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I'm home now. After 24 hours of shuttles, flights, and buses I made it home to St. Paul utterly exhausted. My six weeks on the road seemed at least twice that long. The trip was filled with some of the people I love the most and I met so many new people as well. The experience was altogether mind blowing in just about every respect. This morning I'm attempting to sabbath and rest, but I can't help trying to make some meaning out of all this. Two videos are helping me put words/emotions to it. The first is Karen Armstrong speaking about "compassion" when she won the 2008 TED Prize and the second is an incredible performance by Herbie Hancock.

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Posted via web from curatingthejourney.org

mawige

MAWIGE---name that movie!

Mollie (seminary senior) and her love, Dave got married today at Mount Olivet in Minneapolis. 15 degrees outside. Yeah, gotta love winter weddings. I found myself thumbing through the church brochure while I waited for the ceremony to start. I was baffled by the numbers. 13,000 active members, two campuses, 4 morning services at one campus, hundreds of programs, their own retreat center, basically, Youngdahl central. All that SOUNDED impressive. Here's the one thing that didn't SOUND impressive: the crappy sound system. Two pastors led from the front of the worship space with corded mics that connected to necklaces. Every time they moved, the mic swiped their albs, and the sound system went berserk. I'm sure they have a few dollars floating around in their bank account. Can someone please get them some decent mics? Don't get me wrong, it doesn't take a million dollar sound system to worship. But it sure pulls you out of worship quick when mics are lighting up, and fumbling around.

Aside from the mic fiasco, the service was simple and great. The best wedding sermon I've heard in a long time! No tricycles, triangles, 1 Corinthians, or overly lovey-dovey fluff. A bit of comedy, some truth about love, the message of Jesus, and a few personal stories of the bride and groom. Loved it! Congratulations to the bride and groom! So happy we got to be a part of your big day!

jam session!

Update: the nieces are a blast. Check out this picture I got of the two of them jamming out in the basement! They are going to be musicians just like their Auntie!!! So dang cute.
P invited me to her beach party at preschool this morning. The kids thought I was some celebrity or something--a younger person, new to the school, I made friends real fast! :) The preschool teacher even put me to work while I was there, taking kids to the bathroom (where I got lectured by a 3 year old for not soaping up my hands for at least 20 seconds. He made me start over and count outloud!). She also had me get them dressed in normal clothes again after they spent the morning in shorts, sunglasses, flipflops, and t-shirts. I was intrigued by the differences in clothing. Not that what you wear determines what you'll become, how blessed you are, you get the point...but it really did make me think about the different lifestyles kids have the second they are born. One girl put on her faux mink coat with matching hat and expensive boots (yeah, she's 5), one boy had two different socks, beat up tennis shoes, and a shirt two sizes too big, another was decked out in Worthington Trojan memorabilia. Does any of this matter? Does the girl in the mink coat have a hand up on mis-matched sock boy? Is the sports enthusiast going to be stuck loving sports whether he wants to or not? Maybe. Maybe not. Thoughts?

Welcome Home

Its been quite a week since I came home.

Rewind to last Friday. I rolled into the house about 4:30 in the afternoon, which wasn't too shabby. As the weekend went on and I relaxed with my family, I can recall many times when I thought "it's good to be home."

The only thing that I was really responsible for over the weekend was assisting with leading worship on Sunday morning. That it itself was pretty simple...lead a responsive psalm, prayers of the church and the benediction. I can handle that.

Other than that, I made as much effort as possible to sit around with my feet up, and I neglected homework to the extreme.

Things changed on Monday. First of all, back to work. And let me tell you...I had a major case of the Monday's. The first day back after a break is always tough.

It got tougher.

I'd been back at work for all of about a half hour and my father in law (who works in the same office as me) was feeling really badly. He ended up going to the hospital because he was having a mild heart attack. Instant update, he's okay, praise the Lord, but it certainly threw me for a loop.

The hospital here in town ended up shipping him out to Sioux Falls, SD to the heart hospital. Did I mention that we were at the beginning of a blizzard at the time? Oh and my wife and mother in law made the drive out to where they took him. 80 miles...in a blizzard. Oh joy of joys.

That left me with the kids and work and lousy weather to deal with. Fortunately, everything worked out pretty well. Kudo's to my boss. However, for 2 days I was Mr. Momming it. That's not all bad though...I got pizza out of the deal and that's always a plus.

But really, in the end, all's well that ends well. If this had to happen, I'm glad that it happened after I got back and not while I was gone. That would have been a real mess.

Next on the agenda, starting to write papers for Reading The Audience. Many many papers. First one is due in a week. I suppose I better get on that one...like right now.

home: good or bad?

home sweet home. home sour home. which one sounds most familiar to you?

Last week I decided to do some serious abiding with a week long sabbath at home. The weather managed to delay my trip one day, but as soon as the roads opened up, I was all-wheel-driving 3 hours southwest. Fortunately, home is a sweet place for me. For some reason, this trip ended up becoming more reflective than any others. Tuesday, when I arrived, I had a few hours to kill before I could pick up P & M from daycare, so I found myself driving down mainstreet. 15 mph. no faster, no slower. Any other day, if someone in front of me was driving that slow, I'd probably be annoyed, but Tuesday afternoon, I was THAT driver. Amazing how much more you see when you slow down. Worthington is a town rich in culture and diversity, so our downtown has wonderful assets. Asian Food Stores, Mexican restaurants, a bakery, second hand clothing stores, the county courthouse, and of course, The Long Branch. Snow covered fish houses looked like little specs of pepper out on Lake Okabena. Sandy brown snow lined the edge of the street. Time for a fresh snow to clean up the mess!

All this driving around made me realize how fortunate I am to have a home I enjoy coming back to! Yeah, it's a small town, lots of familiar faces, but that's the great part! Everywhere I go, I recognize someone. I guess that can be good and bad. What is home like for you? Is it a place where you get rest, or a place you need to get away from in order to rest? My prayer for all of you today is that wherever you call home, you may find some peace, joy, and rest. Just don't agree to babysit 2 wild nieces, and I'm sure you'll find the rest you need!

mediocre church

I went to church twice today. Two different places, yet the same kind of vibe: casual. It made me start to think about what we lose and gain when we strive to be too casual.

Here's what I discovered gets lost in attempt to be too casual:

1. people in leadership positions looked unprepared.

2. dressing down too much makes recognition of leaders more difficult for new people.
3. word choice got sloppy. i'm a firm believer in practicing. even if i'm doing announcements or introducing a song. being efficient and to the point makes lousy tasks (like announcements or introductions) a little more bearable. elements in worship start to seem disconnected.

4. a lack of stories (Biblical) or too many stories (personal) in a sermon lose the attention of listeners.

5. when things change too much from week to week, regular worshippers don't sing, pray, or worship as loudly as they would if there were more consistency.

So what are the benefits of churches who pride themselves on being casual?

1. coffee, food, and treats brought into the worship space. hospitality is a must!

2. keeping the albs in the closet give one less barrier between leadership and lay people.

3. no one expects things to be perfect, so mistakes are encouraging to the listener. long pauses become accepted by people, and they don't care about seemlessness. less of a performance that way.

4. nothing stays the same from week to week, so new people and veterans both begin on an equal playing field.

Modern. Relevant. Meaningful. Experiential. All things I love about worship. Somehow, casual doesn't rank up there as high as others. You tell me, in a few words, what do you value the most about your church or your dream church? Maybe Kevin and I can start one!

because sometimes I over romanticize things...

A few years ago I was taking my first photography class...a darkroom class at the Southwest School of Art & Craft. It was a spiritual experience for me in many ways. I found it contemplative and healing to slow myself down and take more careful notice of what is all around. I was using my grandfather's camera — there's something about a boy and his grandpa's camera. That summer I attempted to do a series on the way small town Texas refuses to change. When I finally got to do peer review my work was called "romantic." "What! really?" I was trying to show the ridiculousness of it all and I ended up with "romantic." But its true, you see. I do romanticize my own lens through which I  see the world. I'm an enthusiast to the core and I can not help over compensating. These shots are intentional. They are my confession of the way I've over romanticized this experience of the Holy Land. Because its a paradox of a place...filled with both deep awe and painful conflict.

Posted via email from curatingthejourney.org

Cramming

I was walking across campus a few minutes ago, and I noticed a chunk of bread hit the sidewalk in front of me. My first thought was "hmmm...okay, there's something in the tree."

I turned around and looked up in the tree, and sure enough there was a crow sitting in the tree. Now, a touch of a scientific explination. Crow's are flighty birds (no pun intended). Anyone who has seen one along side the road while driving knows what I'm talking about. In my 30 years, I've only seen one that actually stayed put while I drove by. They have another defence mechanism. They will regurgitate when they feel threatened. Guess what just happened to me.

Fortunately he had bad aim.

As I thought about it, it made me laugh...the irony of this situation was not lost on me. Ever taken a test after an intensive? In a certain way, we are reguritiating everything that the professors have been cramming into our (now very jello like) minds. We feel threatened by the fact that if we don't pass the test, our grade will be detrimental.

Speaking of things being crammed into us...check out the picture...we spend many hours in this state last night.

The good news...it seemed to stick. The RTA test went okay.

We did take a break at one point...During the break, there was another kind of cramming that went on as well.

Ahh yes...the Manning's Jumbo Special..with peperjack and fried onions. I'm getting hungry again just thinking about it.

As I and ponder on the past two weeks, I see a big blur. As I mentioned yesterday, Dr. Westermeyer commented on our mental state at the end of an intensive. I believe it was about Tuesday or Wednesday of this week when all of our brains entered into "warm liquid goo phase."

Yes, I just referenced Austin Powers....oh behave baby.

But now we are wrapping up. Within the next few hours, we will begin to disband and head our own different directions. This is sad from the aspect of knowing that we won't see each other for a long time. It could be up to a year in certain cases as cohort 2 is slated for CPE this summer and therefore we don't have any scheduled classwork. On the other hand, it is also a relief. I believe that it's the collective notion of the group that we love being here, but by the time two weeks have gone by, we're ready to leave.

And so as we head out yet again, I hope that we leave behind little parts of ourselves here on campus. Whether it's the heart of someone being touched during a chapel service that one of us helped lead, or a cohort joke shared with a professor that got a kick out of it, or even someone that got a chuckle out of some weird guy walking across campus in a blaze orange hat.

Thank you Luther...once again, it's been a pleasure.

rent a cello

Have you ever considered renting an instrument that you've always wanted to play? Most people don't even know you can do such a thing. A few weeks ago, Kevin decided to rent a cello. Which, if it's your first instrument, pick a cello. Unlike a guitar, you can't play a wrong note! Instant gratification! Anyway, Kevin rented it, I've been playing it. I kinda stole it from him! With J-term at hand, and lots of free time, I spend sometimes an hour or two a day playing it and driving all the guests in Stub completely nutso! I have been playing my way through the ELW, and not to sound too full of myself, but I am actually picking it up! I hope to play in chapel at least once this spring. That's my goal. My mom was up for the night last night and I gave her a chance to play it (and heard the story that she actually played violin in middle school until the teacher told her she was terrible--what kind of teacher was he?), anyway, she got on it and tried creating vibrato (by moving your hand up and down while pressing the string), much harder than it looks as you are sliding the bow side to side and trying to move your hand up and down. It's a 'coordinational' nightmare! Here's a clip of her in action! :)

Diversions

It has been an interesting few days. Since my last post on Monday...week 2 has set in...hard.

Our professor for Church and Music recognized this today and commented on it today. "You guys have two classes right? Are your brains just mush?"

He also commented that after a certain amount of time of cramming (which sounds strangely a lot like an intensive) you become a train wreck.

He was not saying this to be detrimental towards our self esteem. Far from it...he was empathizing with us.

Hallelujah...a Prof who understands....there is goodness in the kingdom...and the peasants are rejoicing.

Speaking of this professor, he is really great. Professor Paul Westermeyer (and hopefully he doesn't mind me calling him by name) has had us all laughing hysterically the past few days.

Some little snippets:
Why do so many Lutheran pastors break the bread during the words of institution? Because they are Calvinists.
There is not a dingle dangle that you can do to get into the presence of God.

We've been rolling. It's been quite refreshing.

Oh...and one more...BOLONGA!!!! He likes that one too.

But coming back to task now...we have hit the wall. I think we all have...we just can't cram anything more in right now...which doesn't bode well considering the midterm exam that we have in the morning....insert the proper plea for help here.

In response to that, last night several of us decided it was time to put homework aside and have a little fun. About 10 of us headed downtown to a piano bar and enjoyed front row seats to a wonderful array of 80's music. Talk about feeling a literal unwinding of tension. As we sat there singing along with the musicians, the spirits went higher and higher. For me personally, it culminated with a little J Giels Band...though their rendition of Charlie Daniels "Devil Went Down to Georgia" was pretty amazing as well.

It got to be a late night for us, but considering that we didn't have class this morning, it was okay. Personally, I think it was worthwhile just to look around the table and see smiles and laughter. That's a welcome switch from tired and stress...and I'm certainly including myself in that one. I looked in a mirror at one point through the evening, and there was a smiley Scott looking back at me.

After nearly two weeks of getting hammered with a mental sandblaster...seeing that is good chicken..

staffing changes

By now, you've probably all heard about the staff changes happening at Luther Seminary. If not, here's the latest. It was only a matter of hours before the facebook statuses started changing, e-mails were sent, and people began talking. It's hard to know how to feel when a fairly vague message is sent out to the student body using words like "robust" and "differences about enrollment goals and the best strategies for achieving them"...hm...what exactly does all that mean? If Dean Lull is going to leave over something like this, what don't we know? Of course, I have really appreciated Dean Lull's advocacy for students and faculty. A hard line to walk, yet she did it well. Students are sad, outraged, disappointed, and hurt for many reasons. Most of which we don't really know. Hang in there everyone! In the words of Rev. Bob Rognlien, "Let's keep our eyes on Jesus and allow the Spirit to guide us forward as we seek to follow Jesus together!"

The Wall

Prof. Simpson spoke earlier this week about MLK and his 3-fold scheme for enemies: the opponent, the enemy within and the enemy of the system of oppression. This is the wall. The wall is in some ways all three. It creates division that clearly constitutes an undeniable "us vs. them" framework. For each side, the other is the opponent. This is the wall. Standing there next to it made obvious the walls I conveniently erect in my own heart to avoid engaging the realites in which I actively participate in a government that funds this wall. This is the wall. And obviously it represents a systemic condition of oppression for the Palestinian people who live in cities under seige. The two sides of the wall look very differently. This is the Palestinian side. The otherside is built to appear only a few feet tall with pleasant greenery and beautiful displays of landscapes — advertisements for the Ministry of Tourism. But I won't even photograph that side to give the illusion that a balanced presentation is due. This is the wall.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Our Second Home

bananagrams

Have you all heard of this game? It's new this year, and an absolute blast! Say goodbye to the big boxed board games and hello to an adorable fabric banana filled with scrabble letters! We've been playing this for the last week and LOVE it! I should get some commission for this post! :)

An Over Rattled Brain and Accommodating Locals

I am going to begin with a disclaimer. I'm feeling a lack of creativity at the moment. Now, you may be asking yourself why exactly creativity is necessary when blogging about real life activities. Well, let me be the first to say that it is VITAL!!!

For instance...would you be interested if I wrote something like:

got up, took shower, ate breakfast, read for awhile, spent 8 hours writing a paper.

See, pretty boring right...It is my role to jazz it up, at least a touch.

The one thing about what I already said though...Saturday...8 hours writing the paper...oh yah...that happened. IT HAPPENED!!!!!

Actually, to be perfectly honest, the vast majority of the weekend has entailed us cramming in one way or another. Cohort 2 has had a LOT of homework and we've pretty much been rockin it every waking moment. Or at least until supper time...then everything changes.

Friday was Rick's birthday...Rick is sitting right next to me...say hi Rick....he just said hi.

But it being Rick's birthday, he got to pick our supper location. His choice...Mexican so we headed off campus to La Casita...tasty and good. There was a fountain right in the restaurant. I tried to flip a coin into the top level....I was not successful.

Saturday night we set things up for a Manning's run with Mary Hinkle Shore. Having completed her preaching last week, she was up for a bit of socializing. So about 8 of us headed that way and met Mary and her husband. Fun times ensued...and burgers....oh yes there were burgers...big jumbo burgers.

Sunday was really more of the same, with one exception. Late afternoon, fellow cohorter Lisa...she of the "When Harry Met Sally" quote from a week ago...arrived back on campus (after having gone home for the weekend) along with her three boys.

Wow...all I'm gonna say. They are 6, 4, and 2. You do the math...and remember that the combined ages multiplied by 1000 (divided by pi) is inversely proportional to the decibel level that they produced.

Roughly translated. Crazy kids...but in a good way. The middle one in particular seemed to enjoy jumping on me...then grabbing my head and shaking it around. Needless to say, the kids were a big hit in our communal meal Sunday night.

The big news...or at least the freshest in my recently-4-year-old-rattled brain...is today. Late morning, 5 of us headed to Java Train for some alternate study surroundings. This is most pertinent for Sarah who spent about 95% of the weekend studying on her bed...literally, I think you can count the number of times her feet hit the floor on one hand...just don't tell her I said that...she's in striking distance and is a hockey mom...seriously...I fear for my life.

But I digress.

The interesting part of Java Train was that the 5 of us were all reading the same book for our music class. We were sitting around a table...all of us with our noses buried in our books when we caught the attention of the lady sitting at the next table. She began to inquire about what we were doing, even going as far as to say "The energy of that table is very studious."

If we were presenting that much intellectual activity...I think that should automatically getting passing grades for Church and Music...think the professor will agree?

I had to leave after a little while to get the van back to the airport for my family, who was flying back in from the Washington DC area. When I saw them at the airport, my 6 year old son made a comment based on the fact that they had gorgeous weather out east.

"Dad, when we got on the plane, I asked God to take away all the snow for ever and ever."

I could certainly live with that.

After I got them on the road towards home, I got picked up at the airport by one of my fellow coffee shoppers, and we headed back that way. On the way, we swung into Exact Eye care as her nose pad kept falling off her glasses...something I've been laughing about for the last three days. The guy behind the counter fixed them for her...and without even having to bat her eyelashes at him, he said "here you go, no charge."

Impressive, most impressive...Though the fact that she had dropped that she is from out of town might have helped...he also said "Welcome to Minnesota, enjoy your stay."

Very accommodating Mr Exact Eye Care guy.

Does anyone else feel one of those "real men of genius" songs coming on? Or is it just me?

hyper real--brad paisley

In our senior preaching class this fall, Andy Root came as a guest speaker one Friday afternoon and talked about the hyper-real. I had the most interesting hyper-real experience last night. Kevin got Miranda Lambert/Brad Paisley tickets at the Excel, and I lived in the hyper-real the entire evening. My guess is that Brad is an evangelist, because he's a mega story teller! Of course, country music in itself is about as story-telling as you can get, but Brad went above and beyond with jumbo screens to tell the stories in pictures. Interesting given the proposal I just submitted is based on the same concept! I can remember the storyline of almost every song (I had only heard about 4 of them before going to the concert) because Brad used animation, pictures, and video to tell stories, use the internet, play guitar hero, remember the lost, underwater fishing, & dirt track racing. Check out this video for evidence.

Arguing With Inanimate Objects

Where to start?


In the beginning, the world was new, and it really was. Words of wisdom from my high school social studies teacher. They have stuck with me.


But let's not go that far back. After all, we are seminarians. I think we are all familiar with Genesis 1, so we will skip ahead aways.

Yesterday morning was open...no class, which is a wonderful thing. Additionally wonderful was the fact that I actually managed to get some sleep. 7 hours...A-MAZING (and yes, I mean that to have the pause in it...go with me on this one).

I spent about the first hour of my day (post the morning shower ritual anyway) practicing the chanting from the ELW. I had to do the chanting this afternoon so I wanted to go through and try to familiarize myself with the words. I'll admit that being unfamiliar with it...I rocked the LBW growing up and my church has not made the switch.

After that was done, I dug into the first of three articles that I needed to read for RTA for this morning. My goal being to have all three read before afternoon class...more on that in a sec.

Side note..."BEHOLD..the power of Google." We were just talking about finding stats from the tsunami to compare them to the earthquake in Haiti. Not to make light of either plight. Certainly our prayers are with the people there. Mostly I just wanted to highlight why I was thinking of Google at this particular moment.

Another side note...a class mate just made it from our classroom in the building on one side of campus to our dorm on the other side of campus and back again in 6 minutes. I complimented her and she responded "It was a little slow...the ice slows me down."

Wow...all I'm gonna say. You go Bridgett, you are a runner in every way that I am admittedly not.

Coming back to the reflection, after finishing reading my first article, we headed over to chapel, and speaking of chapel, I need to back up a day in reflection. Wednesday morning's chapel had a humorous moment. At one point, Mary Hinkle Shore asked the people in the congregation to slide in away from the aisles to allow for more room. I happened to be sitting in a spot that didn't need to move and additionally I had a very good view of the main portion of the congregation.

The movement of the crowd (standing, sliding in, sitting down) put me in mind of the Red Sea falling back over the Egyptians. "Pharoah is coming!!! What do we do?" Well, just ask Mary to have the sea slide in...that'll take care of it.

After chapel, I buried myself back into my room to finish up my last two readings that I had to get done before class this morning. My family was coming up last night, and I didn't want to have to work on homework while they were here. Timing was perfect as I finished up right as I heard the crowd starting to shut their doors to head across for Music class.

Now, music class itself was interesting. We heard a few quotes from our professor regarding acoustics within churches. Apparently it would be best if the congregation came to church naked. Additionally, it seems that microphones are the symbol of destruction...acoustically speaking anyway.

I was very ready for class to get done at 4pm. I received a text from my wife at 3:30 which said two words...we're here.

Cue the heavenly music...my family was here.

After class I went flying out of the room and across to Stub pretty quick and found them in the 1st floor lounge. I walked in and my 3 year old daughter saw me.

"Hi Daddy."

Let me tell you how great of a sound that is.

After many hugs, my wife said that she was in the mood for some coffee, so we walked across campus to Dunn Brothers...ironically my first foray to the home of freshly brewed goodness since I've been back on campus as well.

We were there for a little while and then walked back to Stub for join in on a communal cohort-2 meal. It was tasty. The conversation was wonderful.

After supper was done, we loaded up in the van and headed down south a little ways to a hotel by the airport that we had booked. The purpose being that the family was flying out to Washington this morning to visit my wife's sister for a long weekend. So we spent the night in the hotel, got up early and I buzzed them to the airport. According to my wife, all went well with the flight and they arrived without incident about noon today...Good deal.

On the other hand, I got in an argument with Garmin...the gps. If you have one, you know what I'm talking about. Seriously, she can be annoying if you have a pretty good idea of where you are going and she doesn't want you to go that way.

She...listen to me, I'm speaking of a small computer screen like it is a real person. Although "she" certainly has the personality of a stuck up know it all...at least when it comes to directions.

As I left the airport, I was following along a route that I've been on before. As I drove, I noticed the very south end of Snelling Avenue. Instantly my brain went "BINGO...Snelling of course connects with Como." Score one...I flipped on the blinker and around the corner I went. It wasn't long before I heard.

Recalculating...Recalculating. It was really snide too.

Well anyways, I did my best to get along with Garmin for the next few minutes, at least until I passed Highway 94. When I failed to turn I heard from her again. I swear I heard that little tick sound too...you know the one...the "I can't believe you messed up again" tick.

This time it was "In 500 feet, make a U-turn." I didn't. Then it was "As soon as possible, make a U-turn." Then it became "MAKE A U-TURN, MAKE A U-TURN."

I half expected it to start yelling at me. WHY ARE YOU NOT MAKING A U-TURN? I WILL DEPLOY AN AIRBAG EVERY 5 SECONDS UNTIL YOU COMPLY! MEIN LEIVEN!!!!

Okay, I admit it, I don't speak German...I don't know where that last part came from.

Anyways, finally I just shut the gps off because I knew where I was and I knew where I was going. Sure enough, I arrived back at the seminary in fine fashion. I even found a parking spot right in front of Stub. Except that I couldn't get turned sharp enough to get into it...and that made a grounds keeper in a cart laugh.

Glad I could brighten his morning.

More class this morning, followed up by some practicing of Pastoral chanting. Let it never be said that chanting is easy. But fortunately I passed my test. That's good. One part of Church and Music down. Too bad I can't say the same for my paper.

But now I find myself in the library...ready to get up to my elbows in Tertullian.

Stacks here I come.

i met him! i met him!

I realize I have a tendency to over-exaggerate at times. Drama, yeah, whatever. I come from a family of over-exaggerators, so for this post, I'm gonna let my roots show (no, not my hair)...

I have mentioned a few times this week, Dr. Mark Allan Powell is here on campus from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Ohio. I'm a huge fan of his book: What do they hear? Bridging the gap between pulpit and pew. Much to my delight, his keynote message yesterday talked about his book and brought some great new ideas for me in the proposal I'm writing. That was cool in itself. What's even cooler: Dr. Powell replied to an e-mail I sent him last week and said he'd be willing to meet up with me to talk about my proposal! The e-mail alone had me flying high. His wealth of biblical knowledge reminds me of Dr. Fretheim. Like a ridiculous groupie, I held out hope that our paths would actually cross.

Naturally, every time I saw him yesterday, people swarmed him, so there was never a good time to interrupt and greet him. Until today!!!! After chapel, I tackled four people, gave one lady a fore-arm shiver, and made my way up to steal him before anyone else could. I have aggression issues, clearly. My wrestling moves paid off. 45 minutes! I got 45 minutes of his time and got to shoot my proposal idea by him, to which he said, and I directly quote: "I think it's a promising idea, and I encourage you to pursue it!" Now, if I can get that quote into my paperwork, that'll be even better!

Enough bragging. I was just so excited after our conversation, and grateful such a well known theologian would take the time to speak to a wee little seminary student like me. I learned a valuable lesson today. Even students--often barely able to articulate a comparably snazzy theology to a well-known scholar--are worth investing 45 minutes in. My deepest thanks to Dr. Mark Allan Powell for his time today, and for his kind words and encouragement.

alt. worship @ Grace, London

Grace "Rest" // Jan. 2010 from Tim Snyder on Vimeo.

A video clip from the service at Grace, an alt. worship community in Ealing, London.

I shot the following video last week at the service at Grace. The theme was on rest/sabbath/sunday and had three stations of leisure/rest/relaxation with provoking questions about how we spend our sabbath time. Revisiting the theme helped keep me mindful that I have another two weeks of travel and I need to pace myself. So tonight I'll head back to London. I'm a few days behind my actual itinerary. Tomorrow I leave for Israel. Traveling mercies for the 25 others that I'll meet up with once there.

Enjoy!

more soon...

 

Another Long Day, But Some Fun Surprises

Every once in a while things come together in a way that is suprising. As I sit here, I have just glanced at the clock and I'm astonished to find that I've wrapped up my homework before 10pm. If you had asked me if that was a possiblity about 4 hours ago, I would have thought "never" but every once in awhile we are, in fact pleasantly surprised. But as I think about the evening, I also find myself reflecting on the day in general.

It began in the normal fashion, with me rolling over and looking at the clock much earlier than I would prefer, although in the very least I did make it till 6:30am before I woke up. IMPROVEMENT!!!

But after a few moments of laying there, knowing full well that I would not be getting back to sleep, I decided to get up and get moving for the day. After my normal morning rituals, I settled in to start the reading assignements that I knew I would need to finish for tomorrow, and I worked on that until breakfast time, when I hiked across to Olsen for my normal breakfast sandwich with Rick, my normal breakfast partner.

Side note, I might deviate from the Philly with cheddar tomorrow. I actually thought about it today, but wimped out. Perhaps tomorrow will be the day for change.

From there, we headed on out for another morning of RTA, and commenting that even by 8:15, there were a lot of people on campus for convocation. A big highlight this morning was chapel. As per usual (or at least compared to my one other experience with convocation) it was FULL. Listening to Mary Hinkle Shore's message was a great experience, and one that several of my classmates commented on. Also, sharing in the Lord's supper with several close friends is always a wonderful thing as well.

After chapel, I slowly milled around in Olson, scanning the crowd for anyone that I might know. I did spot one old friend, and then I happened to see a photographer positioned on the stairs taking shots of the crowd. A closer looked revealed a fellow Life at Luther blogger Amber, and I thought I would introduce myself.

We had a very brief conversation as I needed to get back to class, but the highlight was that Amber revealed that she had recognized me in the Caf yesterday, due to my orange hat. I was on my way out, so she didn't talk to me then, but to know that I have actually been recognized makes the blaze orange that much greater. Also, it seemed fitting as it was the presence of her camera that helped me recognize her. I guess that we need to be known for something right?

Class wrapped up for the morning, and several of us raided the leftovers that are hiding...somewhere...I'm not going to tell you where because I might try to raid them again tomorrow. From there we headed back across the parking lot for Church and Music. Fortunately, today is the last day this week when we have both morning and afternoon classes. I'm very thankful for this (as are many of my classmates) as three short nights in a row of little sleep is certainly catching up.

After class, several of us once again journeyed to the library for research purposes. One by one we each made our way into the stacks to try and locate our prospective texts. An interesting occurance, as I was standing towards the back end of the stacks, clear up on level 8, my friend Sarah came walking towards me, no doubt looking for a book. I had just found mine and my eye happened to catch a brightly colored....wait for it, yep...orange book about Gregorian chant. I grabbed the book to show her, thinking it was funny looking, and low and behold, that was the book she was looking for. I must have been experiencing a psychic moment, or the Holy Spirit just wanted to use me to save her 15 seconds of scanning through book numbers to find the right one. Either way, we got a laugh out of it.

Following our time in the library, we stopped by Olson yet again. This time for supper which was being put on for convocation. Very tasty caf workers...very tasty.

By this time, I was hitting the wall in terms of tiredness and was not looking forward to the large amount of homework that was waiting for me back in Stub. However, I thought it best to get to it, so I headed out a little ahead of my fellow cohorters and took the momentary oppurtunity to call my wife. I got voice mail, but she called me back a few minutes later and we had a good chat. This one was certainly better than the one that resulted from both of us being cranky last night. The really great news there, tomorrow afternoon she will be arriving on campus with the kids.

I GET TO SEE MY FAMILY TOMORROW!!!!

After the phone call, I knuckled down. I got through the reading and had started to write my paper, when I ran out of steam. I was thinking that a diversionary run to Mannings might be in order, but as I couldn't get anyone else geared up to go, I let that idea float off into oblivion, and I once again buckled in to finish up the paper.

Long story short...everything that I wanted to accomplish today has been accomplished, and praise the Lord, its not that late yet. Suppose I'll actually manage the same thing tomorrow?

We can only hope.

convo

There has definitely been an abundance of people on campus this week, and it's a delight! Well, not if I'm looking for a parking spot, but you get the point. Mid-Winter Convocation takes place each January here at Luther, and today (as the staff photographer) I got to take in a morning full of worship, lecture, and reunions.

I bumped into President Bliese on my way into the OCC and he graciously participated in another one of my obnoxious videos. Thanks President Bliese!

On a side note, I'm a huge fan of Dr. Mark Allan Powell, so seeing him in person, taking his picture, and listening to him speak to a chapel full of eager listeners was a real treat for me. If you're around these next few days, please don't hesitate to stop in and take part in convo. All are welcome. The chapel is nearly full now, but if we have to, we'll bring in some additional seating and make room!

It wouldn't be right to end this post without mention of the people of Haiti who were devastated by a 7.0 earthquake yesterday. The thoughts and prayers of the Luther community go out to those who have lost loved ones, are trapped, missing family, and scared. Prayers of praise for the survivors of such a tragedy. We are also praying for the safe return of four of our fellow seminary students who were visiting there, and are reported to be safe.

LET IT BEGIN!!!! LET IT BEGIN!!!!

Where has the last day and a half gone? I was blogging, then I blinked and it went from Monday morning to late Tuesday night.

Let's see, what's been going on?

Well, I spent most of the day yesterday in a coffee shop with two fellow DLers. Lisa, who I mentioned in my posting yesterday and Rick. As we did not have class yesterday, we chose to spend time studying as well as just "being" together at this little shop that we discovered on the other side of the U of Minnesota campus. Free wi-fi, tasty coffee, and some really good lunch time choices make for a good day, that partnered up with the joy of spending time with good friends.

My goal, to read 9 chapters of the book Te Deum in preparation for this weeks classes for Church & Music. I did not accomplish my goal, though I did make it through chapters 1-4, there by completing the reading for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hey, it was a good start...I just can't believe that we spent 6 hours there.

Fast forward a couple hours and the last of our cohort (that will be present this semester) made it to campus. Though we are short 2 members this time around, the rest are all present and accounted for. After a presentation by one member regarding a recent trip to the Holy Land, we settled in for supper (with all three cohorts) and the entire DL staff team. The only kicker, the heat seemed to be off in the dining room and I was sitting right next to a window. COLD!!!

After supper, we all congregated in different places around the dorms, enjoying the evening together, knowing full well that we'd be jumping in with both feet this morning. A good night of good conversation, in depth conversation as we shared experiences with the previous semester, cpe, life in general. Of course, what should have been an early night to bed ended up late...again, and for the second night in a row sleep was severely lacking.

But that is my speed here on campus.

Tuesday dawns...unfortunately much later than me...aka...I was up long before the sun.

My first class wasn't slated to start until 9, so about 7:45 I headed across campus to Olsen for my normal breakfast sandwich. "Philly with cheddar please" and don't forget the cup of juice. Funny, because I hardly ever eat breakfast at home.

Long about 8:30 Rick and I decided to head to Gulixson to scope out the room. Sure enough though, we weren't the first one's there. Another cohort member, Christina had already found power strips and gotten the room set up for everyone. I appriciated it so much that I gave her a chuck on the shoulder and decided to sit next to her for class...it worked out well since we are in a work group together...we didn't even have to move.

By the way, this class is Reading the Auidence, our first attempt at a brick and click. Brick meaning in the building (built with bricks right?) and then the click will be online for the first half of spring semester.

Class went well and I also got in on my first chapel experience, having missed it yesterday while at the coffee shop...I am such a yuppie.

After class, we had a brief amount of time to get lunch. I didn't feel like skipping into the alumni lunch half way through, so instead hit the caf and enjoyed a "big sandwich." You make your own...tasty bread which makes it a winner in my boat. I've been craving one since June.

From there it was on to Northwestern and Church & Music. That's going to be a busy one, but I did enjoy the brief time when we were chanting different portions of the liturgy...I wonder what that sounded like to other classes in the building...hopefully good, except for the one line where we all kept getting off key.

Bad chicken right there.

A first for me. I hit the library today. As in, I actually utilized it for its real purpose...and I even checked out a couple books for a paper that I'll be writing. Future tense...I haven't started it yet.

I had to laugh, it only took me 3 intensives to finally make it in there. In 4 years of undergrad work I never used the library. I guess that record has broken hasn't it?

After a wonderful communal meal, in which we enjoyed mule deer, elk, and bear thanks to our resident hunter Scott...not me, keep in mind we travel in pairs...we pretty much all hit the books. I took a call from home. After two and a half days of dad being gone, my kids are getting a little rowdy, so my wife was a little stressed. Put my long drawn out day on top of that, and it wasn't an overly pleasant phone call for either of us.

We'll try it again tomorrow, and I'm sure we'll do a little better this time.

But now it is late. The night owl in me, that won the battle to keep me up late and finish my reading for tomorrow, is getting droopy and I hear bed calling me. I should really answer...tomorrow is going to be another busy one.

Once Again

FINALLY THE ORANGE HAT HAS COME BACK TO LUTHER SEMINARY!!!!!!!

It is sad that as I type that, I have visions of the professional wrestler The Rock, as this mirrors his catch phrase. I once heard him utter this catch phrase live as I attended a house show right here in the twin cities. "Finally the Rock has come back to Minneapolis!"

But I digress.

In case you haven't figured it out by my opening line, I'm back on campus again. Much to my delight. As a DLer, I only descend upon campus a couple times a year, and it is always a pleasure to do so.

Yesterday I got home from church and completed my packing. We sat down to lunch and then after saying a family prayer I jumped in the truck and headed out. Kudo's to Twin Cities traffic (or lack there of) yesterday about 3pm, as it took me 3 hours on the dot, door to door.

After getting stuck at the door (locked) of Stub Hall for a couple minutes, I got in, got my keys, and found that I had completed a trifecta of rooms. This being my third intensive, I now have three rooms in a row that I have occupied. 2 of the three have been double rooms, which is nice...especially when practicing a sermonette very late into the night, which I do by pacing around the room continously. (Thankfully I'm not taking Telling the Story again this time around).

Side note...my friend Lisa just made an excellent "When Harry Met Sally" reference. I was very impressed. "I'll have what she's having." You know the scene.

As we all (my cohort classmates) came trickling in, we all started standing in the hallway catching up. One arrival came in, sat down and said "Our conversations rock, its like we never left."

Lisa just read what I wrote and asked "Who said that?" I answered her and she said "Oh I should have known that." She should have known that, she was in the room at the time.

But I digress again.

After awhile, we all (all three cohorts) gathered together for supper and a meeting. After that broke up, a few of us took our initial trip to Mannings, and I was pleased. That first schooner (a beautiful 32 ounce glass of beer) was wonderful. I have been longing for that since June, when I was last here.

The first evening was great, but the first night was long. My heater makes loud noises periodically so I woke up a lot. And as per usual, I was awake by 6 this morning. A short night, but that is my speed while I'm here.

Classes don't start till tomorrow, so today is a day to finish up last second reading, but also to continue to build community. We sit around, we talk, we laugh, we cry. For two weeks, we live life together and it is such a blessing to have that comraderie together. Critics of the DL program have asked how community can occurr when people are together so little, but we disagree...with fervor.

I'll be making pretty regular posts while I'm here...so tune in.

weather reporting LIVE...

Betcha didn't know I was a weather woman in a former life. Can you believe the size of those drifts?

I'm a role model

Okay, judging by that title, one might think that I'm taking a shot at celebreties...actually no...I have a lot of respect for them...well some of them anyway.

I am well known (to a select few) as the man in the orange hat. Case in point, check out the picture.

I have had this hat for a few years, but only in about the past year have I really come to appriciate it and wear it regularly, at least in the winter time.

About three weeks ago, I celebrated the end of the semester by raod tripping a little over an hour and spending the night at one of my buddie's places. He's got a couple of kids, the oldest of which is 9. This particular 9 year old was fascinated by my orange hat. In fact, he went so far as to call it awesome.

I can live with being awesome in the eyes of a 9 year old.

However, that's about where my realm of orange-hatted influence ends...or so I thought.

I was just driving across town for my lunch break and I witnessed many people out with their snow blowers, doing their best to get dug out after the latest episode of "It's Winter Time In Iowa And That Mean's Blizzard" when one guy stuck out to me...rather vibrantly.

He stuck out because of the blaze orange hat that he was wearing.

My first thought, "Hey, he's got a hat like me."

My second thought, "I'm not so sure that's a good thing. I'm the only one that wears an orange hat."

Then I reverted into "Grey's Anatomy" mode.....SERIOUSLY?!?!

And speaking of Grey's Anatomy, I have actually been featured on that show in the past as well. Or at least I like to think I have been.

I have a catch phrase, or actually 2 variations of the same phrase that mean either "good" or "bad." The phrases are "Good chicken" and "Bad chicken." Those that know me well know I use these phrases a lot. So much that during a children's sermon a week ago, I was on the verge of saying "bad chicken" but refrained, and some friends in the congregation asked me about it later...but I digress.

Towards the end of the last season of Grey's, the opening line of the episode was "Good chicken." I nearly fell over...then I realized that the character was actually talking about good tasting chicken, but none the less...I HAD IMPACT ON POPULAR CULTURE!!!!

Maybe I really am a role model...at least in my own mind.

Greetings from London!

Well after a fairly eventfull travel itinerary I made it to London...here's how it all eventually went down.

4:30p    (Jan.4)Arrived at Reagan National Airport, got to the gate, journaled, grabbed a bite to eat. Wait.
6:30p    Notified the plane from DCA to Newark was delayed. I wouldn't make the connecting flight.
7:12p    Gate Agent makes personal plea on cell to buddy at British Air to get me on a flight that night.
7:30p    Depart DCA for Dulles International Airport via taxi. (without bags)
8:05p    Arrived at Dulles, checked-in, and wait.
9:55p    Boarded AirFrance flight to Paris (always wanted to drop in).
11:20a  (Jan. 5) Arrived in Paris, changed terminals, learned there is no British Air check-in at that terminal...missed connecting flight.
12:30p  Met with British Air people who rebooked me for a 5pm flight. Grabed a bite to eat. Wait.
5:00p    Boarded flight from Paris to London.
5:00p    (time change) Arrived in London, border security, etc.
6:30p    Learned that Continental (who promised when I left DCA that my bag would get there) leaves by 5p as they only have morning arrivals. No bags yet.
8:30p    Arrived at the home of Jonny Baker.
12:30p  (Jan. 6) Woke up, called Continental and left messages about bag.
3:00p    Jumped on the Tube and headed back to Heathrow Airport...tired waiting around.
4:10p    Escorted through back doors and hidden security room (it was weird) to the arrivals area...directed to a corner with LOTS of luggage just sitting there. Found my bag! Back to Jonny's...
5:30p    Back at the host family's for dinner and to the pub for an evening of beers and conversation with folks from Grace.

New Year's Resolutions

In January, people often make resolutions for what they’d like to accomplish during the new year. Normally I don’t make resolutions because why mess with perfected mediocrity? But I thought I’d share the top three things I want to change about myself in 2010.

1. I will work to understand that television is NOT real life. I know, hard to believe isn’t it? I will repeat every morning, “I do not need to smile with my eyes.” I will stop telling my children when they’re doing their homework, “You know what the judges are expecting. Make it work.” Apparently, most people are not interested in what the symbolism of Locke/Fake Locke means on LOST or what the regeneration means to the future of the show in Doctor Who and how it’s historically impacted the mythology.

2. I will start looking my professors in the eye. I’ve admitted before that I am intimidated by people in leadership positions, but let’s be honest, some of these professors are younger than me. If I can raise my voice in a public place to tell my kids to stop whining or we will get in the car and go home and they will not have any TV for the rest of the month, I can certainly make eye contact with a teacher. While they may have Hebrew-reading, systematic confessional superpowers, I have the superpowers of being a mom (and I can see what you’re doing, so stop it!).

3. I will stop greeting strangers at the mall with, “So, how do you feel about a relational/incarnational ministry with those in the first third of life?” Apparently, not everyone thinks about a relational ministry with children, youth and their families. Apparently, most people in the mall don’t even know what “incarnational” even means. And apparently, people don’t like it when strangers sit down outside of the dressing room and start asking questions through the door.

Wish me luck!

Anticipation, both good and bad

I sit here today, pondering with anticipation on two different things.

The first occurs in a few days. I will once again be traveling towards campus for a DL intensive. Sunday afternoon, shortly after lunch, I'll be loading up the truck and making the 3 hour treck towards the twin cities. I'm excited to go...or more so...I'm excited to get there. I'm excited to see my friends and I'm excited to be able to focus on a single thing for a couple weeks. That's a welcome change in the normal pace of work, class, contextual work, and family life. Seriously, do I ever sleep when class is in session...the answer is no, not really.

On the other hand, while I'm excited to arrive on campus, I'm not excited to leave. Leaving home is always difficult. My son is old enough to understand that I'm going to be gone for awhile and he usually get's pretty upset when I'm leaving. Likewise, my wife doesn't like me to be gone either, and that's upsetting as well. Throw into that the largest amount of snow this early in the season for a long time, and I really don't like being gone either. So leaving is tough, in fact it is the toughest part of the whole process.

Speaking of snow, that's the second thing that I'm anticipating. Although as I look out the window, I can see that the snow has started, very lightly at the moment. But the forcast is calling for up to 8 inches of light fluffy snow through tomorrow with wind setting in. Translation...white out...I'm having flashbacks to Christmas.

The fortunately thing is that they are saying that it is supposed to clear through the area by tomorrow afternoon. So hopefully that gives enough time for the plows to get the roads clear by Sunday when I'm ready to road trip. If not, that could certainly put a damper on my travel plans.

slippery ice-tray races

The most prominant sight on campus right now: ridiculous amounts of ice. I followed two students from the OCC to Northwestern today, and the same kid almost bit it twice. Be careful! Luckily, I heard chopping and scraping outside my window this morning and caught saight of Craig and Brian (grounds crew diehards) working to make the steps and sidewalks safer. Thanks for your hard work guys! So, if you're on campus and dare to leve your car or building, you have two choices:

1. walk slowly and be careful.

2. grab a tray from the cafeteria and have someone pull you from building to building.

Yay for Responses!

Thanks to the 10+ people who left feedback on a previous post when I asked about who is reading and listening to this blog! Much appreciated to know folks are actually reading it! I'll do my best to take into consideration the suggestions and insights you gave me as I continue to write this year! One person wrote and asked me to include some of the things I am listening to, reading, etc. and wanted to pass on the best thing I have been listening to lately: Dr. Craig Koester.

If any of you are on campus and have not yet had him, or have the chance, take him sooner than later for a class! I (foolishly) waited until my senior year to take him for John, and have frantically signed up for two more before I am done with this year. If I had known how amazing he was back when I started, I would have been in all his classes! Consider this my word of advice for all of you.

This morning, myself and 60+ other students sat in Northwestern 100 for the first day of Genesis to Revelation--a two week course, which, as Koester pointed out is about as crazy skydiving and bungee-jumping. 3 hours later, we reached the end of Genesis, and I sat back and delighted in the journey of the day. I'm pretty sure his classes are recorded for anyone to listen to, so look it up and get in on the Gen to Rev fun! Thanks to Dr. Koester for his fine teaching here at Luther! So grateful for teachers who care about students and who faithfully teach what the Bible says!

*To those of you who the words "butt kisser" came to mind after reading this post, don't even go there! Take one class with him and you'll agree. I'm simply saying out loud what all others are thinking!

approval

For those of you who have ever said, "I don't need your approval!" The truth is, you do. Approval. The final step in the ELCA candidacy process, and one I am happy to announce I made it through just this weekend! The South Dakota Synod is what I call home (even though I'm from MN, long story). I was nervous as heck driving over to Sioux Falls from my hometown of Worthington. Kevin and I swung through Sonic for a 44 ounce real fruit smoothie (they are the best, and HUGE!) Here's a tip: go between 2-4 for happy hour drink prices, and they are only $1. Such a great deal! It lasted us all the way back home AFTER the meeting! :)

I arrived before any of the other candidates and panel people. Eventually, Scott and Craig arrived. They helped calm my nerves a little. Finally, the flood of panel folks came walking in the office, and I was reminded of just how awesome they are. Kind, caring, friendly, and offering a tray of brownies to help relax us. For some people, approval can be a complete nightmare depending on the panel, and I'll speak for myself and say how thankful I was for a panel who "got" me, even though I had never met half of them. Checking "approval" off my list with a huge THANKS to the SD Synod for their hard work and time!

My Pilgrimage: NYE '09

I'm now here in the Washington, DC area where my parents live. Christmas was time well spent with family and so for New Year's I headed over to hang out with friends from Church of the Common Table. Having known their pastor, Mike Stavlund, for a while now I know just how authentic this emerging community has become. It was quite something to be with them to bring in the New Year. I think you'll see what I mean just by checking out my second video in this series...

NYE Party '09-'10 from Tim Snyder on Vimeo.

Last night I joined Mike & Stacy Stavlund, Mike Croghan, Amy Moffitt and other friends from Church of the Common Table for their Sesame Street-themed New Year's Eve Party. What a blast!