Christmas!!!

I thought I would post a
couple of pics from Christmas Eve. One is Erica, and our little chickens that we had for dinner. It looks like she already ate one of the legs. We have a habit of taking pictures of food. I guess we'll remember them that way. On the right is the Americana Christmas picture, which may be our Christmas card picture
for next year...you never know.

Christmas Eve was an exhilerating day as my first year in ministry revved up for all of the glory of Jesus' birth. After five services, two sermons and Christmas at home between two of the evening services, I was exhausted, but had not experienced such an amazing Christmas like it.





On Christmas Day, we headed over to the great state of Wisconsin to share the day with Erica's family. It was a great opportunity to snap a family picture with all four generations, ages 93 to 7 months old!

I love/hate the internet/technology!

I am becoming increasingly convinced that technology has both a saintly and satanic side to it. It seems that every device or website that I discover and fall in love with (i.e. cell phone, wireless Internet, MySpace, Blogger, NY Times, YouTube, etc..) it will eventually turn on me. I was once naively convinced that technology was supposed to make our lives easier, more streamlined. I am no longer convinced. I think instead, perhaps technological devices have been created in order to unnecessarily raise our blood pressure, so that the pharmaceutical companies make more money and the ad agencies that produce all those crazy commercials get more famous (although I don't know how famous the actors for the Erectile Dysfunction commercials are going to get). It all may just be a conspiracy. Or, maybe not...

Immediately preceding this writing I spent the last hour and a half trying to convert this very blog over to the new "Google Blogger". Yes, I fear there has been another cyberspace corporate merge. I love Google, but I am waiting for them to get rights to implant little microchips in babies as the exit the womb. (I hope they will give me credit for that idea when the deal goes down.) Alright (did you know that "alright" is not a word?), back to technology. Three weeks ago I saw that I could change my blog over to a new and improved version of Blogger and so I did. I'm a sucker for new and improved things. When I did my blog didn't show up, and I got a message that they were unable to convert my blog over at this time, but I should check back later. Three weeks later, nothing. So, I go on with the old version, pissed really that I can't get in on this new and improved thing, with all the great special features. It looks like I should be able to convert over at some other time, Google wants all of their bloggers on the new system asap. I think instead, I will be a hold out. Maybe in 20 years, I will be the only one on the original Blogger system, just to prove my point. I could never hold a grudge against a person I knew for that long, but I imagine I could against a machine. Who knows.

On the bright side of technology, I finally entered the world of MySpace in the last couple of weeks. It is one incredible world! I really shouldn't be so amazed by it. But I can't help but be because when I created my account less than three weeks ago there were over 131,000,000 signed up. In that short time, there are now a whopping (drum role please...) 142,000,000 people on this crazy structure! You can find almost anyone under the age of 40 in there. I think it is great!

No matter your technological persuasions, just don't be naive to the fact that it is the best and worst resource we have. Cheers!

The Way We Speak Affects Our Relationships

What difference do words make anyway?!
I have been thinking a lot about language lately. You see, I just got out of seminary and I realize that I have been tooled with a particular language that is really only relavent in seminary. What conception do most people have when they hear terms like apocalyptic, liturgical, perichoresis, grace, forgiveness, the peace of Christ, eschatology, or even theology? My observation is that not too many people have a real strong concept of these terms at all, nor should the terms matter so much at all. What matters is what they mean. After living in the People of Hope ethos for the past three months, I am starting to see the light on the power of language; not the kind of language that includes multiple $100 words, but the type of language that strikes at the core of a community's being and therefore transforms community into a new way of being. I am not saying that I have found the keys that unlocks this treasure box of meaning, but I am starting to see the treasure that lies inside. My point is, people listen to others who speak in a way that communicates that the speaker cares that the people understand what that one is saying; not just that the speaker looks smart.

I think I have spent the better part of the last decade trying to speak so that people think that I am smart. Unfortunately, and admittedly, I don't sense that I cared as much if people understood me as much as I cared that they respected my intelligence. What arrogance!

As I continue to be shaped by this amazing community of people here in Rochester, I am finding that although I was a bit leary of it at first, there is no more powerful language than a language of love to shape how people interact with one another. After studying the Bible, and thinking about Jesus for quite some time in school, you would think that I would be a quicker learner....guess not. This langauge can be learned in formal educational institutions, but it may be more likely found and experienced in communities who see their mission as love for one another and those they encounter because they have experienced Christ's love first hand.

The Ever Expanding Web of Relationships

In the last couple of days I have connected with some friends from my past. I talked to my friend Melanie. She and I met when we were in high school at a church leadership event in Chicago. We went to college near one another and stayed in contact until a few years ago. We have talked once in the last three years, until last night. I am in awe of relationships that pick up as if no time had passed at all. That's how my conversation felt last night.

Yesterday afternoon my good friend from seminary, Kevin, stopped by as he was driving through Rochester. We had lunch and talked as always about how we might be used as pastors and servants in the church. We wondered together what the church will look like at the end of our careers and the role of mega-churches in the religious landscape. Heck, in our position, it is hard to know where we will be at this time next year let alone in forty years.

Last night, I gathered with new friends, people who go to the church I serve and we wondered together what it looks like to live out our faith as the letter to the Ephesians spells it out. We wondered if the body of Christ was limited to the Christian church and what that means for our relationship with Jews and Muslims who also confess that God is God. We were challenged by people in the group who wondered if doing the living of faith was more important than the thinking of faith, whether the conversation became to intellectualized. I was really proud of the group for being able to hold a variety of opinions in tension and live together in faithful community. I was amazed by the closeness through faith that I experienced with this group who were relative strangers to me. It seemed that the body of Christ was living in faith together in that coffee shop yesterday afternoon.

Relationships are ever expanding and contrasting. There was a time when I felt like I had a relationship piggy bank and when it was full, I would have to empty some out to keep on making new friends. What a silly idea! Although it is true that it is quite difficult to have really deep relationships with lots of people, our connection to others, our relationship webs are vital to our health and wellness, both physically and spiritually. My heart mourns for the elderly who find themselves lonelier and lonlier as age grows and friends die. I mourn even deeper when our society devalues the elderly because they are unable to do what they were once able to. In the west, we seem to have a very difficult time giving value to people because they are people, God's beloved people. What might it look like if our society slowed down half a pace to recognize the beauty of the other, the life that the other lives and spoke a word of grace and compassion to those who feel the deep despair of loneliness? The letter to the Ephesians talks about the body of Christ which is knit together by ligaments. Shouldn't we as part of the body feel the arthritis of loneliness in another part of our body? My prayer is: Healer of our every ill, fall afresh on me, on this body so that we with you will be alert and attentive to the pain of our own body.

I am so thankful for the body of people who surround me each day, week, month or year. For new relationships and the ones that have been evolving over so many years. The web looks delicate, but in many places is strong and reassuring. Even in those places where it seems the connection is gone, one visit to that place in the web reassures me that mending is possible and in many cases even eagerly awaiting a visit to reconnect and continue the relationship.

For me, I see the body of Christ in every relationship I have. Where there is love and hope and peace, mysteriously Christ is in it. I don't think I'd want it any other way.

Peace to your house.

A Day Full of Politics

I, like many in America, have a love/hate relationship with politics. On the one hand, politics leads to law and order (sometimes). Politics serves as the platform for public debate which shapes the ethos and attitudes of the diverse collection of people who call themselves Americans. It is an incredible privilege to participate in the political process on election day. However, there is a very real dark side (insert Darth Vader theme music here) of the process, which we have finally weathered for one more season...campaigning and the hollow promises and inflated rhetoric that accompany said events. It is one thing to bring to light one's own strengths and point out strategically the errors or weaknesses of one's opponent. It is quite another thing to have announcers with voices that would be well off to read obituaries for the Grim Reaper paint images of opponents that would make the dead spin in their grave.

In ancient times in Greece and Rome, politics served as the marketplace of ideas. It was the way in which philosophers and public representatives debated ideas instead of character. The Apostle Paul even took many swings at public debate, as well as writing in letters against the competing ideas of both Greeks and Romans, and competing camps within early Christianity.

A couple of weeks ago I attended a conversation between Sojourner's editor, Jim Wallis and evangelical pastor, Greg Boyd. This was an attempt at bringing dialogue and real conversation back into the realm of faith and politics. For the past several years, faith has been a pawn of the political process and those within the faith community are finally speaking out, shaping and defining an independent voice apart from the two ruling parties of partisan politics. Each of the gentlemen have a unique perspective and I invite anyone who is interested in both faith and politics to listen to the conversation. Jim Wallis and Greg Boyd Discussion at Bethel University

I tend to resonate with Jim Wallis' perspective that faith has an active, and prophetic role to play in the political landscape, however it must be both faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and prophetic in a way that the message is not co-opted by an individual political party. There are far too many important issues that are present in our current situation as a nation that neither party is addressing. As people of faith and people of hope in God's kingdom, I believe we are called to participate as created co-creators of a more just and righteous world. My hope does not ultimately rest in the hands of politicians, regardless of political affiliation. My hope, and the hope of the faithful is in the hands of God's grace and truth, it is found in communities that lift one another up in love and care for the widow and the orphan, it is found in honest conversation about what really is happening in wars, in economies, in schools, in places of worship.

My prayer tonight is that who ever is elected may be so bold as to represent the best interest of the area to which they have been called to serve, and not just the people who will elect them again. My prayer is that the voice of those without a voice may somehow be heard by those who have power to give them voice and that their lot in life may be improved. My prayer tonight is that those who legislate and lead our government may do it honestly and continually reach into their wellspring of hope and faith, whatever that may be, so that we are a more just and perfect union.

Peace to your house.

Getting lost in the truth

This is the text of my sermon from this last week. To read the Bible text for context, click here.

Get Lost…in the Truth – John 8:31-36

Rick Warren, of Purpose Driven Life fame said in an interview this week, “A satisfying life is what you experience when you’re doing what God created you to do.”

This quote seems to be a twist on what Jesus is talking about in the reading this morning. He says, “If you live by what I say, you are truly my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…so if the Son sets you free, you will be absolutely free.”

You may be thinking like the Jews in this reading were, “but I don’t think that I am captive to anything.” Jesus had another word for them. He says in essence, everyone has something that separates them from God, and holds them captive.

I am still thinking that I’m not sure what this freedom is all about, or if it’s worth something. Although, I imagine that if we search our souls, and examine our lives carefully, we can come up with more than one thing that we feel traps us, or even oppresses us, one or more things that we know separate us from our true selves, and from the love of God. Maybe it is money, or our families or the societal pressure to have a family, perhaps the extreme pressure of a job has its grip on you.

Young people and kids, do you feel like you have to be popular in order to be good at anything? Even the desire to be popular instead of being ourselves can trap us.

There are enough distractions in the world for us that we can get lost in them.

Yet, Jesus offers you and me to a radically different way of living our lives that involves looking very deeply at ourselves and those we have relationships with, and looking very deeply to God…and not just once, but daily.

This morning, one small child will be/was brought into God’s loving relationship through baptism. Baptism is God’s gift to us, in which God gives us the unconditional promise of forgiveness and God’s presence in our lives. These promises are not only for today, but for everyday. In baptism, God starts a relationship with us through these waters and God’s holy word. And God continues that relationship of promise with us daily. It’s good to remind ourselves of those promises.

This is the beginning of a radically different way of life. Yet these promises don’t have much effect if we don’t learn to trust in them and live by them.

This summer, Erica and I lived out in OR and we traveled all the way across the country in our Ford Focus with whatever we thought we needed for the summer and her mom’s old classical guitar. Neither of us played the guitar, but we both had the desire to learn. Over the summer, we took turns learning some chords, and teaching each other a few things. We were learning the rules of the strings, how to strum and how not to make hideous sounds, but harmonious ones. I have not been keeping up on my strumming lately, but she has. Although, I still have the desire, I haven’t experienced the thrill of really playing the guitar. It will take time, and practice. It takes some discipline (like the word disciple). Discipline can sound like a downer word, but think of all the things that we enjoy only through practicing a discipline. It is actually fun! And freeing. I will be freed when the guitar and I can make music together.

I think our relationship with God is similar. When we have a desire to know God, and know how God wants to use us in the world we experience the thrill and fun of that relationship when we take the time to learn about our wonderful God.

This morning in addition to Olivia’s baptism, there are five young men who are continuing their walk of faith by saying yes to God’s promises for them. They are affirming their baptism. God has given these young men a wide variety of gifts… compassion, kindness, humor, athleticism, intelligence, and hearts that are seeking God’s direction and presence in their lives. I ask that we as their faith family surround them and continue to encourage them in their faith walk and to help them live into God’s truth and the freedom that we are given because of God’s amazing love and grace.

When we talked with these young men yesterday, we talked about faith as though it was running a race. I see it this way…the time between baptism and confirmation is like training. We learn the techniques and work to strengthen our bodies and minds so that when we face a difficult challenge, we are equipped to handle it faithfully. As you take this step of faith, you are not expected to be perfect, or even the best runner of the race. By standing before this congregation and before God, you are expected to be faithful, to seek the truth and freedom that God has already given to you and to share the thrill of faith with others. You don’t have to do this alone, in fact, one of the great things God gave us was the church, we’re all in this with you together. Keep digging deeper into yourselves and God. Ask questions and share your struggles. Celebrate when you have a “God moment”, those times when you just know God is with you.

Jesus is most certainly all about truth and freedom. And it’s in our daily lives, it’s in those very events that we feel bound to that Jesus so deeply wants to free us. As disciples, Jesus frees us from those things that trap us by giving himself to us on the cross and placing all of our barriers and sins with him on it, so that the things that separate us from ourselves and God are not the last word, they don’t have the final say. The last word is that we are God’s people, called and claimed in baptism and invited into a radical way of truth and freedom with Jesus. When it all comes down to it, we are invited to get lost in the truth. Amen.

Rest, Retreat, and Initiation

It was great to spend the second half of last week on retreat with the staff. There was plenty of hype about how fun and beneficial the previous retreat was, and this one did not disappoint.

It is amazing how gathering together to learn about each other can ground people into a new way of being. Centered in worship and sabbath, we opened ourselves to the wonder of God and asked God to be with us in our work and play throughout the retreat. Three tools were useful in helping us learn who we are: Myers-Briggs Type Inventory, the Enneagram and People Styles.

By using these tools, we are now more able to understand where each of us is coming from and how we can best support each other in the work and ministry that we do.

I feel like we got to know each other more in those couple of days than we had in the first six weeks that I was here. By getting to know each other and how we work with one another and process the information we confront, it seems that we are more equipped to live out God's calling for us as the staff of a congregation. I think of all the times that Jesus tried to get away with his disciples. It often happened without much preparation, and only with a few at a time. When they were able to get away, Jesus was most clearly revealed as God's son...at Jesus' baptism, on the mountain with James and John at the transfiguration, at the last supper and with Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus.

Getting away is so important. It allows us to re-evaluate who we are and remember whose we are. It is a gift to be able to get away these days of busyness and productivity. Yet, I would argue that it should not be a gift, but a regular rhythm of life. Take time to reflect and live instead of letting it fly by. Socrates said, "An unexamined life is not worth living." That is far to common an occurrence these days. It's sad.

An experience of Hope

I had a profoundly wonderful day today. It was one of those days that did not lend itself to grandiose strides in any one project, and nothing too out of the ordinary happened. However, I have been washed over with thanksgiving and joy today.

I am so thankful to be a child of God today. I have felt the unwarranted and undeserving love of God, as if God has said today, "J, you really are mine and you can't do anything about it, simply enjoy this gift." Now, I always know this cognitively, but rarely it seems do I see and taste and touch it. And the best thing is that I haven't done a darn thing to deserve it. I woke up like I always do, got ready for work, worked, came home, ate dinner with my wife, went for a walk, ran some errands and blogged. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Yet God grabbed hold of this day for me to see it with fresh eyes. Humble eyes, joyful eyes.

I am also so thankful that God has called me to the church in which I am serving as intern pastor. Everyday I enter the building and talk to the people I am more thankful. I am filled with ideas, hopes, dreams and desire to serve with People of Hope to be the stewards for God's party, usually called the kingdom of God. The party has already begun, the festivities are in place and we as God's gathered people get to set the table for others to come and see and taste that the Lord is good. Come and taste and see. Come discover the wonders and mysteries of the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit - co-eternal, co-equal and one.

I can't wait to see what this one, whom we call the Trinity has in store for me tomorrow. What is in store for you? It is in these rare moments of hope that I see most clearly what is always in front of me. But, it is in the dimmer days of doubt that only make hope the sweet nectar that it is and God's faithfulness to us real. As great as it feels to live life in the euphoria of the experience of God's grace, we fool ourselves if we deny the reality of pain. So, if tomorrow is full of pain, I will rejoice in knowing God's goodness and mercy are not reliant on how I feel, but solely on Christ's righteousness which has been given freely to me, and there isn't anything I or anyone else can do about it. That's the good news for us today.


Peace to your house.

Getting the Seminary Out

Last Friday night I went to the home of one of the other pastors in town. Over dessert and coffee we were talking about my young career and his many years in ministry. He told me that his church recently had an intern. One Sunday after worship this pastor of 30+ years asked one of the pillars in the congregation what she thought of the new intern. Her response, "He needs to get the seminary out of him."

Here in lies my internal struggle. The chasm between seminary and congregation is wide! Wow! I have known this through my experience before seminary and hearing it from friends who came back from internship while in seminary. Yet, to taste and see it first hand is eye opening and humbling. I am so grateful for the education that I received while in seminary. Yet, until I have touched and seen the lives of people grappling with faith and life outside the very sterile and pristine lab of the seminary, faithful leading is only a concept.

After three whopping (tongue placed firmly in cheek) weeks, serving with the title 'pastor' or 'intern pastor' attached to my name, I am not ready to purge the seminary from my system. As many things in life, change happens more gradually than we often want it to. I imagine I will let go of the seminary in due time...through an organic process like composting. Allowing the education that I have recieved to sit exposed to the elements of ministry in daily life and over time decompose or change, not disappearing but becoming a new substance that in its very nature sustains and nourishes faith as it is mixed into my life and the life of others. Let the composting commence!

Peace to your house.

A quick update

I revamped my blog this morning with a new template, so my old posts have today's date, even though I wrote them earlier. Just to clarify.

I will get some photos up soon to snazz it up.

Christ's grace is with you.

Preaching as a Resident Alien

I preached for the first time as an intern pastor yesterday. It was an amazing experience of grace. After nine months of anticipation for both me and the congregation, and much of a summer hoping that September would come a little sooner, I had finally arrived to a place I had been preparing for for nearly half of my life. I was received with open arms and gracious smiles. I had been told by the leaders in the congregation and their families that worship would go well and my sermon would be well received. Yet I couldn't help but feel enormous pressure and a fair amount of anxiety. I wasn't necessarily thrilled with the sermon I preached, yet I am hopeful that God's inviting call to us to be disciples was heard clearly and that the call is out of God's incredible love for the world. The thing that seemed to be missing as a connection to the people to whom I was bringing God's word. After a week and a half, I am still a stranger in a strange land. The turf is yet familiar and my congregation and community are yet friends. It will only be a matter of time.

I think I learned this weekend how difficult it is to preach to a community that I am not yet familiar with. I keep hearing in the back of my mind one of my college professors famous (or infamous) lines: "Faith is formed through personal trusted relationships." There really is no better way to form faith than through relationships. I am so eager to form these relationships with the congregation and the community and be known to them, yet I know it takes time.

It is amazing how God provides us with situations that draw us out of our comfort zones enough so that we are unable to use all the tools we usually have to depend on. God (and everyone else around me) knows that I am in need of patience for myself, I just need to slow down and take stuff in. My friend Kevin sent me an interview with Fredrich Buechner today and one thing that Buechner said when asked what the most important truths he has learned in his life was,"Pay attention to your life. It is so easy to live your life on the surface and not pay attention what's happened. Your life is speaking to you. Paying attention is to keep your eyes open, look at peoples' faces, listen to their voices, smell the smells in the air. I've gotten a richer sense ofwhat goes on in the world than if I had lived my days on automatic pilot." If you want to see the whole interview, it was in the Washington Post. I think it is definitely worth the time.

So, this week I am going to pay attention...keep my ears and eyes open to what God has placed in front of me. In doing so, who knows, I may find myself in company of friends and fellow sojourners, on the Way and in the world.

Peace to your house.

The Power is in the Verbs

About three years ago I had the privilege of talking to a pastor while calling for my seminary's "phonathon". I had met him several years before, while I attended the university across the street from the church he served. After thanking him for his recent contribution to the seminary, I told him that I had heard him preach several times while I was in college. He was a magnificent preacher who extended the gospel from the pulpit as if it were the most precious gift to behold. After we talked awhile, I asked him how he brought his sermons to life week after week for 37 years. He told me, "The best gift you can give to yourself and to the people you serve in ministry is to read something significant everyday and write everyday."

I wrote what he said down and it has sat in my Bible as a reminder since then. Although I have not succeeded in achieving daily reading and writing (and doubt I will anytime soon), I am on the journey, picking up bits and pieces of the grace and mystery of God around me and reflecting on them when I allow myself to utilize the gift of time to capture for more than a moment God's closeness to me and the world.

I hope that in beginning this blog, I will capture my thoughts more consistently, and that God may even use this space as a place to be encountered and draw close to others. I am thankful to Pastor Wade, who impressed on me the value of the Word and words. He said, "Look to the verbs, the power is in the verbs!" May our being, doing, living, laughing, mourning, hoping, praying, eating, drinking, playing and loving be a reflection of the One who has given all in all to us in Jesus.