Summer Monday

I hate Mondays. Why? It isn’t because Monday is a “back to work” time for me, but rather because I don’t have a real job (right now). I guess I will have to enjoy it though because it’s the last week before I begin summer research with Dr. Jacobson. I’m really looking forward to it. I’m the kind of person that is a “busy body”— if I’m idling I feel guilty (or worthless!) Moreover, if you’ve been following my blogging over the past weeks you’ve probably noticed that I managed to keep busy with “school stuff” for the fall (albeit the summer)! Regardless, this is the last summer Monday I will have the opportunity to sloth around my apartment.

So Sonia, Cooper, and I have settled down in our new place. It’s commodious. And yes – there’s still lots of little things to do. There’s still a bit of unpacking to do, but it’s mostly the “stuff” that we will probably end up sending home to our parents for storage. I really hope my kids don’t do that to me so someday.

So how will this seminarian kept busy today? My college/seminary buddy Nick and I will likely install a screen for the balcony today. Why? Well—bugs seem to love me. It will also prevent Cooper from falling to his demise. I will also be reading from Birch, Brueggemann, Fretheim, and Peterson’s Theological Introduction to the Old Testament. It’s a useful book (and will likely be useful to my students some day) for topical and elementary explorations of Old Testament theological themes. Being a “milhama” (man of war) I am somewhat discouraged at the lack thereof treatment of war (what I feel to be major themes regarding war), but nonetheless it’s quite the excellent read. I will also be quizzing myself with Akkadian, Greek, German, and GRE high-frequency vocabulary. It’s going to be quite the day, but it’s time that I get back on track. I sincerely wish you a wonderful Monday. Be productive!

-Dan

Done!

This week has been quite the week. Yikes! Sonia, Cooper, and I moved to our new apartment (albeit in the same apartment complex). It was a smooth move, but wasn’t quite what I had expected. Why? Well, I must back up for a moment. I am what one would call a “high strung” person. Seminary is stressful—don’t you agree? The start of seminary three years ago brought a lot of change in my life: new classes, teachers, friends, and relationships. I was not the “college boy” that I once was. Something else changed in my life: I started having crippling panic attacks. The attacks used to happen on rare occasions of elevated stress, but then started happening out of the blue. I finally decided to talk to someone about my anxiety (which is quite cathartic) about a month ago. She recommended that I start on some anti-anxiety medication until I can build enough confidence to stop my panic attacks on my own. And what does this have to do with moving? We were supposed to move on Tuesday. I started a medication regime on Monday, but had a violent allergic reaction to it. I spent all of Tuesday morning writhing in agony on my bathroom floor: dry heaving, with “the spins,” completely unable to sleep for the big moving day (for almost 24 hours!) Yikes! It was rather unpleasant, but with the help of a good seminary buddy and his girlfriend I was able to move (despite being incredibly sick from the meds). I stopped taking the medicine and got a hold of my physician. I almost would rather just suck it up and deal with the panic attacks than go through that allergic reaction again. So—the new place is pretty great. I’ll upload some pictures soon. I still have some unpacking to do, but I wanted to squeeze in a post before the weekend was over. I sincerely wish you all a wonderful evening.

-Dan

Chesed

It is so cool to be in a church, as I did on this last Sunday of June, and sing a hymn translated from Norwegian by one of my great teachers here at Luther, Gracia Grindal. The song, "The numberless gifts of God's mercies," tells of the fathomless love of God. Graca likens this love to 'dew of the morning shining and full, and the stars of night in their ageless beauty.' These comparisons tell in part what this love is. However, when viewed from the perspective of 'the numberless gifts of God's mercies,' this allows us to become open to a broader definition. This definition does not make it any easier for understanding what it really means, but Graca's fathomlessness of God's love is embedded in the phrases, "numberless gifts of God's mercies."
An illustration of the water melon might suffice, especially in today's summer heat when a water melon becomes very welcome. A watermelon, when cut up, makes many pieces which in and of themselves do not make a melon. These water melon pieces when shared are analogous to acceptance, loved, belongingness, forgiven, provided for, guided, noticed, appreciated, remembered, trusted, talked to and many other "pieces." It is both humbling and refreshing to be reminded that personal attempts to define God's love form only part of what God's love means. Caution for me and all on this last Sunday of June is that, present in today's culture, is the temptation to construct personal gods for personal pleasure, including deconstructing when dissatisfied with . I tell ya, many constructions abound including those of Pride which God's Word, Chesed, deconstructed and continues to deconstruct till done. I say, YES !
Stay blessed and whole, dear reader!

Neptune's Rocking Horse

What kind of person comes to seminary?...I mean really - isn't seminary full of 22-year old Religion majors with neatly trimmed beards who've just graduated from upstanding private colleges (especially Lutheran in this institution's case) and have wanted to be pastor's since they were 12? Yes. And no.

Case in point: me.

I came to seminary after working in youth ministry for a few years. I graduated from a cheap (and LARGE) public university with a degree in Zoology and Physiology. I'm still not sure if I want to be a pastor, or how I will serve the church when I leave this place. But I am sure of my call to serve, and to study in this place. I do not have a beard.

Case in point #2: my friend Tony.

Tony came to Luther Seminary after a career in the performance industry. He is a wonderful singer and a talented actor - yet finds himself here at Luther, now studying to be a pastor. I just finished watching Neptune's Rocking Horse, a 1997 film he had a major role in.

You can catch a brief review found in the NY Times here. It was a captivating look at how we deal with violence, homophobia, racism, and self image.

I am continually intrigued and amazed at the stories and jagged roads of those who find themselves here at Luther.

slow down, you move too fast

So far this summer, I have traveled around Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota - and maybe Canada (it's questionable exactly what country we were in). My time on campus has been defined by checking long ignored mailboxes, trying to catch friends returning from far away countries and those moving away for first calls & internships, and packing up my apartment.


It is a bit strange to be on campus. It seems slow here. Not that it's bad to run into your professors wearing shorts in the library, or to walk across campus without meeting familiar faces on the sidewalks. It is a different pace to life, though. It seems like everyone is looking for boxes, trying to get rid of furniture and transitioning in other ways. It is the time of year that Distance Learning (DL) students are hanging around campus and incoming students are showing up in the dorms and apartments to dive into summer Greek & Hebrew classes. Lots of mDiv students are doing their Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) units in hospitals and nursing homes.


It is, yet another, extended season of transition around Luther theses days. People are certainly still busy - but there is something different happening to the pace of things this summer. Are you slowing down?

I missed it

Warning: confession coming.

I have not been to chapel yet this summer (gasp!). Partially because I am traveling so much, but I also haven't had much reason to be around campus when I find myself actually sleeping in my own bed. But today I had a meeting on campus and headed to chapel when it was finished.

It was interesting to walk into a full chapel service today. In the summer, because there are generally less people around - we have chapel services in Northwestern, which is smaller space. They ran out of bulletins. I had trouble finding a seat as the congregation sang the opening hymn. Dr. Karoline Lewis preached on Mark 4. Her word today spoke truth in the most fearfully dark places of my heart. The sermon dared to proclaim hope in the realities we endure - when it feels like Jesus is carelessly sleeping through life-threatening storms. It was everything I love in a sermon: faithful to the text, connected deeply to our lives and brutally honest about our life as followers of Christ. Dr. Lewis was vulnerable and truth-telling about this hope we have. I wish you they had broadcast it, because it would be well worth your time to listen. Unfortunately, Luther doesn't broadcast chapel online in the summer (I guess). I am thankful and glad that I made it to chapel today to be encouraged in faith and celebrate Holy Communion.

I guess I've missed chapel these last few weeks.

Time to Move

T-minus twenty four hours until move out day. Tomorrow is our the big day. Sonia, Cooper, and I will be moving to a smaller, but much more economically plausible apartment (after all – I’m just doing research right now). It’s in the same building as our current apartment. This is beneficial because we won’t need to take carload after carload of “stuff” to and fro one complex to another. I have been boxing everything that I can manage to box today. Even though the apartment is in the same building it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be an easy move. Why? Well, we’ve accumulated a lot of “stuff” over the last year (especially after getting engaged). I can’t help but think of our IKEA monstrosity (our bookshelf). Of the essence is time: we have four days to completely move, clean, and make our old apartment presentable. Am I worried? No. I’m excited (well, maybe not for the cleaning)! The moving itself isn’t fun, but the rearranging of “stuff” can be a pleasant experience. I am looking forward to having a real space for my studies: a computer desk, work desk, and bookshelf. There’s something about having an actual workspace that helps me feel much more professional about my work. It helps me focus. I think it will be beneficial to have my desk right next to the living room because I won’t be sealed off from the rest of the apartment (and prone to play games, listen to music, mess around on Facebook). This fall is going to be quite the challenge—so anything I can do to keep focus will be essential. But what about Cooper? Cooper doesn’t really care where he is as long as he is with us. I think he will love the new apartment because he will be able to sit on the balcony (which is screened in) and people watch. That Cooper – what a dog! I sincerely wish you a wonderful afternoon (and best of luck to those of you who are moving too)!

-Dan

48 Hours of Homelessness

Re-posted from: www.curatingthejourney.org

48 Hours of Homelessness: Reflections on the MLF Street Retreat, Part I.

This past weekend, four of us from the Co-Op Community joined our friends at Mobile Loaves and Fishes for a Street Retreat -- 48 hours on the streets of Austin, living with our city's homeless and working poor. I'm going to write a bit and include some reflections/media on the event.

WATCH REFLECTIONS AS WE WERE PICKED UP ON SUNDAY:

DAY # 1 - Being Cared for by the Poor

Friday, June 19, 2009. 5:00pm (CST).Ten of us (some of us good friends, some folks we just met) were dropped off at Woolridge Square Park with only the clothes on our backs, no money (actually I accidentally forget to leave my wallet in the car...), a blanket, and our prayers that God would be present despite our serious second thoughts about this whole idea. It was strange mixture of excitement, nervousness, and curiosity. And then, of course, there was a most pressing question: where would God show up in this?

The four of us from The Netzer Co-Op included, myself, Brianna Morris-Brock, Ryan Sladek and Ashley Dellagiacoma. We have all been involved in our community's Likewise Experiements, where we've tried to take Jesus seriously in his call to be about caring for the poor and building relationships with them, but this was a whole new level.

We spent most of the afternoon in the park and met several homeless friends. We heard some of their stories and we began an indepth conversation with a woman named Kim. Kim had been on and off the streets and this time she had been camping out by Riverside Drive for two months. She made a special point to invite us to come sleep out at her camp. She was insistent that we had a safe place to sleep. Since we had two girls with us, we readily accepted the offer. On the bus ride across town we heard from her two traveling companions -- Josh and Karl. Both had recently become homeless (though both had spent time on the streets before). Josh had just lost his job as a welder -- this economy has had a dramatic impact on the poor, though we never hear that end from the media. Josh and Karl told us stories about the harshness of the streets and laced it with humor about being Irish. Josh was from Boston originally and his dad was a lead guitarist in several famous rock bands.

We got to the camp and after being shown around, we explored the near by watering hole. We felt more like we were just camping with friends rather than experiencing homelessness.

That first day I remember several key moments. The first was at 3:50pm. For some reason I thought our meet up time was at 7pm. I was getting directions to the church when I realized we were scheduled to meet up at 4:00pm. I had ten minutes to get ready - shit! At that moment I seriously thought about not going. Maybe it was an easy out. Maybe this was going to be lame. Deep down I had reservations and I wanted some excuse why I couldn't follow Jesus onto the streets -- I, like the rich young ruler (see Mark 10), had too much I was leaving behind.

Karl Barth says, 'Follow Me' as in the case of the rich young ruler is a phenomenon that is absolutely terrifying in its impossibility." (in The Call to Discipleship). Now I get that.

This month at the Co-Op we've been talking about sharing our resources with those around us. I've been struck by two things that came up at our Jesus at a Pub convos:

+ The number of "provoking" questions about whether or not we are enabling them by helping them. They are obvious questions, but while meant to be "provoking," they seem to be more of an excuse not to give.

++ We talked about hospitality as both welcoming others into our spaces and being open to being invited by others into their spaces.

I didn't expect to be so quickly embraced by those who were homeless. We were deeply cared for in Kim's camp. They gave us a safe place to sleep. They made sure we had food in our stomachs. They made sure we knew where water was and a public bathroom. They made sure we knew where the watering hole was. They made sure we knew how to avoid police in the neighborhood who are known for harassing the homeless.

It's not like we all didn't have thoughts about whether or not we were safe or whether these people were trustworthy. It's just that those doubt were proven wrong -- we were cared for beyond our expectations, by friends we met only hours before. We were not on a Likewise Experiment trying to care for the poor. We were being cared for by the poor. To say it was humbling doesn't even begin to express it...

(To be continued...)

Next Post in Series: Part II: Day # 2 - Kairos Time Kicks In.

For Twitter Microblog posts live from the streets search: #homeless. #mlfnow.

A bit balmy out, aint it?

Wouldn’t you agree? If you’ve been in doubt of whether or not summer has arrived you can put that behind you (I might be going out on a limb, right?). Well, don’t you just love Minnesota? The Twin Cities area is under an extreme heat advisory for most of the day, but that won’t stop most of us from doing what we need to do. I hope you’re staying cool on campus (especially in those toasty little classrooms). I’m thankful that I am a teaching assistant for an online class.

As if summer Greek and Hebrew didn’t make you sweat already, right? Things aren’t all fine and dandy off campus though. It’s certainly convenient that our air conditioning stopped working yesterday (terrible, terrible timing). I really hope the maintenance people can fix it today, but we will be moving in two days so I think we can tough it out. So what does this seminarian have on tap for this hotter than Hades day?

I’m going to:

Write two study proposals (I want to do a crop of independent studies with Exodus)

Buy some new shoes (I need sandals)

Wash my car (I need to get rid of the pigeon “mess” that is baked onto my Honda CRV)

Box things (I need to box stuff for the move)

Be sure to drink lots of water and try to stay cool (and have a wonderful day).

-Dan