 3 different occasions during Lent as well as catching Easter morning as my week at the country church. Work was nuts, and not in a good way as I recall.

In other words...I was the mayor of Stress City.

I've come to call this the "Lent Effect." One of my pastors pointed this idea out to me during this period last year. I still remember the conversation.

"How's it going Scott?"
"You want the church answer or the real answer?"
Extended conversation about the massive level of stuff I was stressing over...
"It's Lent right, and you're preaching Easter Sunday right Scott?"
"Yep"
"Do you think Satan likes that?"

LIGHT BULB MOMENT!!!

We went on to discuss this for a while. Here's my take on the "Lent Effect." Easter is the greatest day in the church year (in my opinion anyway) because that's the day that Jesus won and Satan lost. As I like to say...It's on like donkey kong. On Easter, we celebrate the victory over sin and we proclaim it. And that has to make Satan angry. So (again in my opinion) he is going to do everything in his power to keep us from getting to Easter.

I find it ironic that the season that I enjoy the most (Lent) is also one of the most stressful and difficult ones to endure. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment?

However, enough background. Back to this year. Admittedly, this year has been less stressful, though not entirely without issues. Schoolwise, we're in week 5 (again, how did that happen). We aren't quite half way through the semester yet. Getting close, but not quite there. Work is work, and that's all I'll say about it. I guess the kicker at the moment is that I'm getting my usual spring cold. Its starting to warm up and the 29 feet of snow that we got this winter is starting to melt away. How am I rewarded, with the sniffles...oh joy of joys.

But enough crabbing on my part.

Easter is coming...a few more weeks and we get to claim VICTORY!!!!

That's worth smiling about.

are you kidding me?

Have you ever had it happen when your parents did something super unexpected, maybe bought something strange, took a wild trip, or even wore something that made you question who they were? I had a "mom, what in the heck?" experience this weekend.

My mom decided to come up to the cities sort of last minute for some dress shopping (the mother of the bride hunt has begun!). She got here Saturday afternoon, and after settling in to my room, casually said, "I have to show you something I got for Valentine's Day." She pulls this little black case out of her purse and displays her new Amazon KINDLE! Oh my goodness. Perhaps the most technologically challenged person I know is sporting a Kindle! I about passed out. I definitely don't love reading as much as she does, so would much rather spend the money on a new piece of camera equipment or something, but I'll admit, there was some wild jealousy at this new toy. Amazing. She proudly told me the first book she purchased on there was The Bible for 99 cents. She said, "I figured since without God I wouldn't have this Kindle, I better buy The Bible first." Totally cracked me up! Wouldn't it be sweet if it was one of the FREE books on there? If anyone knows a rich donor who can make this happen, let me know. No one should have to pay 99 cents for a Kindle version of The Bible.

Andy Root on BlogTalkRadio w/ guest Tim Snyder (hey...that's me...weird).

Last week was a jammed packed schedule: Doug Pagitt guest in our Young Adult Ministry class, Kenda Creasy Dean on campus for the Aus Memorial Lectures, and then Mitri Raheb from Palestine all day on Thursday. I'll get around to reflections on those this upcoming week. But first a shameless plug:

Tuesday I'll be sitting in with Andy Root (Assistant Professor of Youth & Family Ministry at Luther Seminary and author, Relationships Unfiltered) on his LiveBlogRadio Show. It starts at 3:30p (CST) and its just a short 15 minutes of focused conversation around a chapter of his newest book The Promise of Depair: The Way of the Cross as The Way of the Church. If you've listened in before, you know how rich these conversations are, and if not you'll be pleasantly surprised (I hope...if I don't ruin it). The format of it is fascinating to me and has all kinds of wild potential...

Really though, "the promise of despair"? Sounds kind of dark...and it is. Look, I've read a lot of books about re-thinking church, about how what we need is a church that embraces the cultural realities of this millennium, of this generation. Those books are good and I actually agree with them (for the most part). But Andy's book wrestles with a God that would dare to meet us in the darkest place -- death. Death as in "gone forever/in the ground-and-not-coming-back-dead" but also death as in dying -- the loss of jobs, bills piling up, children in addictions, relationships broken and lost, dreams not met and loneliness suffered. What Andy and I will be talking about is nothing short of an invitation to imagine the church birthed out of that promise...the promise of meeting God in the deep sufferings of the world. The conversation is much deeper than organizational structures, engaging our new global, media culture, and re-framing old theological questions for a new day (as important as those may be), and it goes to what we know about the heart of God.

My guess is that it will be a challenging, honest, and raw conversation. That's my hope anyways. So please if its been a while since you've had one of those kind of conversations, listen in at 3:30pm. There's a number there...you can phone it and join the conversation. Of course it will be posted there afterward if you can't make it but still want to engage the conversation. --- Pax! TKS.

Andy Root on BlogTalkRadio:

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LiveBlog Radio w/ Andy Root.

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Spring Optimism

March feels like the beginning of the year to me. This spring brings me a fresh start. I have not been able to do much since the turn of the year. Circumstances, usually beyond my control, have forced me to take some sort of a break to rest, though more often than I would have liked. I guess the body, sometimes, gets to a point where it must rest, whether one wants or not. Even though I have generally taken good care of myself, I have gone nonstop for the past good number of years, without a proper break: from heavy duty missions work in Central Europe to doing an MA in England while working full time, and then connecting straight to the PhD at Luther.

But this one has not been an eventless break. I have managed to attend several conferences, one in session right now. We have helped plant a Vineyard church in Saint Paul. Tameika has clocked seven months now. And above all, my wife has taken her BAR exams in New York last week, after which we had to drive back from New York to Minnesota, as flights were cancelled due to a snowstorm in the Northeast. To our wonderment, we arrived to melting snow in Minnesota! (Foreign lawyers are allowed to take the BAR exams only in NY and CA).

The conference that I am attending this weekend is for the Society of Pentecostal Studies. Yes, there goes the P-word ... again. Having sat through several sessions at Luther in the past three months that had no kind word for Pentecostalism whatsoever, one of them a very good demonstration of ignorant arrogance, I began to wonder if at all, Pentecostalism has a place at the table of ecumenism. (If not, it means excluding over 25% percent of world Christians from the conversation!) This is my first SPS conference, and I have seen a part of American Christianity that I had no chance to see before, one whose existence I was remotely aware of. I am glad I decided to attend. There is always great wisdom in listening, even to those that others think don't deserve an ear.

God's Hands

Aside from family, the two gentlemen from the funeral home were the first people we saw after my mom died (they had been called by the hospice nurse which was the first call we made).

These two men—who came because their job was to remove a body from our home—came dressed in suits and beautiful, tailored, wool winter coats (it’s interesting the things you notice). They were somber and quiet. They didn’t rush in, pack up the body and leave because they had somewhere better to be. In fact, while they did indeed arrive in a hearse, they didn’t bring anything in the house with them to indicate why they were there. Instead, these kind men greeted the family, asked about my mom and shared their sincere condolences.

After making sure that we were indeed ready to have them take my mom, these men returned with a gurney and a body bag (which wasn’t black, by the way). My mom had been in a room attached to our living room, separated by French doors. Most of the family stood outside of the room and watched while these men worked.

For some reason, I watched their hands as they worked. Before moving my mom, they wrapped her in a clean, white sheet. Ever so carefully, they tucked one side of the sheet under my mom. While talking to my brother—who was in the room with them—they carefully slid the sheet between my mom and the blankets she had been under. Gently they rolled it under her, wrapped the blanket around her and moved her to the gurney. Not once were they rough with my mom’s body. They didn’t throw the blankets off—it would have made everything easier, but would have also exposed her—and they didn’t toss her onto the gurney. Instead, their hands were so gentle. They were God’s hands.

(By the way, thank you all so much for your kind words. This is such an amazing community to be a part of.)

Aus Lectures

Did you get a chance to get to the Aus Lectures on Tuesday or Wednesday? One word sums is up: AMAZING! I'm taking a class with Andy Root right now, he's relevant and real, so I'm not surprised his mentor/teacher Kenda Creasy Dean was equally awesome. Her sermon today in chapel was the first sermon (in a long time) I actually heard every word of. Not to mention, today was a Wednesday, which typically means choir, hymns. There's very little change on a Wednesday. Don't get me wrong, I love hymns, even sang in choir in high school and college, but there seems to be very little room for creative elements and alternative music on a Wednesday. Friday...maybe, but not at a communion service. Well, there was a GUITAR there today. Two solo songs sung by a guest worship leader (visiting for the conference--what a great way to make use of the gifts of a visitor) with a GUITAR! I about died when he walked up to sing. I thought I was dreaming. Not sure who made this happen, but feel free to let me know so I can come shake your hand with gratitude.

Back to Kenda. It was awesome to see someone who isn't stuck on the escalator helplessly shouting for help (to use her metaphor). She climbed her way off of that stationary beast a long time ago and is making strides toward answers, solutions, and relational dynamics that will shape how we interact with young people and their parents in the future. Did you miss all this goodness? Here's the link for yesterday, so you can take in her awesomeness for yourself! Close to 120 other youth workers came to be a part of this 3 day conference, and I tell you what, there was some awesome energy on campus today! So glad we have gatherings that bring alumni and new friends to our campus. It gets boring looking at the same people all year long! Thanks for coming!!!

Former Dean Lull

Last week our fall semester Exercises in Biblical Theology (EBT) class got a chance to meet up with our professors: Sarah Heinrich and Patricia Lull for a homemade supper of chili, breads, and cupcake/cake. It was a wonderful treat to be welcomed into Sarah's home, share a meal together, and most of all, to see Dean Lull. The announcement of her leaving came at a ridiculously sucky time in January when most students were either a. in another country on cross cultural, b. home visiting family, or c. traveling. I especially felt as though it was a bit unfair she left when she did, because I never got a proper chance to say goodbye to someone who had mentored and inspired me for close to 4 years. Let's just say this supper was just the "goodbye" from her life at Luther I needed. Not to say I won't and don't miss her terribly around here, but seeing her so positive and optimistic about her future put a smile on my face. I hope it brings a smile to yours as well!

Death

I’ll be honest. I’m glad February is over. Hands down, it was the worst month of my life. Last Monday, my mom died after a short yet ferocious battle with breast cancer. Her funeral was Friday.

I’ve never experienced death this close. I’ve never had to help plan a funeral and deal with such profound grief. I’ve never had to sit by—utterly helpless—while my father faces a loss bigger than I can imagine. I’ve never had to hold my child as he cried over the loss of someone truly special to him. I’ve had to start living my life constantly on the verge of tears as I find myself thinking, “I can’t wait to tell my mom about this…” and realizing she’s not there to tell.

In my upcoming Life@Luther entries, I want to share the places in this experience where I have seen God at work after my mother’s death. It won’t lessen my grief. I will still probably spend a long time living on the verge of tears as my family and I adjust to the constant missing presence in our lives. But I think it will help. Thanks for being my sounding board.

Concord Online

Lots of hard work goes into each issue of the Concord. Student, staff, and faculty writers, photos, serious issues addressed, questions asked, and a little humor from time to time. This month's issue is one the stranger covers I've done, but it got a few gasps and laughs. Enjoy.

http://www2.luthersem.edu/concord/pdfs/2010_02_24_Concord.pdf

Define Irony

Last week the discussion group in my Hebrew class got started talking about irony in Biblical narrative.

Ironically, this is not the point of this posting...unless you count irony as a point.

Allow me to explain, because I think I even managed to confuse myself there.

I was attempting to make a witty introduction to something that I found somewhat ironic that happened yesterday, and admittedly I made a pretty poor showing.

Please have grace for me...we are Lutherans after all.

I was enjoying my normal Sunday afternoon rest time yesterday (sabbath...I am a fan). Amazingly, for the second day in a row, both kids were actually sleeping. This NEVER happens. If we get one nap out of my son (the older of the two) in a weekend, we are doing pretty well. However, yesterday he had actually konked out as well.

My wife and I were laying around being lazy, when all of the sudden I heard very heavy footsteps clunking up onto my front deck to the door, and then a half second later the doorbell clanged at least twice. Of course, it seemed extraordinarily loud.

My wife answered the door to find that we were receiving hand-delivery of our census survey.

I don't recall receiving the 2000 survey in a hand delivery, though I was still in college at the time. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since that time. Maybe it was hand delivered...although I don't think so.

Anyway...here's ironic situation #1. The lady delivering the letter had an accent. I can't even place the accent. It might have been eastern European, but don't quote me on that. Honestly I couldn't place it. Somehow, receiving the US census survey from an immigrant struck me as ironic. But don't get me wrong, not ironic in a bad way. Honestly, I think it speaks to the greatness of the USA that our government offers opportunities to all.

Go USA...you rock my face.

Speaking of the survey, I didn't do it right away, because of course the loud doorbell as well as the lady's abnormally loud voice woke the kids up, and they both came trucking out of their rooms pretty quickly. The short one came out just in time to see the census lady walking down the street to the next house.

Side note...it was cold yesterday...I hope she didn't have a very large area of deliveries to make.

Fast forward a few hours until the kiddies went to bed, and I filled out the survey before tackling homework. Here we find ourselves approaching ironic situation #2.

It occurred to me that I was filling out the census information the day after my big community context paper was due for RTA. One of the aspects we looked at in terms of community context was changes in the demographics of the community between censuses. As the 2010 data is not yet available (obvious considered the activity I was currently partaking in), we utilized the information from 1990 and 2000. Only 10 years outdated, but hey, you use what's available to you. Somehow, I think that section would have been more applicable in about 6 months or a year, but that's just me.

Long story short...as I was filling it out, a movie quote went through my head. Harnessing my inner Adam Sandler...

Information that would have been helpful YESTERDAY!!!!!

Perhaps I'm the only person that will appreciate the irony of the a fore mentioned situations. If so, I can live with that.

cc goes downhill

Hannah Johnson (mdiv senior) and I skipped church this morning (don't worry, we're going tonight) to take in an awesome day of cross country skiing on the U of M golfcourse. The most fun part was definitely going down the hills, and we got some amazing, high speed footage to show off our moves. Enjoy!

FREE Portrait Event!

Bluegrass at The Edge

This morning I headed down to The Edge coffeeshop and enjoyed the jam session of bluegrass. There were about 20 playing but it created quite an atmosphere. Listen in:

  
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Memo.m4a (5763 KB)

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Song of the Week

Martin Sexton, Wild Angels, from the Album "Seeds"

Even when the desert sands roll with thunder
Even when I know it’s all for gasoline
Even when the hole in my head lets me wonder it
I know I sing because I must

Even when the truth waters down way too quickly
Even when the storm blows down in New Orleans
I will still be dreamin when I know why this happens
But I know I love you and I trust

We are born with all this music in our heart
We tend forget a little each day right from the start
In a dream I rolled on back the clock and found another way
To remember the words

That we are wild angels
Believing in our childhood dreams
We’re just trying to find our way back to
The source of the stream
We are wild and free

Even like the hills these songs they last forever
Even though the singer will be forgotten in good time
Even that a song can unify or move mountains
This I cry we sing because we must

We all love the sound of music in our head
And feel the joy and pain cause we aint dead
We have the power and the duty and the means to change the world
And to remember the words

Cause we are wild angels
Sent down from our childhood dreams
And we’re just trying to get ourselves back to the source of the stream
We are wild and we are free
It’s where we want to be

Come and join us on the journey down the winding road
Doesn’t matter what you fear cause we are bold
We got the light inside us of the universe
Gonna let it flow like a raging river

As a way of getting some more music onto the blog, I am proud to introduce my new posting idea: Song of the week. Because I am a HUGE Martin Sexton fan (I met him when Kevin and I went on our first date to his concert), he is getting the honors of song/artist #1. Hope you enjoy.

Its All Getting Fuzzy

What week are we in?

Three right?

Its starting to blur together on me. Usually we are at least a full month into the semester before that happens.

Not this time.

Of course, I'm in RTA this semester. I'm starting to think that it is the most in depth class, at least from a certain perspective. Had you asked me what the most in depth class was a year ago, I definitely would have said Creation and The Triune God with Paul Sponheim. That was a crazy class...good, but very time consuming. A LOT of reading. A LOT of writing.

Now RTA is different. There's a fair share of reading in this one too, but nothing compared to Creation. There's also a pretty large amount of writing for this one, but its focused writing and it's not every week. What's in depth about this one is a congregational study encompassing three lengthy papers.

First we took a look at the congregation itself. Main goal, how does the congregation view itself in terms of being a missional congregation. That paper's done (thankfully). Round two, due Saturday night) takes a look at the community that the congregation serves and seeks to identify potential audiences for the congregation.

I've got a pretty good handle on this one. It's not done, but the majority of the legwork (aka research) is done on it. The two sections I have left to write at this point are mostly reflection and application. To put it in a nutshell, there's no more research to do for this one, I simply need to apply the brain and apply what I've learned into the summary.

But the big kicker is how worn out I'm feeling already. Honestly, it's been my experience so far that I pretty well run on adrenaline for the first half of the semester (though I usually am pretty tired by about Thursday or Friday), and then I manage to settle into a groove for the last half of the semester that takes me through the end. Still worn out, but more manageable.

I haven't found my groove yet.

Granted, this week leading up to the due date of the paper has been very nice. Hebrew, my second class, is in a week of no new lessons and no conference call (praise the Lord I get to have my Friday afternoon back this week), but rather reading and posting. Because of this, I was able to have my regular weekly work done by Tuesday afternoon, freeing up the rest of the week to focus on the paper.

Between quite a bit of work Tuesday night and then a fair amount yesterday, I was feeling pretty good about where I was at for the week last night, and since it was Wednesday and we had a Lenten service, I was leaning towards allowing myself to slack off from homework last night.

But first the service itself. It was enjoyable. I do love those worship services. The funny part occurred about midway through. We were standing for a song, which had just gotten done. I leaned down to clear all the kids stuff off my spot in the pew, and I must have been in a semi bent over squat with my head sticking forward over the back of the pew in front of me. All of the sudden I took a shot on top of the head.

As I was standing there, the lady in front of me was also sitting down and our head's collided. It was no harm-no foul though. Neither of us was hurt and we got a good laugh out of it. So I guess that's all good. Laughter is a good thing after all.

After church was done we headed home and got the kids into bed. I sat and debated homework but in the end decided against it. Instead, we sat and figured out what we wanted to do with our tax refund. A pretty healthy chunk of it is going towards paying off bills. Particularly my wife's medical bills from the ear surgery she had right before New Year's.

That's exciting.

To be honest, I don't think we're going to play much at all with this one. But that's life I guess.

525,600 minutes of pandora

For the last 3 days, I have been playing Pandora Radio non-stop. I would tune in (sounds silly saying that considering it's online) occasionally on internship when I was cleaning my room or writing cards. The inconsistency was so until 3 days ago when I discovered the Broadway Musical station! Chicago, Annie Get your Gun, Guys and Dolls, Anything Goes, The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, Rent, Mary Poppins, I could go on and on. It's sheer bliss. Have ya'll discovered Pandora? If so, what is your favorite station? Is there another amazing one I'm missing? Gotta run..."Over the Rainbow" is on...la la la

pinecones??

So today I was working on more wedding projects. I have Tuesday's off the first half of the semester, and I can't lie, wedding projects are WAY more fun than homework right now. So...my mind went to pinecones. We're going to use them in our decorating theme, and I got to thinking: where can I find some sweet pinecones? I looked out the window of my room in Stub and here's what I saw:

Does anyone here have a tall ladder I can use? :)

Noncord & Baseball bats...this place is amazing.

I love Luther Seminary. Really...its true. I have an institutional man-crush on the Seminary. Why? Well a whole host of reasons I suppose, but things like the Noncord and the Campus Security baseball bats sure do get to me in a special way.


the latest issue of the Noncord (in COLOR!) — my fav? what the faculty are giving up for Lent. Fretheim is giving up trips to Middle Earth. Its about time.

2010_02_17_Noncord

and here's a post from my personal blog about the Campus Security baseball bats:

Disclaimer: I have friends that work for Campus Security and I truly appreciate all that you guys do. Keep up the good work, boys.

The other week my car was broken into. Nothing was stolen because the alarm went off, but entirely frustrating. As it turns out this sort of thing happens fairly frequently down the hill on the lower campus of Luther Seminary. This evening I was walking through the campus center when I saw my friend, Ben Durbin, working the info desk. I stopped to see how his night was going. And that is when I say this: a Luther Seminary Campus Security Baseball Bat! Seriously? That's amazing. Do you mean to tell me that there was even the possibility that a Campus Security guard (also a seminarian) on patrol could have clubbed that guy/girl who broke into my car? I don't even know what to think of this...

If one of these bats disappears...it may or may not be at my apartment. This is just funny.

update: View the Noncord in COLOR!

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2010_02_17_Noncord.pdf (5445 KB)

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where do you SEE God?

For years I have been interested in hearing where people see God---visually. Where do they experience God most often? Is God in an object? In another person? In a strong wind? I know readers cannot respond in photos to these posts, but I'd really be interested to hear where you SEE God with your eyes. Please reply and let me know!

Luther Seminary Baseball Bats...seriously?

Disclaimer: I have friends that work for Campus Security and I truly appreciate all that you guys do. Keep up the good work, boys.

The other week my car was broken into. Nothing was stole because the alarm went off, but entirely frustrating. As it turns out this sort of thing happens fairly frequently down the hill on the lower campus of Luther Seminary. This evening I was walking through the campus center when I saw my friend, Ben Durbin, working the info desk. I stopped to see how his night was going. And that is when I say this: a Luther Seminary Campus Security Baseball Bat! Seriously? That's amazing. Do you mean to tell me that there was even the possibility that a Campus Security guard (also a seminarian) on patrol could have clubbed that guy/girl who broke into my car? I don't even know what to think of this...

If one of these bats disappears...it may or may not be at my apartment. This is just funny.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from curatingthejourney.org

Noncord // the "onion" of the seminary student paper!

So at Luther Seminary we have a student publication called Concord. It's good and I've enjoyed writing for it in the past. But even better is our parody version (think The Onion) called Noncord. For many of us the recent weeks as we've begun classes have been difficult in the midst of staff transitions, etc. This most recent version is probably the best one yet — "This one's for you PLull!" (our outgoing Dean of Students / my adviser!) Highlights: The Hiring of a student named "Dean" to take on the vacancy of Dean of Students! (classic!) and the faculty responses to what they've given up for lent: Trips to Middle Earth (the legend: Terry Fretheim), Hope (Skip Sundberg) and 2 Faculty, 3 staff, 2 degree programs... (President Bliese).

Just to be clear...this is 100% made up, but utterly hilarious!

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Noncord, Feb2010.pdf (3025 KB)

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Concord2Feb2010.pdf (2151 KB)

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Concord3_feb2010.pdf (2045 KB)

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hammer dulcimer

I think I got one of the most random/cool Valentine gifts ever this year: a hammer dulcimer. A few weeks ago, I had supper with Beth. Beth's husband Bob was my inspiration for starting seminary, and my pastor from High School until now. They've been (unknowingly, perhaps) mentors/parents/coaches to me for years. Anyway, Beth has had a hammer dulcimer for a few years, so when we met, I asked her how her playing was going. Much to my surprise she said she was thinking about selling it because it wasn't getting played enough! What??

Long story short...after the shock of her selling such a precious heirloom wore off, I told her if she wants to sell it, I'd like first dibbs at it. Of course, with a wedding 6 months off, and bills to pay, I realized it might be a bit of a stretch, but to own a treasure like this from two of my favorite people in the world was an opportunity I didn't want to pass up. I consulted Kevin, and it took him about 15 seconds to say, "We should get it!" I wanted a day or two more to think about it since it was a relatively major purchase, but before I got a chance to solidify it all, Kevin snuck down to Lakeville and picked it up as a Valentine gift for me! He showed up with a huge carrying case, and a grin from ear to ear! Lucky me! I've only had it 4 days, so I realize my rendition of "Now all the Vault of Heaven Resounds" has a long way to go, but I wanted you to hear just how amazing this beauty sounds. If you ever want to play it, c'mon over to Stub and I'll be happy to share! Thanks sooo much to Kevin, and of course, Beth and Bob for entrusting us with such a beautiful gift!

Lent

Once again, Lent has arrived.

For me, this means many things. First and foremost in my mind (which admittedly is sad) is that I've climbed the ladder to change the drape hanging from the cross in our narthex for the last time in awhile...at least until Holy Week.

I think I've talked about it before, but somehow I inherited the job of changing the drape to correspond with the color of the church season. I just happened to walk in at the right time about two and half years ago, said that I didn't mind climbing a ladder, and its been my job ever since.

I often wonder what's going to happen on that day when I exit stage left.

Honestly, they'll probably take the drape down and leave it down. A lot of people don't even realize that its hanging there in the first place, giving a touch of irony to me climbing the ladder over and over again.

But, long story short, for the time being, the drape is purple. It will remain that way until Palm Sunday. White then, and then on Friday I'll pull it down and we'll leave it empty (as we don't hang a black drape), and then that Saturday I'll put up white again. Holy Week gives me my exercise lugging the extension ladder around.

Wow, I have taken that way farther than I meant to.

Lent means other things as well. Preparation most importantly. Preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus. At least that's what I preached about last night. I had the opportunity to preach at our Ash Wednesday service, which was a new one for me.

Additionally, with Lent comes my congregations Lenten portrayals. In lieu of sermons for Wednesday night services, we have dramatic portrayals of Biblical characters. This is a popular practice each year. Additionally, about every 4 years, we present the living last supper during Holy Week. You can always tell when that's going on because a dozen men from the congregation suddenly start sprouting beards. Fortunately I've been growing mine since last fall, so its not that big of a switch for me, but I was kidding around with the director last night about the different guys that are starting to look pretty scruffy. They'll be happy when Good Friday is over and they can shave again.

Truth be told, I will be too. I always grow a beard in the winter, but by this time, I'm getting tired of it and am ready to shave it off again.

Is it Easter yet?

All you need is Ubuntu Theology

In September of 2006, Bill Clinton was invited as keynote speaker at the Labour Party Convention in the UK. As expected, he gave a brilliant speech under the theme "All You Need Is Ubuntu," playing off the Beatles' song, "All you need is love." Until that day, Ubuntu was largely an unknown word in Britain. Many people wondered what it meant, and therefore it needed proper definition (which I think Bill did well). All the major papers run an article on Ubuntu in the ensuing days. One paper said, " [Ubuntu] is not left-leaning sudoku. Neither is it U2's latest album. Still, it is not fish-friendly sushi." Certainly, Clinton was not even talking about Linux.

Ubuntu is a long-standing African worldview (made popular by Desmond Tutu) that makes community the launching place for personhood (which in turn builds better communities and livelihoods, etc). Yes, in a nutshell, Ubuntu is built on the philosophy that says "I am because you are." Or, as some interpret it, "I am what I am because you are what you are. I need you to be what you are in order for me to be what I am."

Indeed, I know of the old days when this philosophy provided the rationale for the communal life in our culture. "You all need one another, even the strangers need you as much as you need them." Part of the initiation rites (rites of passage to adulthood) was to engrave it in the children's minds that without community, personhood is not possible. The rich need the poor just as much as the poor need the rich.

I can still hear the shaking voice of my great-grandmother, very close to her death at 95, passing on the wisdom to her many children and children's children that "If I am not, pretty soon you wont be also. You stop living on the day that you stop caring about others." That statement left an indelible upon my worldview.

Now, in recent years, a whole new genre of theology has come up, known as Ubuntu theology. The bringing together of Ubuntu and theology has caused serious implications to the field of theology, especially the Western theology that has been partly shaped by Descartes' individualistic "I think, therefore I am."

Margaret Obaga will be discussing some of these implications at this week's Mission and Ministry Forum in the Auxiliary Dining Room in the OCC at 12 on February 18. Come to hear more.

envelope night

If you've ever wondered what it's like the night seniors get their regional assignments, wonder no more. Thanks to my willing interview participants, you can get the inside scoop on what happened last night once the envelopes were distributed!

Holiday's

Have you ever noticed that being in ministry can often times put a bit of a damper on family celebrations of holidays?

I've noticed that lately. Valentine's day over the weekend. Ah Valentine's day...a Hallmark holiday if ever there was one. But my wife like's it and rightly so...it's a time aimed at reminding those that we love that we love them. Good chicken...or at least tolerable chicken.

The point of this little foray is to talk about the fact that we ended up celebrating...very low key...on Friday night. Normally we would have tried to celebrate on Saturday night, but this was not meant to be. My wife had to be at church to help host a Valentine's dinner along with her high school youth group.

This is not the first time this has happened. Another example...Easter. This one is certainly a tough one. Because what does every youth group do every single Easter? Easter breakfast. Therefore, we don't really sit together during Sunrise service. Although a year ago, I was just as strongly to blame on this one. My monthly preaching gig at the small country church happened to fall on Easter Sunday. So while she was serving up Easter breakfast, I was doling out an Easter morning sermon.

These are just a few examples. Imagine what it's going to be like when I'm ordained. Hopefully we end up living close to family, because we'll never be able to get away for the holiday.

senior PHUN night

A HUGE thank you to Hannah Johnson, Brian Ward, Kira, Scott Egbers, Nina Joy, Judy Hedman, and all the other senior helpers who decided to put together a night of fun for seniors the night before assignment! A cupcake walk, pizza, build your own ice cream sundaes, games, popcorn, palm reading (by the super creepy Chris Scharen), and raffle prizes! An attempt to distract us from the reality of envelope night tomorrow night! Ahh! Praying for all my fellow students as we get a first glimpse into where God is calling us to go. Here are a few photos of the PHUN.

love me TENDER

This is the time of year for community! I feel like there are TONS of activities going on right now on campus that allow us to take a step out of the load of homework and step into friendships and fellowship. Tonight was Kate Schruba's annual Valentine Dinner! She's either hosted or helped host (while she was on internship) for the last four years. I can tell it brings her a ton of joy. Here's a group shot from the night! Thanks to everyone for coming, and thanks to Kate for her four years of faithful service!