Happy New Year!!!

It's a new year and I have a new focus for my blog this year. After watching a friend post pictures every day for one year, I got inspired to do "one year in the life of a pastor."

So check in here every day for a picture and a short story from my life as a pastor in a small town church. You will see glimpses into my family, my home, my church, and my work in ministry.

To start off with... a bit of fun.

We are hosting some friends and family over for a New Year's party that will carry over into a brunch/bowl game watching party in the morning.

On our menu for the evening were homemade egg rolls, hanky panks (meat and cheese toasted on a piece of cocktail rye bread) and these bacon-wrapped little smokies.


The recipe is simple: 1 package little smokies, each wrapped in 1/3 of a strip of bacon (1 package should do), and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Put all in a dish in the oven at 325 for 40 minutes. We pan cooked them at the end to brown them up a little bit more.

And finally, here are my boys ringing in the New Year:

Lectionary Leanings - Glimmer of Light

January 4
Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72, Ephesians 1:3-14, Matthew 2:2-12

While our church year technically begins with the Advent season, Epiphany has always struck me as a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. Perhaps this is in part because of its close proximity to the New Year in the Gregorian calendar. But liturgically, Epiphany has the feeling of a beginning of a journey. A star had risen in the sky and a band of men from the east began an unknown voyage to discover its source. They probably had no idea how long it would take them to get there. They didn’t know what friends or foes they would meet along the way. In reality, they didn’t even know who they were looking for. They set out anyways.

In many ways, our journey of Christian faith is like that of the wise men. In each of our lives, there has been a moment, however small, however insignificant, that has led us to begin this journey. It may have been words of a Sunday school teacher that first caused you to follow Christ for yourself, like the faint glimmer of a falling star. Or perhaps it was a dramatic moment of hitting rock-bottom and having no where to turn but to Christ, like the glimmer of light calling out from behind an eclipse. Perhaps the call to follow has always been there in your life, from the very earliest memory, much like the multitude of stars in the night sky. We may not be able to name the moment or recite the date and time, but at some point in our lives, we began to take steps toward Christ.

Inevitably, there are times in our lives where we have strayed from that path, when we have let the cares of the world or the demands of family or job lead us in other directions. But just like the New Year brings with it a time for making resolutions, the season of Epiphany is a reminder of who we have promised to follow. In the words of Isaiah, “Arise, shine; for your light has come!” The path is still there, the light of Christ still beckons, and now is as good a time as any to begin the journey again.

whew...

The Christmas season is almost over and I am absolutely exhausted.

There were a few days in this past week that I allowed myself to sleep in very late, so I thought that I would make it through just fine, but with four worship services in a week's time and countless gatherings and people... I was completely and utterly spent by yesterday noon.

We were driving up to my in-laws after morning worship, and it was all I could do to keep my eyes open. We had an AMAZING dinner and I got through the present giving/receiving just fine, but after that, all I wanted to do was sleep. It was as if all of the energy I had been giving out all week long had run out. All I wanted was a quiet room, maybe a movie, and a pillow.

We got home about 7, and I curled up on the couch and watched "Mamma Mia" not once, but twice.

While many people do not believe this about myself, I am an introvert. It takes an extrodinary amount of energy for me to be around people, especially if I have to be "on." It doesn't matter if they are my best friends or complete strangers... it still takes more energy out of me than it gives, and if I am correct, that is one huge definition of introverted. The nice thing about my in-laws is that I can simply sit there and be. And I think that's why everything finally ran out.

Holy Cow, Batman!

It's Christmas Eve!!!!!!

And I am excited and nervous and excited and praying that I have everything planned and all the i's dotted for the two worship services tonight. I guess we'll find out when the get here!

I would appreciate prayers for safe travel tonight too - we are heading to my inlaws for dinner between the 5:00 and 11:30pm services, and I want to make it back! (I NEED to make it back).

Holy cow!!!!!

Lectionary Leanings - Celebrate!

December 28
Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Psalm 148, Galatians 4:4-7, Luke 2:22-40

While the Advent journey takes us through an emotional rollercoaster of joy, fear, humility, and anticipation, there is no other emotion to guide the days after Christmas than pure celebration. Each of the readings for this Sunday call us to take a deep breath of relief, to look around at the beauty of what God has done, and to simply enjoy it.

As an avid user of Facebook, I have come to realize that people are excited and grateful for many things in their lives. I frequently check on the status updates of friends and family and get to hear all about the amazing pie they just had at a local deli, or how terrific their new fuzzy socks are. But these updates are not always so material. Facebook is now often the first place where friends announce engagements or tell the world that they are expecting a child. We simply cannot be silent, we can’t hold our tongues (or our fingers) still one moment longer and must tell the world about the joys in our life.

The question is, do we do the same for those experiences of God’s grace? Do we rush to the computer to promptly type in “Katie just witnessed the good news of God in…”? Do we even share those encounters with the risen Christ when we head to church on Sunday? Sometimes, but usually not.

Our scriptures from Luke for this Sunday tell us of two people who simply couldn’t be silent when they encountered the Christ-child. Perhaps it was the fact that Anna and Simeon had been waiting for such a long time to see the Messiah. Perhaps they were just more in tune with the power of the Holy Spirit after lifetimes of faithful service to God. Or maybe they just allowed themselves to be overcome by the joy of the moment and couldn’t help but be silent. In any case, both Anna and Simeon rushed to the new parents and their infant son, God-in-the-flesh, and gave praise to God.

We don’t know much about what happened to Simeon after this encounter with God. He had been promised after all that he would not see death before he had witnessed the coming of the Messiah. But we do know that Anna simply couldn’t keep her mouth shut about the good news of God. Luke writes that she began to tell the story of this amazing child to everyone that was looking for redemption and hope in the city of Jerusalem.

She may have been eighty-four years old, but she wasn’t going to let anything stop her from sharing what she had experienced. Maybe she thought in the back of her mind of our text from Isaiah today: “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.” If an eighty-four year old woman can share the joy of this birth with all of those around her—why aren’t we?

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

healthy bodies and christmas candy

I walked out of church this morning (very briskly, I might add, since it was -1 degrees Farenheit!) with my arms loaded with four gift bags full of christmas goodies. Cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, peppermints, etc, etc, etc. Thank you so much to all of the wonderful church members that have blessed Brandon and I with these sweets =)

As I sit here eating some white chocolate covered pieces of pretzely goodness, I suddenly start thinking about that commercial where the people become donuts and burgers... you know - the "you are what you eat" message. And I pause for half a second... before eating the next chocolate covered pretzel.

All things in moderation is a very good motto. My confirmation kids helped me to eat half of this little baggie full of pretzels this morning - it's probably not so bad if I finish the rest of this one baggie.

But in thinking of moderation, there is such thing as excess and there is such thing as neglect. As in, none at all, zero, zip, zilch (how come all of those start with z's?). And in thinking of the counter to all of this sugary goodness, I do have to admit that I have done a big fat nada in regards to exercise lately.

I could blame the cold weather, but that's just an excuse. I'm making a promise to myself, right here, right now, that I'm going to borrow the unused cardio machine at my parents and start using it! I have to use it at least four hours a week... split up however I manage to do it. That is my promise, and if I can borrow it before then, it will be a pre-new years resolution.

It's not so much a matter of how much I weigh - although I have been scared to step on a scale since before Thanksgiving. But it's a matter of feeling healthy. I know that my GERD will be helped by losing even five or ten pounds. I know that I'll have more energy if I exercise more regularly. I know that my back and my neck will feel better. I know all of these things, I just have to do it.

Friday Five

I've been a HUGE slacker and haven't played with the RevGals for like a month or so.

Here's this week's Friday Five - and feel free to play along in the comments if you want!

The Nativity shown here is the Willow Creek one that I got last Christmas from my mom and dad =)

There are only five full days before Christmas Day, and whether you use them for shopping, wrapping, preaching, worshiping, singing or traveling or even wishing the whole darn thing were over last Tuesday, there's a good chance they will be busy ones.

So let's make this easy, if we can: tell us five things you need to accomplish before Christmas Eve.

1. Christmas Shopping with my hubby. We are going on Monday morning and I pray the roads are good. We have done a little bit of shopping, but have a lot left to buy. We are doing little gifts, and joint gifts (all the siblings going in together) type of things and probably also some homemade goodies.

2. Revising the Family Christmas Program script & finding someone to read the second part. I got very inspired by Kathrine Hawker's "outside the box" liturgies for Christmas Eve - one is a retelling of the Christmas story that includes and vocalizes some of the inconsistencies in how we put together our naitivity scene, but it does so in a way that can be funny and involves kids in costumes. It works nearly perfectly for our "informal pageant" but will need some tweaking for our context and to take a little bit of the skeptical edge off.

3. Scripting our Lessons and Carols Communion service (probably again using some of Hawker's materials with more traditional readings and some of our bishop's Christmas prayer.

4. An unexpected (well, they are always unexpected) funeral tomorrow. It will be a small gathering and prayers for the family who loved her dearly.

5. Wrapping up presents for our many family celebrations. We have gatherings on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Saturday and Sunday next week - PLUS an Epiphany Christmas gathering with my immediate family.

one year ago...

one year ago today, brandon and I arrived at our new (and extremely empty) house in Iowa and slept on an air mattress in our new bedroom. It is so hard to believe that an entire year has passed since that night.

In one year, we have grown closer to some friends that we love to disc golf and play world of warcraft with.

In one year, two soft and cuddly cats have become a part of our family.

In one year, I have become a part of the family at the church and feel like I'm finding my rhythm - the things that are my gifts... as well as being able to see better where I need to grow (or delegate).

In one year, I have preached 47 sermons (with three to go!).

In one year, we have had about 45 Wednesday night dinners with the s-i-l and b-i-l and neice and nephew.

In one year, I've met colleagues across the state and within my own backyard and have built lasting friendships with fellow pastors.

In one year, Brandon and I have both managed to be sick more times than we can count on one hand =)

In one year, I baptized 7 babies and youth, married one beautiful couple, and helped 11 families say good bye to their loved ones.


Hopefully our next year will be as good as the next!

Lectionary Leanings - Let It Be With Me

Here is the fourth installment of my article for the Circuit Rider online:

December 21
II Sam. 7:1-11, 16, Luke 1:47-55 or Ps. 89:1-4, 19-26 , Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38

We read the beautiful telling of the annunciation in Luke’s gospel and imagine Mary as a mature, wise young woman, full of the grace of God and ready to face any challenge that might come her way. We witness her willingness to accept the burden (or joy) that God is bestowing upon her. We hear her song of praise to the God who has come to her, a lowly servant. And perhaps in light of our contemporary visions of teen pregnancy through such movies as “Juno,” “Saved,” and television shows like “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” we are ready for the happy ending and to find out how it all works out in the end.

In doing so, we skip over the part about what a struggle it must have been for Mary in her pregnancy. How was she treated by her family? We are told in the gospel of Matthew that Joseph probably would have quietly broken off the engagement had not an angel of the Lord intervened. Her kinswoman Elizabeth was overjoyed to greet Mary and her unborn child – yet Elizabeth was also in on the secret of this divine birth and was in the middle of her own miraculous pregnancy. With the exception of these two, we don’t know how the rest of the family responded, or how her community responded. A young woman, still unmarried, becomes pregnant and the people are supposed to…what? Celebrate? Extol her virtues? Even if Mary told everyone that it was the Son of God in her womb, who would have believed her?

Luke gives us Mary’s song, commonly known as the Magnificat, precisely because it is the cry of a woman, or a people, waiting for liberation. It is the song of someone who has nothing left to lean on but God alone and whose sole trust lies in the promises of the scriptures. She sings as if the promise has already been fulfilled, “He has scattered the proud… He has brought down the powerful… he has filled the hungry.” Yet in her reality, life was still hard and the promise was still waiting. Mary’s joy is not the happy emotion of someone leading a perfect life, but the true joy that comes only from communion with the most holy God. It is the outpouring of emotion that comes only from surviving oppression and affliction and adversity.

As the angel appeared to Mary, he offered her comfort: “Do not be afraid,” the angel whispered in her ear. The words of the hymn, “You are Mine,” seem to express the words of encouragement that might have helped Mary find the strength to accept this blessing in her life, in spite of the difficulty, in spite of the whispers behind her back, in spite of the stigmas that would be attached. “Do not be afraid, I am with you… I love you and you are mine.”

the mom voice

I've been struggling in recent weeks with whether or not I have the gift for youth ministry. Or whether I just can't figure out how to reach this particular group of kids.

I spent some time talking with my mom about this recently, and came to the realization that I don't have a "mom voice." Or in the case of my own mom, "the look."

You know what I'm talking about - the look that will stop you AND your friends from all the way across the gym at a basketball game. The look that strikes fear into your heart. The look that lets you know she means business.

I don't have a look, or a voice. While you would think being a pastor carries with it a certain authority, that authority doesn't really fly with these kids... so I have to muster up some kind of authoritative presence. Something like my own version of the "mom voice" is what I think is needed.

Part of the problem is that I'm so busy focusing on the lesson and the games that it's hard to also be the babysitter. It's hard to also keep everyone in line. I have no idea how teachers do it - I'm in absolute awe. I get tired after 45 minutes with my confirmation class of 7 students!

One solution is to get parents more involved... which is the focus of a meeting this Thursday night. Many prayers are needed that even just two or three of them hear the call and want to help out. If I don't have my own mom voice, I'm just going to have to borrow someone else's! =)

This whole thing I think also has me thinking about my own family. Is a mom voice something that develops when you have kids, or is it a natural gift? I've already figured out I'm the pushover when it comes to our kitties. Brandon's the disciplinarian, the one who says no. Maybe it will always be that way... only time will tell.

Lectionary Leanings - All Will Be Well

December 14
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11, Psalm 126 or Luke 1:47-55, I Thess. 5:16-24 , John 1:6-8, 19-28

A few summers ago in seminary, I participated in a course called “Church in the City.” We traveled around Nashville exploring many diverse neighborhoods and heard many powerful stories of how churches were impacting the communities that they lived in. Throughout our lessons that summer, one scripture kept coming back to us—today’s lectionary passage from the book of Isaiah. Whoever this author was, he was speaking to people in exile, people who were longing to go back home, people who were desperate for a word of hope. And his word of hope was that good news was on its way—that they would soon be set free and that God would lead them back to Zion.

The verse that really struck us, however, as we read this good news is found in verse four: “They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities…” Yes, God will lead them back, but they will be blessed with the opportunity to repair and rebuild and restore the devastation of many generations. That is what we witnessed in those communities in Nashville. Families that had been exiled by gentrification, individuals who literally had been imprisoned, churches that were broken down and falling apart, were returning to and reviving these neighborhoods, rebuilding the city around them.

This message of promise and hope from Isaiah was renewed this summer as my state of Iowa was devastated by flooding. Five months after the waters crested twenty feet above the flood stage in Cedar Rapids, many city blocks still look like a war zone. Many families have crowded into homes with friends or relatives or into the FEMA trailers delivered to the area. Exile is a very real concept to many of these close-knit neighbors who are now scattered across the city.

But little by little, they are returning to these flooded neighborhoods. Little by little, there are signs of rebirth. Whether it is another business reopening or another home that is gutted and rebuilt, the people of Cedar Rapids are raising up the former devastations. They are rising above the floods that threatened to overwhelm them. It has been amazing to witness how the good news and the grace of God have been present in the recovery. Strangers are going out of their way to help one another. Churches have become beacons of hope. There is a very real sense that while this was a terrible tragedy, while the way forward is unknown, God is there. And the people are not rebuilding alone.

There is a sense of pride, as there should be for the countless hours of hard work that have gone into making a dent in the devastation. But that pride is tempered by the knowledge that the job of the church is not to take credit, but to simply point to the gospel and the One who came to bring the good news to life. Like John the Baptist, we know that we are not the Messiah, but we are witnesses to the light of Christ that has broken into our midst. And we hold onto and proclaim the promise that “all will be well. You can ask me how but only time will tell.” (All Will Be Well, by the Gabe Dixon Band).

coffee....

oh... and since i got up early, I made some coffee.

it tastes so good, but in the long run, it's going to tear my esophoghas in two... i just know it!

I guess you just have to make choices, and this morning, I'm choosing based on my short term sanity vs. long term health. This morning.

crap. I'm procrastinating again.

papers and work and delegating

I am exhausted this morning. And I really need an assistant at the church. If by July I'm still feeling these stresses, I'm going to insist that we hire someone part time. Because I have so little time to do the things that I really need to do.

For example. I got up at 6:30 this morning to finish typing newsletter articles. 1) yes, other people should be helping to write articles... that will be addressed starting in January, 2) once I get the articles typed, I have to arrange them on the page and then I head to the office to print out all the copies.

Part of this is my fault. I love doing graphic related things (not that kind of graphic!) And I'm the one with patience for the copy machine that jams every three copies. And in some ways, its easier to simply write up the quick announcements and articles myself instead of tracking down 10 people to each write their little piece. So I have done it myself.

My point is - all of those tasks above can and should be done by someone else. My contribution should be my montly column, coordinating with others re: the calendar and that's that.

I'm getting better about delegating. sort of. I have someone in mind to take over the newsletter if I can convince her to do it. And I'm meeting with someone next week about helping me to coordinate visitation to our homebound and nursing home residents and new visitors. I figure, if I have someone telling me who needs seen on any given week, it will be easier for me to follow through!

I've also been trying to make some long term plans for ministry for next year. But again, I think I'm taking too big of a chunk of the work for myself - at least planning wise.

We are trying keep our committee meetings to 6 per year (some meet too often with little to do, and others only meet once or twice a year - this is an attempt at compromise). So I got to brainstorming and realized that six meetings neatly helps our mission team to focus on one color of our Rainbow Covenant each month - if, that is, our Special Sundays are handled by the worship team. So I brainstormed what would be logical colors to focus on based on the mission activities we do in various times of the year. And I called our mission chair into my office and wanted, really, to say: here is an example of how we can arrange our year. She breathed a sigh of relief - I'm so glad that you did that, because I thought you wanted me to! (doh!)

If I can give the team the outline - and they are the ones who implement it... is that still okay?

Lectionary Leanings

The second installment of my articles for the Circuit Rider:

December 7
Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13,
II Peter 3:8-15a, Mark 1:1-8
Anticipation is not an emotion that we experience too often these days. We live in a “have it your way, fast” kind of culture. Anything you want in the entire world is at your fingertips through the wonders of the Internet, and now that the Internet is built into many of our cellular devices, we can literally take the world with us wherever we go.

Not only can we access information, music, images, and people with lightning speed, but we actually seem to be able to fit more things and tasks into our lives through the wonders of multitasking. The other day, I was driving to a meeting, trying to go over my notes, eating pretzels and listening to NPR on the radio. Coincidentally, the morning program was about multitasking. According to the neuroscientist on the program, our minds really can’t do multiple things at once; we simply shift our focus between all of these tasks very, very quickly.The problem with all of these rapid shifts between activities is that we leave ourselves very little time and space to prepare for what comes next.

More importantly, we have forgotten about the importance of waiting. We think we are avoiding all of those terrible feelings like anxiety and impatience and frustration when we occupy our waiting minds with other things, but we also miss out on feelings of what Merriam-Webster calls “pleasurable expectation,” or anticipation.

Just think of the anticipation that would have surrounded the crowds who came out to hear John preaching there in the wilderness. He was a sight to see for sure, with his camel hair garb and that strange diet of locusts and honey. We get to experience
Advent every year. It’s on our calendars and so we know it’s on its way. But those crowds who traveled from Jerusalem out to the countryside had no idea how long they would have to wait or what they were even waiting for. All they knew was that this crazy guy was standing in the river, washing away sins, but that someone even more powerful was coming. Someone who would not only wash them clean, but who could make them whole. Someone who was about to turn the whole world upside down.
Now, that’s what I call anticipation.