FF: HGTV

From Rev Gals:

As some of you may know I am in the midst of my first home purchase. It is a new-build and so some of the fun was picking out upgrades and major decor items to my taste rather than walking into a previously owned home that needed to be upgraded room by room (pink and teal tiles in the bathroom, anyone?). As much as decorating is not my thing, I did try to embrace the moment because just how many times do you get to have a do-over on kitchen cabinets/floors/countertops?

And so, my questions to you this fine Friday involve your home past, present or future...

1) If you could, what room in the place you are currently living would you redo first?

I think the first room I would want to play with would be our family room downstairs. It is kind of empty and needs some love. We currently have a sectional couch from my parents basement, a microwave cart, a college tv stand, a dvd bookshelf and a small kitchen table with my husbands computer on it down there. It's sad.

I would start by painting the walls (I'm thinking red) and getting some great black and white posters to hang. I also have a number of black and white photos the we have taken and of family to put up. (right now the walls are bare)

I'd buy a larger game table for playing cards and board games and I would get a larger corner unit for the television. And then some storage items - like one of those great big square coffee tables with all the storage underneath.

2) What is the most hideous feature/color/decor item you have ever seen in a home?

I actually haven't lived in that many hideous houses... but the pastel, 80's era, geometric designed curtains in my in-laws dining room is probably the most hideous I can think of.

3) What feature do you most covet? Do you have it? If not, is it within reach?

A fireplace. Hands down. I was actually thinking about wanting a fireplace a few days ago, and then this week, we were looking through the history book that our church historian just completed, and in the article on the opening of this parsonage - there was a FIREPLACE in the living room. WHY was that taken out?

4) Your kitchen - love it or hate it? Why?

I really like my kitchen in the parsonage. All the cabinetry was done by a former pastor. It is HUGE and has lots of storage space. I might update the appliances a bit, but they are really just fine.

I think the only thing I would add would be shelves or a counter top in one corner. It is a dividing wall between the dining room/living room and an odd little corner. A breakfast nook wouldn't quite fit. We had a small kitchen table there for a while (see #1) but we really need a place to put recycling items and hide the litter box underneath. We never ate at the table while it was there, because the dining room is literally two steps away.

5) Here is $10,000 and you HAVE to spend it on the place you are living now. What do you do?

First, buy a bedroom suite. We currently have no headboard, and a scrappily put together suite a an endtable, a twin size headboard/shelving unit, and a dresser we got off of a curb at one point. I would love to have a matching set and two dressers - my husband just has too many t-shirts and could fill up our current one on his own.

Second, buy a game table for the basement. And a nice entertainment center/stereo system.

Third, redo the countertops in the kitchen to something that isn't white. I think that we have already stained at least one section from kool-aid. They look just fine, but soak up stains like you wouldn't believe.

Fourth, put new tile down in the basement laundry/bath room. It's like a 1970's orangish tan that really isn't that cheery.

BONUS: Why do you think there was such a surplus of ugly bathroom tile colors showcased in all homes built from the 1950's right through the early 80's?

lol... I forgot this was the bonus when I listed my final $10,000 makeover wish. Of course the bathroom tile is ugly... it had to match the advacado green toilets and sinks they were putting in.

Ironically, I really like advacado green. I painted my church office that color when I moved into it. And all the older women looked at me like I was crazy - but it looks really nice!

ka-clunk

My ghetto cruiser decided to fall apart on Saturday morning. I was stopped at an intersection about three blocks from my house (after driving to Des Moines and back on Friday and to my parents and back right before this incident) when I began to turn the corner. And heard a big clunk and felt the front right side of my car drop to the ground.

My stupid ball joint broke on the tire, which caused the suspension to fall to the ground and the tire to tilt periously within the wheel well. And then I got to sit there, in the frigid cold waiting for my husband to bring the phone book and then wait with him in his car while we waited for the tow truck and guarded my car - which was in the middle of the intersection.

I was secretly praying that it would be a major repair. if it was $1500 or more - I was going to say screw it and just get rid of the car. But alas, the ball joint costs only $50 and my dad is coming over Saturday to fix it with my little brother. I so desperately want a newer, more fuel efficient, potentially hybrid, vehicle. I'm the type of person who should be driving around in a cute little VW beetle or a Prius. Maybe that's a bit yuppy of me, but it just suits my personality so much more than this big black Lincoln Towncar with the chrome side panels. *sigh*

In other news, church went pretty well this morning. I had a pretty long teaching sermon on the Lord's Prayer that I think got kind of wordy and long. I would definately do it differently next time. We are doing a six week study on the Lord's Prayer based on "Becoming Jesus' Prayer" and this week was all about what the prayer teaches us about what it means to be faithful. Perhaps I could have broken the sermon into two sections, but then it wouldn't fit nicely into my Epiphany Season series. Oh well.

I did find a great children's sermon where we made a prayer sandwich - putting five themes of the prayer: praise, hope,depend, forgive, goodness - between two slices of bread. The kids really liked the silliness of it all.

FF: Cabin Fever

Here in snow country we are settled in to what is a very long stretch of potentially boring days. The holidays are over. It is a very long time till we will get outside on a regular basis. The snow that seemed so beautiful at first is now dirty and the snow banks are piling up. Our vehicles are all the same shade of brownish grey, but if we go to the car wash our doors will freeze shut. People get grumpy. Of course, not everyone lives in a cold climate, but even in warmer places the days till springtime can get long. Help! Please give us five suggestions for combating cabin fever and staying cheerful in our monochromatic world?

1) Lots of movies. I love to catch up on all of the great movies that I missed in the last year, as well as old classics. This week, I'm really looking forward to watching both the Golden Compass and Juno.

2) Cooking and baking. Yesterday I made homemade chicken and dumplings for the first time in my life. And I made homemade chocolate chip cookies the night before.

3) Chopping vegetables. sweet yellow peppers, bright orange carrots, crisp green celery.

4) Playing games. My family's favorite game right now is "Carcassone" - in which you create your own kingdom and have cities and farms and roads. But we also play a lot of cards. Pinochle, Hearts, 500...

5) I'm thinking of taking knitting back up. If I can remember how to cast on the stitches. I have some friends that are having babies and I'm thinking about making them booties.

Assistant

I'm all alone in my work at the church - at least as far as paid help goes. There are great volunteers who come in to fold the bulletins and newsletters, who take care of the sanctuary (candles, communion), and who help with other areas. But to really be effective in my ministry, it would really help to have a paid administrative assistant - even for 10 hours a week.

As I have been thinking about this a lot lately, I talked with my cell group Monday about what kind of job description this would entail. And I realized from talking to one of them that I am really looking for someone tech oriented. Her parish secretary uses a computer like its a typewriter - and I need someone who can help me utilize technology to help us do the work of the church.

Here is the start of my wish list:

1) send out weekly postcard reminders for upcoming meetings
2) format and print the bulletins weekly (volunteers can still help fold and stuff)
3) collect newsletter articles, format, and print monthly newsletter
4) update our website with relevant information and stories
5) order supplies/books, keep resource room/office stocked and organized
6) maintain electronically (computer and web) as well as on paper (large wall calendar) a master calendar of church activities.
7) be contact for scheduling of weddings/meetings at the church.
8) NOT be a church member

What would you add to this list? How many hours a week would be reasonable for these tasks?

s "I" n

Another Wednesday morning conversation with local pastors on the lectionary. I really enjoy this time to meet with my colleagues and talk about how to translate the gospel into plain language and a word that our congregation can make a part of their lives. The scriptures are tricky. They are written in ancient languages, in ancient contexts, and they use ideas and concepts that really just don't translate to our world today.

This morning in particular, we talked about the first healing in the gospel of Mark. I hadn't thought about this before, but there isn't a whole lot of demonic activity in the Old Testament. And there isn't a whole lot of demonic activity after Jesus either. At least not in the same sense that we see in these scriptures. As I talked with a friend about it today, we talked about how the "powers" might work in our world today.

In all honesty he said, if evil works through manipulation - then in people who are superstitious and believe in spirits - then working through evil spirits and demons makes sense. But in our modern scientific culture, we don't buy the whole "spirits" thing. What if the devil is simply working through other means - through means by which we can be manipulated - reason, science, false theology, etc.

I hadn't ever thought of that before - and it really made sense. I think that throughout history God reaches out to us in different ways - so why not the evil powers of the world as well?

After that, i headed to the church for our weekly bible study. This group basically reads through a book or section of the bible and we try to understand it, but mostly, it is to get a feel for the whole story. Right now we are in Numbers, and I found myself stopping the group after every paragraph to explain a few important pieces. We were reading in particular the section where it talks about what a man should do if he is jealous and suspects his wife of cheating. There is all of this talk of bitter water and the priest and fallen thighs and it made no sense. So I translated. "If a guy is jealous, he takes his wife to the priest, who then administers this bitter water solution... if she is pregnant (presumably by another man) it will cause a miscarriage. If she is not pregnant, either she has not been cheating and is cleared, or doesn't get caught... but it's likely that she won't do it again. All guys are in the clear and won't get in trouble for their actions."

Comments ranged from "that's not fair" to "why would they do that?" I explained that one reason is that women were viewed much differently - as property, as the belonging of the husband in this time. But also, that the law actually provided a way for a woman to prove her innocence - so in that sense, it was protective.

We also talked about the vow of the Nazarite. And I noticed in particular a different understanding of what sin might be within these passages. The Nazarite is not allowed to touch a corpse, but if someone dies right next to that person, and so they are unwillfully put in contact with the corpse, they have still sinned. There is a process for cleansing and setting things right in relationship to God and their vows.

We think about sin and law as an act that 'I' have done that breaks a law. It carries a sense of guilt and punishment. But when we think about law as order, as a process, as a way of being - then sin is simply when that order gets out of balance. What is required is not punishment, but restoration.

I have found that my congregation really tends to think of the law as this harsh thing that condemns and convicts - the law needs to be laid down - God is always telling us how we are supposed to act and we are faithful if we follow all those laws to a "T". I'm really trying to get them to have a more graceful understanding of the law. God's Word should rule our lives, and God's grace is what saves us and the law is still a good thing that helps us to live more in line with God's will. But it is also in many places used to describe a way of being that is not in line with our culture, and we have to use God's grace to interpret the laws we read in Numbers.

Amen.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I got to watch the inauguration after holding bible study at church. Three parishoners joined me quickly in my office to watch the cnn.com live feed on my laptop.

I've been watching tv pretty much all day and really feel like there isn't a lot left to say. It's all been said, or at least I've had all the rhetoric and ideas and phrases spun around my sphere of influence that I'd probably just repeat other people's profound thoughts.

I thought of all the moments I wanted to share, to remember, to really carry with me, the first was Rev. Lowery's benediction. It was real and authentic and funny and gave glory to God and moved the crowd and he's a United Methodist.

Second, how cute President Obama and the First Lady look while dancing (and how amazing was Beyonce's version of "At Last"... which got old after the second time... although they didn't) They kind of did the same spiel at each ball stop, although I was really touched by some of the things he said at the youth ball.

They really just have this aura of real and true love and confidence in one another and just seemed to be having such a good time. It was refreshing and beautiful - Rachel Maddow said something about how it must never get old to dance with your beloved. Beloved is a really good word to use to describe at least what I saw today.

Third, it really is amazing how much technology has played a part in this inauguration. I just looked up at the t.v. and there was an image of a crowd waiting and the stage lit up waiting for them to come out and there were all of these little blue squares. I realized they were all digital cameras, held up by the crowd, pointed at the stage. All of those little screens waiting to take pictures, like lighters held up at a concert. I don't know if it's just because I'm paying attention this time, but I can't remember other inaugurations bringing this many people together in so many ways and all of this technology being employed to bring the message, the celebration to so many.

Start the Fire

So, my great Monday morning sleep in was interrupted by cats behaving terribly... mostly b/c they were hungry. Tiki got taken to the vet to be fixed today, so no food after 6pm last night, and instead of locking him up by himself, we just put the food away. But sometimes that's the only time when Turbo eats and they were both STARVING. and crazy. and making lots of morning noise. Silly cats.

I had a great meeting with my young adult cell group this afternoon. We talked forever, about everything and I got SO much out of it. It's strange how much you crave that kind of conversation. Plus the chocolate tort that I got to eat at the end of about hour three was fantastic.

I listened to NPR both on the way out and way back from the meeting. I am so excited about all of the inaugural events and so proud of our country right now. As I listened to Rep. John Lewis share his story and listened to the pastor who will deliver the closing benediction tomorrow, I really got choked up thinking about how monumental tomorrow is.

I am supposed to be leading a small group study - right at the time of the inauguration events - I'm going to try to close early, or invite them to watch with me or something - it's too important to miss. Even if it's on my laptop with streaming CNN coverage or something.

Checking the NYT today I saw this great column: an updated version of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" that I thought I should share. In high school, we did a Billy Joel show for marching band and this brought back SO many memories.

We Didn’t Start the Fire (2)by Roger Cohen

Bill Clinton, Tina Fey, capitalist China, O.J.,
Asia rising, Facebook, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ugg boots, Seinfeld
West Bank, Gaza City, Tupac Amaru Shakur

Mohamed Atta, W.M.D., Harry Potter, Reality TV
Tom Cruise, American Beauty, MP3, Oprah Winfrey

Schwarzenegger, YouTube, America’s got organic food
Armstrong, blogosphere, Monica Lewinsky

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Vlad Putin, Medvedev, Assad, Posh-and-Becks
The West Wing, Y2K, massacre in Falluja

Britney Spears, Spike Lee, Kurt Cobain, Sarkozy
Mia Hamm, Heath Ledger, Viagra, Napster

Lindsay Lohan, skinny jeans, Boston’s got a winning team
Lehman Brothers, A.I.G., subprime, Ponzi scheme

Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia, and a billion poor,
Tehran, Hezbollah, trouble with the jihadis

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

New Orleans, Bolaño, Sarah Palin no-go
TiVo, Hu Jintao, and the vegan-eco crowd

Tony Blair, Paris Hilton, Princess Di, Bin Laden
Pyongyang, the renditions gang, Roger Clemens in a cloud

ACT UP, Infinite Jest, O.J. Part Two, Johnny Depp
iPhones, Federer, Who Let the Dogs Out?

Halle Berry, cloned Dolly, and another Kennedy
Jon Stewart, American Psycho, tsunami, Danger Mouse

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Sedaris, Unabomber, Girls Gone Wild, Nasrallah
Jay-Z, Shanghai, shock and awe in Baghdad

Amy Winehouse, Imus, gases of the greenhouse
Kelly Ripa, Maureen Dowd, Ted Williams gone mad

Outsourcing, Mumbai, so many didn’t have to die
David Blaine, human rights, and Napoleon Dynamite

Mandela, Madonna’s ex, abstinence, safe sex
Rabin blown away, what else do I have to say?

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

BlackBerry, global mall, Hillary Clinton standing tall
Tiger Woods, Barry Bonds, MySpace, The Corrections

Rushdie, Starbucks, Channel Tunnel, Spurlock
American Idol, Black Hawk Down, Miracle on the Hudson

Sopranos, Cougars, Da Vinci Code, life on Mars
Saddam hung, Mugabe, traumatic stress, mission creep

Social networks, match.com, iChat, Amazon,
Terror cells, endless war, I can’t take it anymore

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Hawaii, Kenya, Kansas and Jakarta
Harvard, finding God, social work, Axelrod

Red state, blue state, unity can no longer wait,
A time to reap, a time to sow, we will close Guantánamo

Iowa, Yes We Can, McCain was just an also-ran
I Have a Dream, Bush out, a black man in the White House

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire ...

Lazy.

Today has been a lazy day. I've spent much of it on the couch playing games and watching movies. It's been a lazy week, really, and I'm not to proud to admit it.

I feel like I'm kind of in a funk right now - like I have been working too hard and I just don't want to anymore. And mostly, I know that's not true - I really haven't been working all that hard, and compared to some people, who labor very hard all day long, I'm hardly working at all. There is a guy in my church who works two jobs and is a lay preacher for another congregation. And there is my dad who works a bazillion hours a week and farms. I don't know how they do it. And in some ways, they really shouldn't be doing it - they are driving their bodies crazy with all that really hard work. (See Thursday's post)

But I'm in a funk, and I need to get out of it. I need to get off my bum and hop to it.

One of my brilliant ideas this evening (late, late this evening) is to go back and post my sermons from the past year. I've started a new blogsite to do so and you can find the link at the top of this blog's page.

As far as what I'm currently preaching on, I'm working on a sermon series that is largely and heavily borrowed from a wonderful little devotional book "Becoming Jesus' Prayer" - so i'm not sure how comfortable I feel posting the texts... I've put my own spin on it of course, but I'm also using large quoted sections in the preached word. Anyone have ideas of how I can gracefully navigate around that one? Do I post it anyways and give the appropriate citation? Do I include only the sections that I have put in my own words, or the pieces where I have taken the chapter in new directions? Do I ask for permission to include their text?

FF: Take Me, Baby, or Leave Me

Although written by a young man, this song from "Rent" became an anthem for women of a certain age ready to be taken on their own terms. Maureen and Joanne love each other, but they are *very* different.



Whether it's new friends or new loves or new employers, what are five things people should know about you?

This Friday Five is really challenging for me, because I realize how many people I'm not completely honest with about. I don't have enough confidence in myself, enough trust in other people to believe that they really will take me for what I am and still accept me.

So, what would I want to say to all of those people, family, friends, church members, who only see the "neutral" me?

1) My husband isn't a Christian, and for the most part, I'm really okay with that.

2) I consider myself a liberal. In all facets of my life. Politically, economically, socially, theologically. This has been the hardest one b/c my family is pretty conservative, and so is the majority of my church. What I need to find the balance of is how to be me without imposing my views.

3) I am a huge procrastinator.

4) I like for things to be clean and organized, but I don't always put things away... not until I need to work on something and then I get the urge to clean. or when I'm stressed. I clean then too.

5) I take things personally. I try not to, but when you comment about something around me or something that I am a part of, or something that is in my sphere of influence, I take it personally.

Take Me Home.

Today was bitterly cold outside. So cold in fact that they cancelled school. And I cancelled church activities. You just didn't want to go outside unless you had to. I'm not being a wuss - I'm talking record setting all time lows here - you would get frostbite in 7 minutes in this weather.

I have never been in weather that was quite this cold before. And I didn't really feel all that prepared for it. At least not footware wise.

The one trip I did make out of doors was to the nursing home for my monthly worship service there. And of course, I wore my cute little ankle boots with the pointed toe and heel.... but with fuzzy warm hot pink socks on underneath. I need a pair of uggs, or at least really warm boots, or something.

I really enjoy worshipping at the nursing home. I almost always share communion with them, and found that I am the only one who brings communion to their community worship. The Catholics have a separate mass, and the other denominations are more exclusive about who is welcome at the table. So, it is a joy to be able to walk around the room and share the bread of heave and the cup of salvation with these dear old folk.

Today, however, I largely used the service from the previous Sunday in church, and so we remembered our baptisms. I had a basin of water and invited them to dip their fingers in and remember that God loves them and has called them each by name. As I came to one woman, she said with joy, "I was baptized in the Iowa River!" Of course, there was the other woman who had fallen asleep and was gently nudged by her neighbor when I showed up with the bowl, but that is pretty typical with this group.

This congregation is largely women - in fact, I think there was only one man in worship today. His name is Bill and he is a beloved old member of my congregation. He was a farmer and milked cows by hand for 60+ years, which has caused his fingers to literally freeze up all curled together from the arthritis. I think about my dad and what he will be like at the age of 97 if he lives that long, and I see much the same type of body. A hard worker whose body has long ago worn out.

There was one woman in particular that I sat with after worship today. Her name is grace and all throughout the service, she asked who was going to take her home. At the end I had a chance to chat and she really wanted to know why she had gone outside in this weather and who was going to come and get her and take her home. I told her gently that this is her home now, this is where she belongs and there are wonderful people who are here to take care of her.

Partly it was her dementia, but partly, don't we all want someone to take us home? To take us back to that place of comfort and rest and belonging that we know so dear? And aren't there all of those songs that tell us we are just waiting to be rescued and taken to our eternal home?

We sing a lot of those songs in worship at the nursing home. "I'll Fly Away." "In the Garden." And I think what is hard for even us to understand is that THIS is our home. This is where we are meant to be right now. And we too, have to get used to this place, to find our place here, and figure out how we can be at home among one another.

Who Would Jesus Smack Down?

This morning one of our small groups met and I started Joyce Rupp's "The Cup of Our Lives" with them. It thought it went really well! I'm also now up to 5 youth and a male chaperone besides myself who are able to go on our youth mission trip this summer. Which is fantastic!

I ran some errands - including buying some good nutritious food to stock the fridge with, and then sat down for lunch with my computer. And came across this article:

Who Would Jesus Smack Down?
By MOLLY WORTHEN
Published: January 11, 2009
The Seattle minister Mark Driscoll is out to transform American evangelicalism with his macho conception of Christ and neo-Calvinist belief in the total depravity of man.

I know I said that I would be commenting on "The Shack" soon... and I hope to... but for some reason I stumbled across this today and just sat there with my jaw dropped staring at the screen.

I didn't know anything about this church before I read the article and there are some things about how it is portrayed that make my blood boil and there are other things that really resonate with me. And so I'm going to talk about them in no particular order.

First of all, the Calvinist theology. It's not me. I'm a die-hard Methodist. And while there may only be a hair's breadth between Calvinism and Methodism, I would say that it's a mighty thick hair. And to be fair to Calvin, this New Calvinism takes his attempt to hang on to the sovereignty of God and just runs with the unintended implications much more than Calvin ever would have. There is a determinism there that is extremely uncomfortable for me. Not because I'm a "limp-wristed liberal," but because I want to leave room for God to do what God wants - and that includes redeeming the irredeemable.

Secondly, along with the theology comes an interpretation of the bible that is ironically more refreshing that traditional conservative literal evangelical spin... because it takes seriously the New Testament messsage that prohibitions against things like drinking and dancing just don't jive with what Jesus tried to teach... that attempting to live righteously by the law is to live like a Pharisee. But, the interpretative framework doesn't leave any room for the contextual explanations of Paul's comments on the genders or leave room for the call of God to teach and preach to come to women. And I have a huge problem with that since I am a woman and have experienced that call. (Perhaps this is where I stick in a not so subtle comment about Wesleyan theology and the quadralateral of biblical interpretation: scripture, tradition, reason and experience.)

Third, and this is related to the gender discussion, Driscoll wants to basically save Jesus from the theology that has emasculated him. I want to both agree and disagree here. There is a lot within theology that does paint Jesus as the soft and gentle one who loves us. And there are some interpretations of the crucifixion that want to see pacifism as weak, as Christ's refusal to fight back or stand up for himself as a feminine way of being (Not my interpretation). BUT, why are feminine attributes so negative in Driscoll's eyes? Why can't Jesus embrace both the traditionally masculine and feminine aspects of humanity? And the whole argument supposes that Christ's form of resistance to power... his refusal to give in AND his willingness to die for sinners... is what has made Christ weak, or in the words of the article:

has transformed Jesus into “a Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ,” a “neutered and limp-wristed popular Sky Fairy of pop culture that . . . would never talk about sin or send anyone to hell.”

On the contrary, the true power of Christ in my theology is described in terms of kenosis - of emptying himself - of pouring out himself for others. In doing so, he fully took on human existence and redeemed it, once and for all. He gave up everything in order that none would have to be condemned to hell. But, there is still a choice involved. Christ, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, continues to reach out to us but it is up to us whether or not we respond. That's not weak. That is what love and relationship look like.

Fourth, I love the way that the church meets people where they are and believe that God is found everywhere within the culture. I can totally relate to the description of the people as:

cultural activists who play in rock bands and care about the arts, living out a long Reformed tradition that asserts Christ’s mandate over every corner of creation

I have no complaint here and applaud their ability not only to reach out to those who would be uncomfortable in a mainline church, but also to challenge them to live differently. In the words of Anne Lamott (or someone else if it came before her) "God loves you just the way you are, and loves you too much to let you stay that way."

Fifth, the idea that to question authority is to sin. OMG. seriously. That paragraph in the article about made me scream. To start off with, since Calvinism is a REFORMED tradtion... there was some questioning of authority somewhere along the way. That being said, I have no tolerance for authoritarianism. (haha, i made a joke) Questioning is what makes us human, it is the gift of the Holy Spirit that allows the body of Christ to discern what is the will of God. I must admit here that Mr. Wesley himself could be fairly authoritarian in his own day, and he made some bad choices as a result of which (see his love life in Georgia for example). But to shun elders within the church because they opposed the new organizational structure? Are you serious? I guess that's a long way from the idea of Christian conferencing that became a part of the Wesleyan tradition... Or maybe I'm just being limp-wristed again. GAH!

Winter

Yeah, I know it's been winter for like three weeks now, but we are getting some pretty heavy winter weather in Iowa this week.

I normally take Monday mornings off - to recouperate from the weekend - and then head in to the office after lunch. But I didn't really feel like shoveling the driveway, and I didn't really feel like turning on the heat over at the church just for myself, and I didn't really think that I could accomplish anything there that I couldn't accomplish just as well at home.

So I stayed in my pj's and worked from the couch today. And it was great.

There are definately some advantages to being a solo pastor at a small church with no other staff. Like being able to make my own schedule the way I have and the flexibility that comes with it. But there are also serious disadvantages.

Sometimes I need the accountability of others. It's easy to decide to come in late if no one is there and no one cares.

But it's also sometimes nice just to have other people to talk with in an office. My last church office situation was three interns together in one office with couches... and we definately spent 2/3 of our time chatting... about serious stuff! Bouncing ideas off of one another, talking about ministry plans, doing some tough theological work... and yes, complaining when the moment called for it. I miss having a couch in my office - but more importantly, I miss having people in my office.

Theologically, I'm very relational. I believe strongly that the Holy Spirit moves through many people and that only in community can we truly discern the Spirit. I believe that God wants us to be in relationship with others and that we cannot do this (the journey of faith) alone.

Now, I do have lots of groups that I connect with. I'm part of a sub-district group of UM pastors who meet once a month. I'm part of a group of young clergy that meets once a month. And I have breakfast every week with another pastor and DCE in town. So that fulfills some of that.

Most days, though, the internet is my connection to others. It is my source for theological discussions and brainstorming. But it's not always there when I need it, and it can't go out for a margarita after work. (or during work.)

Whose Baptism?

For a few weeks, I have felt a bit off in my sermon prep. The pieces I wanted to come together hadn't, and it just seemed like the message wasn't connecting with people where they were.

This week, I surely had a much different focus going into the sermon than what was produced, but I for some reason got into a roll on a modern interpretation of the passage from Acts this morning. I talked about a group of guys heading to the big city to see this crazy preacher lady. They just wanted to see the spectacle, but they were moved and were baptised by Jane B. in the river. And they headed home and while they wanted things to be different, nothing really was.

A few years went by and suddenly this traveling preacher came to town named Paul and he told them about what they had been missing out on - that they only had half the story - and immediately those believers were filled with the Holy Spirit.

I hope to post on this in a few days, but I read the book "The Shack" last week. It absolutely amazed me. Yeah, there are some theological points that I don't agree with, but if I'm honest with myself, there are far more that resonate with my own theology than don't. Especially when it comes to really being open and trusting that God can dwell within you. That your life can be different because God lives within you.

In my sermon this morning, I tried to move from that story of missing pieces to talk about how we don't fully understand the power of the Holy Spirit that is given to us in baptism. We underestimate its power. We don't trust it. And so we are not able to do the things we know we are called to. We get caught up in fear and hesitation instead of resting in the knowledge that God is within us, God has filled us, God loves us and God is for us.

In the service we also had a time to remember our baptisms and I think the morning went very well. I had a number of people come up to me after the service and talk about how meaningful it was for them. And what was even more amazing about the service is that I felt like I really worshipped this morning too.

Afterwards we had our first ever worship committee meeting to talk about plans for Lent and Easter. Getting answers and ideas out of them was like pulling teeth, and I'm not sure if that's because I'm asking the wrong questions or if they just aren't used to being asked these kinds of questions. I think we did come up with a general theme for the lenten season: Simplicity and Spiritual Disciplines... about what we need to let go of in order to really enjoy our relationship with God... as well as some songs to guide us through the season. We talked about plans for Holy Week, Ash Wednesday, and then Easter Sunday.

To my amazement, someone suggested that we scrap the Sunrise Service - because it doesn't have a large attendance, and the youth aren't really involved in it anyways. And then someone agreed. And someone actually said: just because we've always done it that way doesn't mean that it's worth doing. WOO HOO!!! Last year's Easter Sunrise service was something the youth group helped me put together - complete with hard rock songs instead of hymns... and then none of them showed up. So this gives me permission to not do it... yay!

The rest of the day was spent on the couch watching moves. Lots of movies. "I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry" "Music and Lyrics" "Burn After REading" "Hancock" "Ratatouille"... it was just one of those kinds of days.

Fit.

Today the hubby and I got up and headed over to my parents' house for lunch and to see the rest of the fam. But not before we shoveled the driveway. There were six inches of beautiful white fluffy stuff on the drive. And it made the drive quite long.

We had a good day. I hadn't seen my brother and sister-in-law since Thanksgiving and it was nice to just hang out. We exchanged our Christmas presents late, and Brandon and I were pretty excited to get Wii Fit! But I was not nearly so excited when I had to do my body test and had the scale pop up and my mii plumped out to match my current weight. Bleh.

We headed out with some friends and saw Valkyrie and then off to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. All and all, it was the sort of day where i just felt like normal person, instead of a pastor. And I like those sorts of days.

FF: Pancakes

Fridays are my days off, but I got up at a reasonable time to draft a letter of support from our ministerial alliance for a grant the city is trying to recieve. Somehow I became president of our ministerial alliance, even though I'm the youngest one and I've only been here for a year. Or rather, because I'm the youngest and I've only been here a year. The new kid on the block gets all of the responsibility, because no one else wants it =)

For a little fun, here is the RevGals Friday Five: It's time for something light and fluffy (literally). Pull up a chair to the kitchen table and tell us all about your pancake preferences.

1. Scratch or mix? Buttermilk or plain?

I almost always use pancake mix. It's just easier to add water to a complete mix and be done. And they taste just fine. We normally buy buttermilk.

2. Pure and simple, or with additions cooked in?

I love plain and simple pancakes. Just some butter and some maple syrup. That's all you really need. If I'm going to add something, usually it's blueberries or chocolate chips, but it is very rare that we do so.

3. For breakfast or for dinner?

Both! We have breakfast for dinner quite often. And don't forget about brunch!

4. Preferred syrup or other topping? How about the best side dish?

Again, I like to keep them simple. Butter and Maple Syrup. On the side, nothing is better than chewy bacon.

5. Favorite pancake restaurant?

Of course, there is the Pancake Pantry in Nashville... they have Sweet Potato Pancakes that are to DIE for.
Back here in Iowa, our local cafe has pretty decent pancakes - they are my Wednesday morning ritual.

Bonus: Any tasty recipes out there, for pancakes or other special breakfast dishes? Bring 'em on!

I have a friend in college who always added a table spoon of sugar and a dash of lime juice to her pancakes. They made them pretty tasty!

Mommys

A few weeks ago, I blogged about my lack of a 'mom look' and so on the advice of lots of people... as well as something that I just knew I needed to do, I scheduled a youth/parent meeting to try to get more of our adults involved with the youth group. Our first gathering was postponed due to weather and so we met tonight.

We typically have between 3 and 15 kids show up for youth group. It's completely hard to plan things when you have no idea who is going to show up. But I thought, if we have 10 of them show up with their parents for the meeting tonight, we're gonna need a lot of food. I ordered 10 pizzas from Caseys. And when the meeting time came, there were only seven of us there. DOH!

By the time our meeting was over, we had a total of nine youth and five parents at the meeting. I talked with the kids about signing a youth group covenant - mostly about respecting one another and making the commitment to show up on time for events and agreeing to come with an open mind and a flexible spirit. They thought that was just fine and we also talked about what is going to happen if the covenant is broken.

But what I really appreciated was that through the whole thing, whenever the kids got to chatting just a little too much, one of the mom's flashed "the look" in their general direction. Thank God for mommys!

I passed around among the parents a sign up sheet for treats/meals and helping to chaperone/supervise our weekly meetings. I think we have someone for almost all the weeks! I'm just kicking myself for not doing this sooner. We also discussed our summer youth trip and already have two solid yeses for our mission trip to Nashville - complete with deposit checks. Parents are terrific.

Numbers.

This Wednesday morning, like almost every Wednesday morning, I headed over to the local cafe for breakfast with other area pastors. Normally it is me and the LCMS pastor and the DCE from his church and it's quite an odd combination. But we get along really well and have some fantastic conversations.

Occasionally we are joined by one or another pastor from town... this morning it was the Presbyterian pastor. If the ELCA Lutheran pastor comes, then I'm not the only female, but I haven't seen her for a while.

I'm pretty routine about what I order. A cup of earl grey tea and a pancake. Sometimes a side of bacon. It depends on how much I want to clog my arteries that particular morning.

After breakfast with the lectionary group, I head back to church to study the bible with a small group of parishoners. They like to read through whole books at a time, so when I arrived last January, they were in the middle of Isaiah. They got through the prophets and decided to start at the beginning, with Genesis. We started Numbers today and I am always amazed at the repetition of so many passages in the bible. So and So's family number forty thousand two hundred and fifty men, over the age of twenty, who were able to serve the lord. So and so's family numbered.... you get the picture. We skipped some of the repetition this morning =)

It is so hard to imagine that the numbers describe in Numbers are possible. That over a million people would have been moving nomadically together through the wilderness. As we listened to each other describe each clan's task in the movement and protection of the tabernacle, I got to thinking about a book I read recently, Water for Elephants. It describes the journey of a young man who joins a circus train, and I got to thinking about how the whole circus comes to town and how the big tent and everything gets unloaded and put up seemingly in a moment. And when the circus is ready to move, everything gets torn down again in the blink of an eye. It seems like as close of a paralell as anything else I can imagine for what it must have been like to travel with the tabernacle of God.

I spent the rest of my day at work finishing my candidacy continuance interview forms. In our church, you are commissioned first and then must be continued for the next two years, and then finally you can apply for ordination (complete with about 50 pages of papers and lessons and sermons). I'm grateful in the busyness of this year that I didn't have to write all of those papers. But even getting the short questions I had to answer done seemed like a chore. So many copies to be made, so many envelopes to be addressed. I'm looking forward to my conversation with my interview team in March. There are more people on my team now, I think only two of them are the same as my previous two teams, so it's exciting to talk with them about my ministry and where I can grow and what resources they might have for me.

Epiphany

Today I really got back into the swing of church work because our regular groups started meeting again in the new year. This morning, it was the Sharing As Caring Christians fellowship, or SACC. They meet around food and take turns sharing devotions and then a lesson for the day.

This is one group that I really feel blessed to be a part of, because normally, I'm just another member of the group. I don't have to have my pastor or teacher hat on, unless I want to have it on. I can simply come and be.

For the next six weeks in the group, I will be leading our lessons based on Joyce Rupp's "The Cup of our Life." It is a study that I have been wanting to do with others for some time now, and I'm really looking forward to it. A hidden desire out of this is also to get the group to each bring their own mug for use each week, so that we aren't constantly using styrofoam cups.

After SACC group, I took some time to finish work on the bulletins for Sunday. I am a very rudimentary piano player... I can pluck out a tune with one hand, and sometimes I can get some harmony in there if I am really slow about it. But it is always easier to pick hymns if I am at the piano and know what each one sounds like. It lets me know how easy they are to sing, how familiar they might be, and something that is also important to me - how well they each fit together.

One of my passions in worship is a well fit together service. I want the message in the music to match the message in the written word, to match the message in the spoken word, to match the message in the prayers. Then, at least in one way or another, the congregation will have the gospel come to them, and hopefully reinforced.

What makes that difficult, is that it takes a lot of time to put a service together. And because I change the order of worship and the liturgy to match whatever season we are in, it also is a challenge each time a new season begins to craft the structure for the next few weeks. The upside is that the congregation never fully settles into a routine in worship, and at least while I'm here, they can't ever say "but we've always done it this way..."

The Progression of a Desk

I walked into my office today, after about a week and a half of chaos and disorder.

And while I don't feel like I actually got a lot of tasks accomplished (like my candidacy continuance interview forms), at least the desk got cleared off, the old mail was gone through, and I updated the calendar with the items that need to be done in the coming days.


I find that it is nearly impossible for me to get things accomplished when there is clutter in my life. Everything needs to be put away before I can start afresh. And in the process of sorting and stacking and simplifying, I usually discover something that has been left undone.

Clutter seems to always have been a part of my life. There are some people in the world who are neat and organized, but I have always had a habit of just leaving things around. Nothing gets put where it is supposed to - at least not right away. Organization is an evolving process in my world.

I was fairly proud of myself though. We had purchased some hats and noise makers for New Year's and typically, we wouldn't have anywhere to put them and they would simply be added to the clutter of other things. But now that we have abundant closet spaces in our home, they got put in the seasonal closet: which is a strange assortment of vases and roaster ovens, an easter basket, coolers and sleeping bags. Each of the items in there is used only a few times a year - so it seemed like the perfect place to store them. And now I know where to look come December 31, 2009.

Now if I could only figure out to do with all of our clothes. The problem isn't space (although we could use another dresser). The problem is the weekly task of actually doing the laundry, sorting it, folding it, and PUTTING IT AWAY. I'm thinking I just need to go through everything and make a huge pile for giveaway. half of it I don't wear anymore... it's amazing how many grad school clothes just aren't appropriate for church work.

Ice

I finished the sermon prep last night at about 1:00 and headed off to bed - completely oblivious to the freezing rain outside. I had heard that it was coming, but in all honesty had thought it petered out. My bad.

I had planned on getting up at 7, but for the first time on a Sunday... ever... I slept past my alarm and woke up at about 8. And panicked because I felt like I had something to prepare. But it was all done. Everything but my sermon was at the church, waiting for me, all ready to go. (which is sometimes a rare occurance... see post on procrastination).

So I showered up and sat down at my computer to print off the sermon and I get a phone call from the church... "Pastor Katie, are we having church this morning?"

Having church? Of course we're having church... why woud we not have... and then I looked out my window. Ice. A beautiful thin layer of ice over all the roads. It didn't seem so bad - after all, the powerlines were fine, the trees didn't have that amazing glaze of ice over the branches. Piece of cake. Yes, we're having church.

I have to admit right now that deciding whether or not to have church because of bad weather is one of my most frustrating and hand-wringing parts of my job. Do I cancel and keep people safe? What if it's not really so bad? Will I look like a wuss? I'm young, and I can get there, so we should have it, right? *sigh*.

I hopped into the "ghetto cruiser" and headed off to church. All was fine until I hit the road that our church is on. Solid ice. I think I fishtailed 3 times in 4 blocks and was unable to pull into my usual parking spot. I coasted right by it.

Outside were all of the wonderful but older faithfuls of the church, heading in for Sunday School, trying desperately to stay upright. And a terrific older man with the bag of salt, trying to get some traction on the sidewalks. And I started to wonder if I had made the right choice.

Church went beautifully. We actually had a pretty decent crowd, which surprised me. And then we had Ad Board afterwards (which would have been a p.i.t.a to reschedule). So all was good.

My photo for the day actually comes from this afternoon. My little brother called me up to take him shopping, so we met at my Babi's house. I haven't driven on ice like this for quite a while, so it took me much longer than expected to get there - including a few heart-pounding fishtails into the oncoming lane... without traffic oncoming - thank God! I think there were about four different close encounters of the ditch kind thoughout my travels today, but we made it to the store, and home again safely.

I had a ton of fun hanging out with DJ. I have a friend from back in Nashville who was the youngest in her family, and she always would tell me about the great things that her older siblings were doing to help her out. DJ didn't have the best 2008 in the world... in part because of some poor decisions, but all I want to do is spoil him rotten and make sure he has the things he needs. It kind of feels like it's part of the whole "big sister" job description. I got to thinking on the way home (on the icy roads) about when DJ was born. My other brother and I both had these cute little sweatshirts that our mom had made with puff paint. It said something like "I'm the big sister" and "I'm the big brother." I take my job very seriously =) Tuesday will be his 21st birthday! And it makes me really happy to watch him grow up and to talk with him now as an adult.

Last-Minute

Tiki is sitting at the base of my chair, mewing for me to pay attention to him. I reach out and scratch his head and before I know it, he's up on my desk, watching the candles flicker.

It's another Saturday night spent working on the sermon for Sunday. I could use New Year's as an excuse, or the fact that we did the newsletter this week, or even my trip to Des Moines today to hang out with friends from college, but no, Saturday sermons are pretty typical for me.

I've always been a procrastinator. The ideas and words seem to flow better when there is a sense of urgency. Yeah, yeah, I know that last minute work often has less proof-reading and editing... but I can't seem to get myself to focus until I'm down to the wire. It's my modus operandi. We'll see if that changes any in this next year.

At least I'm writing at my desk. Normally it's on the couch in the living room, but I'm trying to use my personal space better this year. So far today, I've used my office to work out, practice guitar, blog, and now procrastinate on the sermon writing. Probably more use than it has had in a month. That's a pretty good start to '09.

Here is a question for all of you pastors out there. What is the difference between preaching and sermon writing? Are the two ever mutually exclusive for you? And how do you preach a sermon that someone else has written?

I ask mostly because I'm feeling beyond inadequate in my writing tonight. Everything that gets typed gets deleted. I know what I want to say, but I also know of people out there who have put it into much better words than I have at my disposal right now. So maybe this is a question of calling. I feel called to preach, not because I have anything particularly interesting to say, but because I have come to see that I'm a good communicator of God's Word. Is that because I know how to put the gospel into a form that others can empathize with and understand? Or is it because of years of drama and speech experience? Or am I just procrastinating even more?

Sweat.

My life in this past year as a pastor has not been that great for my health. I have way too many sweets coming across my office desk from well-meaning and excellent bakers and cooks in my congregation. And since I love food, I can't say no. Not to mention that as a United Methodist every gathering has food of some sort.

I've mentioned this many times, but I haven't balanced my eating habits with my exercise habits well. But finding my rhythm is also about finding better patterns of behavior. So to start off this year right, I dug an unused piece of exercise equipment out of my parents' basement today... and not only did I bring it home - but I actually used it!

I must admit, I'm encouraging myself to work out by allowing myself to indulge in a guilty pleasure while doing so... one episode of grey's anatomy for each 45 minute workout. I have to admit... it's been months, literally, since I last intentionally exercised. And after about 15 minutes, i thought my thigh muscles were going to explode... or implode... or something. But I was almost halfway through the episode and I allowed that to keep me focused and got through the whole 45 minutes. I'm dreading how my legs will feel in the morning.

FF: Looking Back, Looking Forward

As we look back we may come to understand how God has worked in and through us in joy and saddness. how we have grown against what may seem impossible odds. As we look forward we may do so with expectation, and we may do so with fear and trembling. As we look back and forward in New Years liminality I offer you this simple yet I hope profound Friday Fivein two parts:

First list five things that you remember/treasure from 2008

1. My very first church
2. Adding Turbo and Tiki to our family
3. Worshipping with my new congregation - especially Maundy Thursday and Christmas Eve
4. Wednesday Night dinners with the family
5. Learning how to disc golf with some great friends

Then list five things that you are looking forward to in 2009

1. Becoming healthier (exercising in particular)
2. Learning to play the guitar
3. More time spent with my immediate family
4. Finding my rhythm as a pastor... less trial and error, more consistency
5. Building stronger ties with other young adult pastors.
   
   

Breakfast.

This morning, we got up and made pancakes and shipwreck (eggs, bacon, diced potatoes and cheese) and used the leftover champagne to make mimosas.


And then we got to watch the Hawkeyes kick butt in the Outback Bowl. It's been a good morning!

Yesterday, because of the various errands that I had to run (like dropping off recommendation forms for my candidacy review) I didn't get the church newsletter copied, or the bulletins printed. Even though it's a holiday, I'll be heading in to the church later this afternoon to get all of those little tasks done.