faces of luther

I know this is a place where perspective students come to check out the thoughts, musings, and lifestyles of the rich and famous....I mean, poor and unpopular! j/k I get to work for Seminary Relations and also the Communication Office, and part of the joy of it is getting to photograph fellow students for publications. We had a little photo shoot yesterday, and I wanted to share one of the photos so you can see truly how diverse our student body is. All ages, from many different backgrounds, countries, families, etc. It's a wonderful place to come and meet people who are like you and who have differences. This photo makes me smile...all the different hair colors, heights, skin tones, smiles, eye color--isn't God's creation marvelous? Unique? Come be a part of the eclectic bunch who make up Luther Seminary!

How Do You Eat An Elephant?

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Words of wisdom that I’ve heard off and on during my 30 years, but I never really paid attention to them until last spring. I recall the time. I had a sermon to write, about 300 pages to read, postings to write, professors to email; all on top of working full time and trying to see my wife and kids every once in awhile.

So in the depths of over whelmingness (hey I think I just made up a word), I turned to the one place where I feel able to vent. Facebook. One of the guys in cohort 1 (which started a year ahead of my cohort) replied with the elephant analogy. It made sense then and since I’ve tried to hang onto that pearl of wisdom. Particularly in times when I feel over loaded, which admittedly tends to occur at the beginning of the week.

It should be needless to say that this is one of those weeks. Here we are in week 4 of the semester. Honestly, I’m not quite sure how that happened already, but somehow it has. Homework has taken an upswing this week. To quote Emeril from the Food Network, we took it up “ANOTHER NOTCH!!!”

The list is pretty long. Read the 4 Gospels, write a posting regarding comparisons on a specific subject, do a Greek study and post on that, read for the second class, do a posting based on that reading, write up a verbatim for a pastoral care session, etc etc etc. I am probably missing something because after several late nights and early mornings, the brain just isn’t quite working properly at the moment. All of this needs to be done by Friday, then I have to posts responses to my work groups over the course of the weekend.

Here’s the kicker, my sister in law is getting married this weekend, and somewhere along the line I agreed to preach the sermon for it. So I have to get that ready by Saturday. What is today? Wednesday? Right, okay, so that’s pending.

That elephant is starting look pretty big. But fortunately over the course of those late nights that have been accumulating on me, I’ve taken some pretty big bites. But there are still a lot of bites left to take. Stress? Oh yah…but light at the end of the tunnel…probably so.

One more bite Scott. Then we’ll worry about the next bite.

phone-a-thon

Did you know there are folks working this fall to call and ask donors for support?? They are called phone-a-thon folks. I had the joy of meeting most of them and taking their photo last night so they can send out personalized thank you cards to the donors. HOW COOL! I want to extend a personal thank you to all those who are taking a phone in their hand night after night (and getting paid for it--awesome!) to make sure scholarships and funds keep coming in!! YAY phone-a-thoners! Oh, and if you think this is something you'd be good at and want to give it a try, stop in Seminary Relations and ask to talk to Lisa...I'm sure she'd LOVE to meet you!

San Xavier Mission

I visited this 300 year old mission with several members of the congregation. It was started by Jesuit missionaries and eventually they were replaced by the Benedictines; black robes to gray. Over the years Arizona has been part of Spain, Mexico, and the United States. And, throughout that history, and the thousands of preceding years, it has been the home of people we now call Native Americans. This mission was established before reservations were established, but it now stands on one of more than 20 reservations in Arizona. There is worship every day, including Sunday and there is a school as well.

Signing IN

I am picking up from where my colleague Margaret stopped.

What I really intend today is simply, as a point of reference for the future, introduce myself to the wider Luther family, and the global audience of the Life@Luther blog.

I am a youngish African male, born and raised in Malawi, Central Africa. I served as a missionary in Europe (mostly Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and England) for seven years before “going back to school” for a PhD in Congregational Mission and Leadership at Luther Seminary. Violet, my wife is here with me, currently working hard to find a job after acquiring her Master of Laws degree from the University of Minnesota this past May. Our daughter, Tameika, just clocked two months three days ago. Thandeka, our older daughter lives in Malawi.

This summer, I started my third year at the seminary, which is also my third year in the USA. I have spent two glorious years in the Twin Cities—the longest time I have been at one place since 2000! Sometimes, I look back the seven years in which I worked in six different countries and wonder what, if any, was God’s plan for the rest of my journey. Apart from the strong winters, it has been a busy but happy time. I just finished coursework and now I have to get ready for comprehensive exams. My blogging here will be mainly shaped by an intentional attention to life at the seminary from the perspective of the many African, Asian and other international students at the Seminary.

In addition to this, being a non-Lutheran student, I will also use this opportunity to try and make sense of the ecumenical life at Luther Seminary. I grew up in the Assemblies of God in Malawi, and now I am a minister in the Vineyard Association of Churches - USA. Naturally, I am part of a larger group of ecumenical students here at the seminary, among whom there are a lot of conversations worth sharing.

As I finish this introductory blog, I wish to acknowledge the great work that Margaret Obaga did for us for the past one year. Apart from enjoying the everflowing fountain of Tchai at her house, her blog postings were always refreshing. We will miss her. I pray she will surprise us with a few comments here and there as the year goes. (Pass the message if you see her!)

non-biblical preaching

I went to church this morning, the location shall remain unnamed. It's hard not to go to church anymore without a thorough critique of every element of the service. On internship, our Monday afternoons were devoted to an hour long worship review where we pulled apart every piece of worship from the day before. I try not to be so critical when I go to worship, but today, something happened that was far too tragic to ignore. I kid you not, the preacher NOT once referenced the Biblical text for the day in his sermon. A lesson was read before the message began, and we never heard from it again. Holy cow. Someone needs to give this guy a Bible and re-explain what Biblical preaching is. Lose, Scharen, Lewis...ANYONE!!

The Home Town Boy

Two nights ago, I had the opportunity to travel about 45 minutes from where I live now to my old hometown, and my old home church. The Bishop of my synod was holding a conference meeting, which apparently was best suited to happen at the church I grew up in. Several people from my current church went to the meeting, about 11 in all. I rode in a van along with 5 others, including one of our pastors and his wife.

As we drove between the town where we all live now and our destination, the pastor mentioned to the rest of the people in the van that we were going to my old stomping grounds. So then, as we got about half way, I began to feel like a tour guide.

“If you look out the right side of the car, you can see the grove that surrounds my parents’ house. That is the house that I grew up in.”

“Now if you look over there, you can see an area that my dad used to farm. That creek that runs through it, yes, I spent a lot of time playing in that creek bed. Over there is my grandparents’ farmstead. Yes, Dad still farms that property.”

Then as we came into the booming metropolis of roughly 800 people, “This is where I went to school, yes it is small. And now if we turn here and drive a block, we will find the church.”

Once we arrived at the church, I felt even more like the tour guide as I spoke of the history of the building, which was built about the time I was entering Junior High.

After I finished tour-guide mode, the meeting with the Bishop actually began. The meeting had three main points. The first was to introduce a new synod staff member who has recently started. His job is to work with synod stewardship. He gave his introductory lecture, which in my opinion lasted about 15 minutes longer than it really needed to. The second point was for the Bishop to highlight was he considers to be some of the major accomplishments that happened at the Church Wide Assembly, lest they be overshadowed by the new policies involving human sexuality. As you can probably imagine, that was our third and most involved topic of discussion.

I found myself disappointed by three things. One was the overall lack of people at the meeting. In total there were maybe about 20-30 people there. The second thing was the lack of age groups being represented. At 30, I was by far the youngest person there, and with the exception of a few of the congregation’s women who were serving refreshments, the youngest people there were 50. The vast majority were retirement age. As discussion began, I felt that the Bishop did a pretty good job of trying to remain objective and answer questions/concerns as best he can. Let it be said that I do not envy his position in light of recent events.

As you can likely imagine, the questions raised by those in attendance certainly presented the opinion as being opposed, in some cases as far as outraged at the decision recently made at the Church Wide. As I listened to the statements made by those that were extensively verbal, I found myself in a bit of an awkward position. On one hand, I agree with the viewpoint of those that are adamantly opposed to the decision. I will say it, I don’t agree with it. However, that being said, I believe that we still need to listen to the voices of those that disagree with us. I was saddened to witness that those so verbal at that meeting didn’t seem to realize that there are people with an opposing view on this issue right here in their backyard. I made the statement that regardless of their belief that everyone “around here” agrees with them, there are people sitting right down the pew from them on the other side of the fence. Needless to say, I got quite a few shocked looks from the entire group for saying it, but at that moment, I didn’t really care.

As the meeting concluded, I felt that I should greet the host women that were there. I had grown up in front of them after all. So I stepped into the kitchen to thank them and was of course bombarded with questions regarding “How’s it going with seminary?” After answering their questions, I was reminded of “Lutheran hospitality” when I walked out of the church carrying a plate of cookies. They wouldn’t let me leave empty handed. Needless to say, there are benefits of being the "home town boy."

Signing Out

This is my last post in blogging for Life @ Luther. Blogging for Life @ Luther has been an honor and a joy for me. I tell you, mine has been a story of life down the hill. A good life, so to speak, despite the occasional hiccups as is common to human beings, I guess to the squirrels too. Life down the hill has been and is about families, children, spouses, potlucks and door to door as one -on- one ministries, to name but a few. It has been about the community garden, the inconsiderate, although harmless-looking bunnies and squirrels, and about intentional, I believe, genuine efforts to improve communication between the gardeners and the bunny/squirrel families. We are getting there, given the soon coming winter. Down the hill has been about opportunities and possibilities, dreams and visions of guests and hosts. It has been about challenges of life that tend to face families from other lands and cultures. It has been about the beautiful thing in sharing and working together of peoples and nations represented here at Luther Seminary. These have created great story lines for me. Of particular interest, have been the laughter of children and adults alike, the "hello" "good morning," "have a good day," of neighbor and friend. These have sincerely warmed and tended to my heart as they have informed and enriched the scripting life of my pen, or should I say, my pc keyboard. As I move on to focus on the cpe, I wish to take this opportunity to wish the blogger after me, good blogging time peppered with diverse and International "masala." Welcome to Life @Luther!

A Snapshot of a day in the life of DL

This is a glimpse into the life of a DL (Distributed Learning) student.

I work all day…not quite sure where the work day itself actually went, but then sometimes time flying is a blessing. I head home after work is wrapped up for the day and find my wife and kids out side. My 3 year old daughter is running circles around in typical 3 year old girl mode. My wife is wearing my baseball glove playing catch with my 5 year old son, who incidentally is obsessed with all things sport (Lord help me).

I get out of the truck and walk into the front yard only to hear “Mom, give the glove to Dad, I’m gonna play catch with him now.” YES!!!! I am the preferred parent when it comes to catch. I have a momentary flash to the end of Field of Dreams. “Hey Dad…wanna have a catch?” I guess that’s fitting after all. I can truthfully answer the question “Is this Heaven?” with the reply “No…it’s Iowa.”

But I digress.

After a short game of catch we head inside for a quick bite of supper before my youth and family ministry coordinator wife heads out for church night. I hang with the kiddies for a few minutes…aka I give them their nightly baths…and then take them down the street to my in-laws (yes, my in-laws live 6 houses away on the same street), and then I too head out to church for the evening.

I spend the next two hours preparing for and then teaching a group of 6-8^th graders in confirmation, which incidentally is a much better crowd than I had 2 weeks ago when a whopping zero people showed up. I wrap that up, head back to the in-laws to pick up the midgets, and then head home and put them to bed.

I fire up the computer…I facebook...yes facebook is still open on my computer, I’m addicted, leave me alone…I open up Luthernet, log in and check to see if there are any new group postings in either of my two classes…there isn’t…so I log into the weekly assignment page and take a quick inventory of where I’m at for the week. There are two things that both need to be done. One is start a reading assignment of roughly 40 pages, the other is to load/watch a video lecture…for the sake of time, I start loading the lecture.

For your reference, in the time it’s taken me to write this much, I’ve loaded half of the video. This could take awhile.

Then I look at the book, then I look back at the computer…I switch back to facebook, nothing new there in the past few minutes. I look at the book and read the first 2 pages and remember that I need to start a load of laundry…good distraction. I get that done and fold the load that had been sitting in the dryer since last night and then look at the computer again. Then at the book again.

It occurs to me that I haven’t logged onto this site for awhile and I figure I should (hence the posting you are reading now).

At this point…my glimps/recap of the day has caught up with the point in time where I am right now. Have you seen the movie Spaceballs? There’s a part where they actually get the movie Spaceballs (yes, in the movie itself) and fast forward to the part where they are. They are looking at a monitor of themselves watching that exact moment in time…from the camera’s viewpoint.

“what am I looking at?”
“Now”
“What”
“You’re looking at now now. What’s happens in the movie now, happens now.”

I was reminded of that moment by what I just wrote. Yes I express myself in movie. Yes, I realize this is sad. My video is still loading very slowly. Ugg.

I write this to give you perspective of how we often begin “class” for the day. Tired out, having difficulty focusing and so we procrastinate until our inner motivation speaker (Chris Farley’s “livin in a van down by the river guy”) kicks in and we knuckle down and get to work. I really need to start working for the night. But someone just clicked at me on facebook. Procrastination calls.

anxieTEA anyone?

Tonight was the second wave of approval dinners for seniors to attend and get some information about the coming months and what to expect. I've had the joy of studying and growing with my fellow seniors for three years now. How crazy to think we'll be serving in so many different places in less than a year. Krista Lind (from the Contextual Leadership Initiative office) gave us oodles of information. I walked out of the room and said, "was that supposed to help? I think my blood pressure just rose 100 points!" What a crazy thing: this trusting the Spirit. It's easy to say, but when it comes down to it, f-r-e-a-k-y! Perhaps that's why seminarians have to go through this process. Then we can say we know what it feels like to live according to the power of the Spirit. I even took to coffee drinking tonight as a means of stress relief. (I hate coffee). Go away anxiety! I'm praying for all my peers as we begin to discern where God is calling us to go.

Trip to Saguaro National Park

Last Sunday was my second opportunity to preach here in Arizona and I've begun to prepare for the third opportunity this coming Sunday. Gotta love discipleship in Mark. My internship site has 2 locations, so I'll be preaching every Sunday this year. It's quite a challenge to jump into a new community and a new daily life and start preaching the gospel every Sunday. But, I'm feeling more and more blessed every day to be where I am with the caring people who have welcomed me and will be helping me along the way. I have no doubt that my sermons will get better and better over the coming year. Here are some pictures that I took while on a day trip to Tucson with some of God's generous and welcoming people here in Casa Grande and Arizona City.

P.S. Generally speaking, bad idea to touch cactuses.

people of peace

Are you a person of peace?

This isn't a common phrase we use around here. What is a person of peace? It's someone whom you meet, and within moments, you recognize they are someone who you share common energy with. I recently passed a guy in the parking lot at Rosedale Center, and after he greeted me with a friendly, "Hello!" I turned to Kevin and said, "He must be a person of peace to someone."

Are you a person of peace to someone?

Do you have someone who you know, connect with, and love for unexplainable reasons? Do you bring joy to someones life after long absences? You are a person of peace.

Can we be people of peace to all people?

There are a few grumps here at seminary. People who walk around and ignore the friendly greetings of others, people who gossip, people who hold grudges. It's hard to find peace with certain people. Here's my suggestion: try being a person of peace for a day. Watch the way the Spirit works through you and produces good fruit in your day. We cannot be all things to all people. Persons of peace included. But we can be transformed through the power of the Spirit and do things our nasty human nature wouldn't dream up. I can't wait to see how the Spirit brings forth people of peace this year. If you're looking for someone to exercise your peaceness on, PICK ME!

Here's a photo of one of my persons of peace. For all the obvious reasons, she's the best!

an afternoon of thanks!

This afternoon I had the privileged of speaking on behalf of the entire student body of Luther Seminary and offered a word of thanks to over 300 donors who contribute 50% of the operating costs of seminary. I got to bring my surfboard along and show them the impact they've had not only on my life but on the lives of the people who have signed my board. It was a lovely event, filled with meaningful speeches from donors, staff, and myself. Even Jearlyn Steele came and performed for the program. That was a highlight for me! She sang Happy Birthday to Jack Lose (David Lose's 12 year old son)...he was red in the face up until the point when she kissed him on the forehead. Then he ran for the hills! Hilarious! She rocked in so many ways!!

Pray & Break Bread + 09.18.09

Context matters to me deeply. Besides being the entire reason I began this seminary journey, it has also been the very thing that sustained me in my first year at Luther Seminary as I served The Netzer Co-Op in Austin, Texas and studied towards an M.Div. in the distributed learning program. One of my primary questions during the transition to residential study was how do I stay grounded in a context? Seminaries are strange places, let's be honest. They are not normal spaces. Matter of fact Luther Seminary is formative precisely because it is not a normal space -- it is a liminal space in which a provision community forms made up of more pastors than we ever know what to do with, a level of education that is freightening and a degree of homogeny that we'll leave alone for another day. Its a crucible this place called seminary. It's not normal and it is not supposed to be. But what about context? What about the places we all come from? What about the very neighborhood that surrounds 2481 Como Avenue? How do we stay connected to that?

What if we walked the neighborhoods?
What if we prayed for them as we did just that?
What if we listened deeply to the voices of pastors who served in the neighborhoods of our city?
What if we took the time to quite our spirits down and be present to the living God is has gone before us to shape the world we will soon be sent into?

This past Friday, a group of students, faculty and pastors did just that. This is important stuff and the kind of thing that is driving the theological imagination of this weird, liminal space we call Luther Seminary. If you have ever asked yourself these questions or if you are now, you should come next time.

They didn't tell me I would get drafted

I just got home to an empty house. The family has road tripped about 3 hours to my sister in law’s house for a birthday party and won’t be home till tomorrow. I on the other hand, had to bow out of the family gathering as my synod’s candidacy retreat was last night into today. The really nice part, the retreat was at a camp that is less than 10 miles from my house. I think I won the award for shortest travel distance on that one. The retreat itself was pretty low key, which suits me just fine, but was beneficial at the same time.

Our guest speaker was from the church wide office in Chicago, and one of her duties is to work with the process of announcement. If I understood correctly, this works pretty much hand in hand with every pastor’s “first call.” As she was talking with us about the process, I began to get an image in my head of the NFL draft which manages to dominate the airwaves once a year. Namely, there was an image of some guy in a suit coming out to a podium, looking into the camera and saying “With the first pick of the 2009 draft, the Denver Bronco’s pick Scott Dalen” and the crowd goes wild.

Granted, I’m sure it’s not quite to that point at the church wide office on announcement day, but then, I’ve never seen that one presented on ESPN either. Maybe it is pretty wild and crazy.
But all jokes aside, this presentation was really geared more at the candidates that are nearing the end of their seminary journey. As I listened to the conversation, I reflected back about a year ago to the ordination of my church’s former intern. I was on the brink of starting seminary at that time and remember being overwhelmed at the magnitude of the office that the Bishop was describing to the about-to-be pastor. Now here a year later (and a few classes under my belt) I don’t feel much more prepared. Fortunately, there’s a lot of water that still needs to go under the Scotty bridge before the NPL (national pastor league…haha) draft announces me to the multitudes. That’s a reassuring thing at this point.

squirrelzilla

I am proposing a new Luther Seminary mascot: the squirrel. Has anyone else noticed the ridiculous amount of these little critters we have running around campus? They sit in trees, throw nuts at passers-by, chase each other, and I even saw one reading the Book of Concord. I'd say we've got ourselves a fierce mascot. Now, if only we had some sports teams to slap this photo on!

SHIFT! (not the button on your keyboard)

Some of you who have been following my posts know this already. Oh well.

This past year while blogging I was writing from the perspective of through the eyes of a Distributed Learning student. I lived in Austin, Texas and I was part of the 2008 DL M.Div. cohort. It was good for my sense of vocation and good for that time and that place. But then things changed. After some difficult discernment I made a SHIFT from Distributed Learning to Residential study. So, now I live here on campus...down the hill with to few single people, lots of married folk and international students (who are my favorite part of living on campus).

The transition has been difficult. I'm still not quite sure how to talk about the experiences of ministry, life and community I've had over the past three years. Maybe soon I'll be able to make some meaning of it all. Everything is new for me. I'm finding new meaning in that Easter promise that God will make all things new.

I have more classes now, but also I have less balancing to do between three vocations. My hope is for holistic simplicity. Look for updates from me now covering a range of "all things Luther Seminary." I'll try to include more different kind of posting than in the past. If you like something, leave a comment so I know what's working and what's not. Until then here are some pics from the past couple of weeks.

ME! | First Week Orientation| Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis

Friends of Emergent Village | Emergent Theological Conversation | Chicago, IL

Cool Kid | "Blessing of the Youngsters" | House of Mercy, St. Paul

A good life lesson

So last night, a portion of my weekly contextual work in the church was to assist our lead pastor in teaching his confirmation class. As he is teaching a portion of the Apostles Creed focusing on God the creator, he took an unusual approach. Namely, take the kids out onto a remote portion of our property (we have about 40 acres with a lot of grassland leading down into a wetland) and have a campfire. While there, discuss creation in nature. So at about 6:15pm, he asks me to go out and start up the fire, and he would have the students walk out there a little while later.

So I got some supplies together and headed out...I drove, they walked...the benefits of having a truck!!!! And then I got the fire going. It was enjoyable to spend the next 30 or so minutes with the radio playing (in the truck) and just enjoying being outside. I don't get to do that as often as I like anymore, and I have to admit that spending a little time in nature was good for the soul. It reminded me of the fact that God created me with a pretty strong love of nature.

Once the class arrived, we discussed things like this, which I found to be pretty fitting. One of the questions that we answered was about a time when God showed us something amazing in nature. I was reminded of watching a rain storm roll down over the southern Colorado mountains 2 years ago when my family was on vacation. We sat on the deck of the lodge (under the overhang) and watched the storm come rolling down past us, then on through the lower elevation of the valley in front of us. As the sun came out behind the storm, we all saw the brightest most amazing double rainbow. The best part is that it was outlining the cross of the Bible camp where we were staying.

Good times, and good memories.

see some theatre

Oh wow...last night was an eye candy taste-fest! Mary Poppins was playing at the Orpheum, so Kevin got tickets and took me on a date! What a show it was! Colorful, great dancing, two incredibly strong leads, people flying in the air, costumes, adorable children, and surprise magic! Don't let this year go by without seeing some theatre! The old theatres in the Hennepin Theatre District are worth looking at. Old chandeliers, plaster work, and just plain cool buildings! Most students would say it's too expensive to see a show. Here are some ways to save on tickets:

1. Pick up your tickets at the theatre rather than going through ticket master. This will save up you to $12 per ticket on processing fees.

2. Public Rush Line tickets at the Guthrie are only $15, and the building is open all the time. You can go in for FREE and look around. Some amazing views from their outdoor balcony!

3. Stand outside the theatre the night of the show and cry until someone buys you a ticket.

Do what you have to do to see a show! MSP is the place to be for great theatre! Consider this your preview: Cats, Mamma Mia!, Dream Girls, and The Wizard of Oz are coming! Check it out!

Mercy Me

We've got a church event coming up that involves seeing Mercy Me in concert. I thought I'd share this song, which I think connects with our lectionary readings from Mark last week, this week, and next week where the disciples are having trouble understanding what the reign of God will be and how Jesus is the beginning of it. While I do believe that creation is a witness to God's power and grace, it is also the case that not every knee bends to honor his sovereignty nor does every storm simply water the flowers. In Arizona I've been told to watch the ditches because if we get the right amount of rain during the monsoon season, the cactuses and other plants there will blossom beautifully in the spring. But that's only if we get the right amount of rain. In our lectionary these 3 weeks Jesus is talking about how human authority responds to the presence of God's power and grace... fear, condemnation, mockery, murder, and denial. This reign of God is not exactly what we wanted or expected: suffering persists. "You Reign" doesn't mean everything is beautiful and everything is fine, so what does it mean? Also, if anybody has recommendations for Mercy Me songs I should make sure I know before I go, please post 'em.

Casa Grande

I said I'd post some pictures soon. So here's a couple of Casa Grande, AZ. The first one is one of our worship sites and the second one is of the Casa Grande Mountains, just south of Casa Grande. This area is pretty different from Minnesota, but there are some areas of the state that I drove through where there were tons of trees, not cactuses. Apparently, the reason there aren't any cactuses in this picture is that the cactuses we all like to imagine, saguaros, grow best at a certain elevation. So, higher up in the mountains there would be a ton of them, I believe.

humid september

My goodness...it's time for a new car. Every time I hop in my car to begin the 3 hour journey home to Worthington, MN, I swear the temperature hikes 30 degrees. No air-conditioning. I went home this weekend to shoot pictures at a wedding. I ended up seeing three brides in two days. One jumped in Lake Okabena in her wedding dress. What fun.
On my way back to the cities, at 85 degrees, I rolled my window down, and out of sheer boredom, (don't tell anyone this), busted out my camera and began shooting random things I saw on the drive. I was inspired to do so when I could see a hot air balloon in the distance. I ended up getting a close up shot of it, with the sun setting, a truck kicking up fresh dust on a side gravel road, and all at 78 mph. I was pretty pumped. You know you've always loved the sight of your cars shadow in the brush. Me too. Except my bug looks like a space ship. An executive decision was made not to get pictures of road-kill, though there were LOTS of those to take pictures of. Too many skunks, squirrels, deer, I even saw a dead bull dog. Sad.
The sights of a Minnesota September are grand. The slow turn of leaves. Yes, fall has begun. The fresh smell of the air in the morning before the humidity jumps up. The sight of red flashing school bus lights on the top of Hendon Avenue. More celebration of fall to come. I can't get enough of it!
When Kevin and I began our long (non-air conditioned) journey back from CA (through the desert in June), I stuck this dove window cling in my window. It looks like the dove has pooped all over my window, but the cross shadow is untainted.

Rolling with the punches

Today was my one Sunday of the month when I act as lay minister to a small country church located about 8 miles outside of town. I've been doing it montly for a little over a year and always enjoy it. The congregation is not huge, if we manage 15 people in the pews, we've got a pretty good crew. Today was certainly no different as I had about 8 or 9.

There were two kickers today though. The first is that I'm fighting what is either a very fast (not to mention early) cold that set in yesterday. That's got the voice a little strained. Not terrible, but not at full strength either. And it should be stated that there is no p.a. system in this church. The only microphone is a pair of lungs in this pulpit. The second kicker is caused by the fact that World Famous Clay County Fair (the worlds oldest county fair) started this weekend. That usually makes the church crowd a little thinner, but it also caused the organist to be absent.

In all the times I've been there, we've always had the organist. And I've lived in fear each and every time that she wouldn't show up and I'd be stuck trying to lead the singing sans music. Well, today, that's exactly what happened...with the weak voice no less. But I have to admit, it went okay. The people there were willing to roll with the punches and so we spoke the vast majority of the service. Though we did manage to sing through two verses of the first song which we all knew well.

All in all, it was a really good service. We were casual and lowkey, but God was still given glory and praise in the service. So what's the lesson? Be careful what you allow yourself to be scared of, because God will choose what you think to be the wost possible time to show you that your fears are unfounded.

Schedule in some fun

Where in the world did the first week of the semester go? Seriously. I realize that it was a four day week (YAY HOLIDAYS!!!), but it went by quick.

I'm trying to remember how the whole work/school/contextual thing works, and so far so good. However, if I've learned anything in the year I've been a sem student, its to take week 1 with a grain of salt. Things get trickier, but then eventurally you get int a routine and even though its hectic and crazy, it's manageable. But still, as I sit here on a Saturday night watching Jeff Foxworthy on Comedy Central, I ponder on the reality of the semester. Class work, minimal, yet time consuming at the same time. Contextual work for the week, mostly minimized to sermon prep. Throw all that in with a normal work week and I'm dragging.

However, as I ponder on it all, I'm reminded that God is good. Energy may be lacking...the temper may be a little shorter than normal, but somehow He helps us to get it all done. So in the midst of all the crazyness, remember to schedule in a little fun too. Find the joy in the day. Even if its in listening to someone say "You might be a redneck."

Pics from Moltmann Conversation

Sept. 11 with Prof. Jürgen Moltmann

It is the first week of class and I'm well, not on campus. Since Tuesday I have been spending time with old and new friends at the 2009 Emergent Theological Conversation with Jürgen Moltmann -- perhaps the most prominent living theologian of the 2oth century.

While today many reflect on the remembrance of this day just eight years ago, we would do well to also remind ourselves of the bite of the Gospel message. Moltmann reminds that it is only in the suffering of the Crucified God that we can be fully human and that our only viable response is resurrection future-hope that God will make all things new.

I'm going to take a risk here. It has been said that the events of Sept. 11 "changed everything" for my generation. The rhetorical impact is obvious, but it is not true. Only God can make all things new. Our hope is in future kingdom that is here and at the same time not yet.

In just a few minutes many of us here in Chicago will take a few minutes at the microphone to give thanks for the life, witness and theology of Prof. Moltmann. It's been a bit surreal, but it's been a deeply provocation time here.

where were you?

It seems today is the one day a year when you go to write the date on a letter and gasp. Online news sources are littered with stories and pictures of children of terrorism, memorials, and Obama's remembrance to the day. 8 years ago. Amazing how a changed skyline can still put a lump in my throat. I was in NYC a year before the attack and have a great panoramic shot of the city with the twin towers demanding your eye. It's much different now. We'll likely be telling the stories of "where we were" when we heard the news much like our parents remember "where they were" when hearing about the assassination of Kennedy back in 63. Ok, my mom was only 5, but I'm sure others remember. :) Why can't there be days when we write the date and gasp for joy in remembering something the whole world would recognize as grand?

work-a-holic!

It it just me or is seminary and pastorness/ship the two places where workaholism is a serious problem? I tend to work myself to death. It hit me today when I realized I had agreed to take 5 credits, work in Seminary Relations, shoot photos for the Concord, be a blogger, shoot photos for the Communication Office, be the assistant HR of Stub Hall, not to mention side photography. Holy cow. Why do I do this to myself?

Anyone else out there with the same problem? It's like some kind of sick addiction. Busyness. Heaven forbid I actually abide a little. So here's my plan for the night. Stop working. As Barbara Brown Taylor would say, "I need to step out of the rushing stream of life and sit along side it a while." It's only going to get worse. I have plenty to read and do right now, but I'm going to resist. I think I might go for a walk. Maybe even put in "The Wedding Planner" and get inspired to plan. Maybe I'll just go to bed at 5:39 p.m. What the heck! Whatever it takes to abide a little.

Relearning a contextual lesson

Last winter I learned that sometimes all our carefully planning and preparation for ministry activities can go out the window. I had spent the week prepping a sermon for the small country church where I serve as lay minister. But mother nature had other ideas. A snow storm on Sunday morning prompted a phone call from the congregational president, who informed me that if they had church, there would be about 3 people there: the president himself, his wife (the organist), and me. So they called off church. All that prep work down the drain. Or so I thought. About two weeks later, I was at my home church, doing a little prep work for a class I was teaching the next morning. The pastor who was preaching that weekend came in the office and asked me if I had a sermon "in the can." He then asked me if I could preach it at the Saturday night service, which was about 2 hours away. Fortunately it all worked out okay.

So the lesson was the need to be adaptable, because sometimes life gets in the way. Last night, the same type of thing happened. I had prepped my class for the first night of confirmation. Everything was ready, with the exception of me having to bounce back and forth from the classroom to my wifes office to hop on her computer and deal with a work issue. Well, then the moment arrived. Class was ready to start...zero students. They were all taking other classes or had already taken the class that I was teaching. Prep work...no longer required.

So instead, I sat in on one of the other classes with one of the pastors. I guess that it was okay though. As the work issues (problems with semi-trucks at their loading locations...keep in mind I'm a trucking broker by day and seeminly by night as well) continued to occurr, I had to excuse myself from that class several times over as well. Then of course the issues continued as I got home and was working on homework. That's the joys of online learning though. The computer will still be sitting there when the phone call/crisis is over.

So it begins

Week 1 is upon us. We find ourselves at the beginning of a new semester, a new year. Though my classification has not yet changed from junior to middler, I feel like an old hat at this online program. For a year now, I’ve been a member of cohort #2 of the Distributed Learning M.Div program. A year ago at this time, I was sweating the idea of trying to learn Greek, but then, we’re seminary students. We all sweat that class. Now a year later, I’m sweating Greek a little bit again as I take Matthew which Professor Shore assures us will have a healthy Greek component.

As a student who does the majority of my work online though, Luthernet feels very old hat. I had to laugh last night as I was looking through my week 1 assignments and one of them was to orientate ourselves (the students in the class) to online learning at Luther. My wife was sitting on the couch watching tv and asked me what I was snickering about as I clicked away at the laptop. “An assignment to orientate into online learning. I think I’ve pretty well got this down.” After 2 semesters and 3 classes in this format, I’m not too worried about the approach.

I’m also falling right back into the habit of contextual learning. We spend 10 hours a week working in a congregation, which is a wonderful way to apply the lessons that we learn in class right away. In a way, it feels like I’m already an intern, but not entirely. I still work full time, so I’m balancing work, class, and contextual work together, not to mention that I have two kids under 6, so I wear the dad hat right now too. However, with my wife working at the church where I do my contextual work, I spend a lot of time there. In fact I just spent half of my lunch hour there, prepping for confirmation class that begins…gulp…tonight. Here we go again.

Reading…writing…posting…teaching…working…dad-ing. Having just watched the movie Bolt with my kids about a week ago, I find the words of Rhino the hamster fitting at this point.

“LET IT BEGIN!!!!!LET IT BEGIN!!!!!!”

The date today

Today’s date, that is, September 9, 2009 makes me think more deeply
about numbers. It is not merely the random thinking of numbers for
numbers’ sake or their symbolic associations. Rather, it is the dialectic that both ways offer to elucidate fascination and intrigue attached to these numbers. It is also the creation and the manipulation that these numbers become exposed to that sets imagination aglow. For instance, today’s date September 9, 2009 can be seen as 999,especially when written in the short form. In thinking about this number, a squire root can easily be found in it as can be the sum total of certain numbers. This number can also be seen as the odd number in a group of numbers or a whole number. It can also be seen as a reciprocal or irrational number, and many other ways that one may choose to view 999.

Of course, it is not at all times that numbers make sense in life or
even in intellectual pursuits, such as those of theology. Handy is the
biblical reference and mention of the number 666 as one such number
that has generated much debate in Christian circles for generations.
The various interpretive perspectives accorded this biblical number of 666 show how numbers can be fascinating and intriguing to the human mind, heart and
body.Further, they can become a big factor in the normative thinking and practice of individuals and groups. In saying this, I in no way wish to ignore, let alone diminish any truth claims associated with this or any such number. Whatever view one may hold, numbers remain fascinating and intriguing to human thinking and doing. In the meantime, witness to this day of
September 9th, written in short 999, as a gift to one and all for service
and stewardship.

last first day

A few things about today:

#1: Today is my LAST first day of school. Ever. Hopefully.

#2: How awesome to worship this morning with everyone! Thanks for being there to praise God for this new school year!

#3: I saw a deer twice today. Two hours apart. Same deer.

#4: Be sure to cup your lemon wedge when you squeeze it into water, so you don't squirt your friend in the face over supper. (Sorry, Mollie!)

A few other things:

My name is Amber. I am an Master of Chipotle senior with an emphasis in bungee jumping and slack-lining. Oh, and I am addicted to blogging. I spent my entire internship blogging for the sake of keeping all my MN family and friends up to date on what was happening in CA. I figured once I got back, I'd stop, but I can't. I'm addicted. So you can imagine how completely thrilled I was to find out I get to blog for Life at Luther. Seminary is feeding my addiction.

To be honest, I have no idea who actually reads these blog posts anyway, so for the sake of my writing and time, would you mind posting a comment to this blog post and saying hey. (Click on comments below and write your own). Don't include your name if you don't want to, but tell me something about yourself so I can know who I am writing for.

Oh, and one last thing. I am a photographer and visual learner. So, I promise every one of my posts will include a photo I took. And I'm not the kind of photographer who carries around a disposable camera in my purse, but rather one who lugs around a ridiculous amount of gear-all the time-just incase. Today it proved to be worth it. Here's our friend Bambi to show my labor is not in vain! So glad to be on the blogging team, and I look forward to hearing your feedback and learning who you are!

A New Year

Summer is almost officially over. The MN State Fair is raging and we know it here at Luther because there is actually traffic and we can hear grandstand events and fireworks at night. The Bockman dorm parking lot is full again. Faculty, staff, and returning students worked hard last week to welcome and orient the new students who chose to participate in First Week activities.

The new school-year begins tomorrow (already & finally). New backpacks and lunchboxes will flood the classrooms and cafeteria as classes resume. Books have been purchased. Reading assignments are out. Syllabi have been issued online. I even have a paper due tomorrow. Soon this community will be drawn into a very different flow of life than it has been in. Tomorrow brings reunions, meeting new people, gulping at the amount of work before us and, of course, the traditional opening chapel worship where the faculty parade in their academic robes.

With another school year comes another blogger. I have elected to pass on the torch to someone new so that another perspective can be shared with the wider Luther community. Thank you, loyal readers for your interest, comments, and support. Let's welcome a new year!

Down the hill

These are some of the images that depict life at Luther, and particularly that of the community down the hill. Common meals are part of this community. The BBQ is one such meal, during which families down the hill and at the Sandgren and Burntvedt apartments come out to meet other families and share some coal-roasted favorites. Although not a daily activity, BBQs are great ways of creating and sustaining community down the hill especially, and for obvious reasons, in the Summer. The little ones cannot wait to use the "staff" for walking and the older ones do their thing: keeping everyone well fed and happy. And I think to myself, "what a wonderful world."

Secular Songs about God

Thought I'd share this song by Regina Spektor.

Laughing With

“Blogging Off”

“First Week” is well under way for our new seminarians. And with “First Week” we will be getting some new bloggers (and lovely Boundaries Workshops). The semester begins this upcoming week and summer rests its weary head in preparation for the crisp, but beautiful Minnesota fall. I would like to take a moment to thank you for following my adventures over the last year. This has been a great experience. Yes, I know at times I have been a broken record – but being a part of this blog has been a delightful part of my time at Luther Seminary. Regardless, I will still be around campus. I need to complete my MTH (one degree down, two to go)! So this is goodbye – but not really!

I wish you a wonderful start to your academic semesters and an even better continuation to your ongoing ministries. Thank you. Good luck. And take care. /blogging out!

-Dan