Kelly Fryer's Note to the Church "STOP HOGGING CHRISTMAS!"

STOP HOGGING CHRISTMAS!

Okay that's not her exact words, that's my take on it. Kelly Fryer is always trying to get the church to stop hogging the Gospel to itself. Now she's taking on the Advent Conspiracy in A Renewable Holiday Season And I agree with everything she says.

I've been thinking along these lines for awhile now.  I even had a throw away line in my sermon about how we need to stop being so judgmental about the shopping malls at Christmas as those shopping malls give people jobs so that they can fix a nice Christmas dinner for their families.  A lady in the congregation who owns a store thanked me.  

Just think how she feels with all the scolding about shopping that goes on for Christmas?   

To quote Fryer:

Here's a message that would make more sense this year: SPEND MORE...wisely.

If you've got it, by all means friends, use it to do what matters. Give it away to help the poor. But, also, go spend it at your local florist, bookstore, or clothing shop. Invest it somewhere that will give life and make a difference.

The truth is I've given lip service to this "advent conspiracy" - don't spend money, make your own gifts, be simple gospel, but I never lived it or believed it. 

I LOVE Christmas decorations and lights and SHOPPING for presents.

I've had light up reindeer in my yard. 

Our first Christmas, we were pregnant and poor and my husband and I saw this SILLY USELESS "Santa's band" - where Santa and his elves played 50 Christmas songs on bells.  

It was $50.  $50 was a LOT of money in 1987.  No self-respecting advent conspirator would buy that.  It had nothing to do with Jesus.  But it made my husband and I smile.  And that was our Christmas present to each other.   

Today Santa's band is hopelessly tangled up, it takes up way too much space, the bells are broken so the carols sound pretty weird but the kids insist I get it out every year.


Fryer also challenges us to stop with the "them vs. us" thinking and this "take Christmas back" mentality.   

She's got the nerve to suggest that we stop insisting people can only have Christmas if they come to church.  

She suggests we get out there and celebrate THEIR Christmas with them.... 

And, in whatever way you can think of, be more Ho-Ho-Ho and a lot less Holier-Than-Thou.

Amen sister!  Now I need to go out and BUY MORE LIGHTS!

Lutherans, Hogs and Social Statements

The ELCA has released a  Draft Social Statement on Genetics 
a while ago.  And so now is why a congregation in North Dakota is leaving the ELCA.    Obie Holmen over at Spirit of a Liberal has a good post about how STUPID PEOPLE are about believing  CRAP they read on the internet and reaching all kinds of crazy conclusions and then blaming everything on the ELCA.  Okay well, he says it nicer.

I'd just like to make a few comments.  First of all, the HYPOCRISY of some of this rhetoric is making my eyes bleed.  These are the same people who want the ELCA to have a social statement that tells women exactly what they should do with their bodies and their pregnancies.  But tell a FARMER what do to do with his SEED CORN???  Oh no.  HOW DARE THE ELCA suggest that you know, maybe God and the Gospel and ethics is not just about pregnant women but maybe has something to do with YOUR life??

And what is with all these comments about how terrible social statements are and how they are divisive, and the church sticking its nose where it doesn't belong and yadda yada.

I LIKE social statements.  Even ones I don't agree with or don't think are written all that well.  If Pastors would just USE THEM the way they are supposed to be used, we would all be better off.  

I lay a whole wad of blame on ELCA pastors for our current situation.  Pastors who a) are too wussy to share with their congregations what they learned about biblical scholarship so we have a boatload of lay people who think respecting biblical authority equals being fundamentalists.  And b)  I blame pastors for being too chicken and too lazy for getting out the social statements, beating the doors and dragging people to study them.

The problem is not enough people have had a chance to look at social studies with their pastor and fellow Christians.   It's not just that people have no idea what these studies say, it's that people don't understand their purpose.  They think they are supposed to be some sort of Papal Decree stating definitively- "This is What the ELCA Believes about That".  That's not what they are for.  They are to give us resources to teach us how to talk about things in the world that are difficult.  They are to teach us how to have conversations with Christian brothers and sisters with whom we disagree.  They are to teach us to wrestle with difficult issues, think about these things and use what we have heard and learned and thought about when it comes to our day to day living.  And they teach us to live with ambiguity which always drives us back to Grace.   We can never be certain of anything but God's mercy and grace.  We just do the best we can and cling to God's grace.  

We'd all be much better off if we had more practice doing that.

So pastors, dig that damned draft out of your back file and put a study on the calendar.  Offer Christmas cookies.  But do the study. 

Not really skating with the Stars

I don't really like this show as much as you think I would.   I remember when Fox had their version and it annoyed me for two reasons.  First of all, Lloyd Eisner, who I used to be a big fan of back when he competed in the 90s with Isabell Brasseur, goes and knocks up his "celebrity" partner  when his wife just had a baby.   Kind of spoiled the whole show for me.

The other thing that bothered me is that I've skated for more than ten years and these people get out there and make it look like all you need is a couple of weeks and skating's really not that hard and why can't I skate like that?

But if you take a good look --these celebrities are not actually skating much at all.  Obviously some have more of a knack at it than others - like the star of my favorite Soap "All My Children" Rebecca Budig.  She looks really good.  But really what she is good at is holding a pose.  And her partner was very good at pulling her around and choreographing a program that makes her look good without having to actually skate much.

Because skating IS harder than dancing.

But Johnny Weir is a judge and he skated and that alone makes it worth tuning in.

Friday Five - Pie

The RevGalBlogPals are discussing pie.....

1) Are pies an important part of a holiday meal?  Yes.  One year at my sister-in-law's they served some kind of pumpkin bar instead of pie.  It just was not right.

2) Men prefer pie; women prefer cake. Discuss.  Well I know my husband preferred pie and so does my son.  I think it might have something to do with the fact usually it's the women who make pies (though my husband made a mean sweet potato pie) and pies are more trouble to make than cake.

3) Cherries--do they belong in a pie?  Well of course.  But pitting them can be a pain.

4) Meringue--if you have to choose, is it best on lemon or chocolate?  I'm not real crazy about meringue.   I prefer chocolate or lemon cream pie.

5) In a chicken pie, what are the most compatible vegetables? Anything you don't like to find in a chicken pie?  Onions and carrots are a must.  I don't like peas.

More about pie...

Regarding crust.  I am more a cook than a baker.  People are usually better at one than the other.  They require different skills.  Baking requires precision.  Cooking requires experimentation.  I am not precise.  I cannot make a decent pie crust.  I can't manipulate it. You can't mess with pie crust.  The more  you manipulate it the worse it tastes.  You need to make it, roll it and put in the pie tin, no fooling around or repairing the torn part or rolling it up in a ball and starting over.   I just can't do it. I buy the refrigerated pre- made crusts.  They taste decent but of course home made is better.  But not my homemade. 

I make good pumpkin pie.  I make it with sweetened condensed milk.   Makes a richer pie.  But I really think anything made with pumpkin taste better if you use squash or sweet potatoes instead.  The only reason people make pumpkin pie is because that's all pumpkin is good for - to be mixed with sugar.

A fun thing I like to do with fruit pies is cut out the top dough with cookie cutters.  

Enough about pie.  Today I take crap to the Good Will and pack more.  Moving day is Monday.   I still have hope I will be ready by then.

PS - Joan's blog about canned filling reminded me of a story when I was younger.  I had a boyfriend who liked pie.  I wasn't much into cooking or baking then but I would buy a pre made crust, dump a can of fruit pie filling in it, bake it and it was plenty good enough for him.
So I was living in a rented room in a house with a couple of other girls and an old lady who owned the house.  One of the girls grabs me in the kitchen and shows me the empty fruit can and starts ranting "Look at this -- Wilma (the landlady) made this pie --she used premade crust and CANNED filling!  Isn't that horrible!  My mother is a gourmet cook and she would have a stroke if she saw that"  I tried to interrupt her and say that it was me because I was not ashamed.  But she just kept going on and after awhile  I felt like I would embarrass HER if I said anything.  Later that day I grabbed my pie and went out the door and waved at her.  She never said a word.  My boyfriend loved the pie and loved the effort. 

Have a Very Lutheran Thanksgiving.

Which means JELLO of course:

1 6 oz  Box Raspberry or Orange Jello

1 can jelled Cranberry Sauce

1 8 oz can crushed pineapple

Prepare jello as directed.  Let set an hour to an hour an a half.  Mix in cranberry sauce and pineapple well. 

There.  Now you can have a real Lutheran Thanksgiving.

PS - I DO make real cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries as well, but this has been a family tradition since the kids were tots.

Knowing only Christ

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.  I Corinthians 2:1-3

Yesterday was my last Sunday.  

Next Sunday the church I have served the passed five and half years will vote to leave the ELCA and the day after that I will move to a new home.

I usually use the above text for my farewell sermons.  This time there was no farewell sermon.  I just didn't have it in me to preach that kind of a sermon under these circumstances.  

It's been very difficult for me to find the balance between forgiving, leaving gracefully but not being "Minnesota nice" and pretending everything is okay and normal.  To me the answer as been to live those words of Paul - to decide to know only Christ and him crucified.

I've been in conflicted congregations.  I've been targeted by "alligators"  I've been a scapegoat.  Most pastors have.  It's not pleasant but you learn to deal with it.

I've never been in a congregation where the people just basically stopped listening to you.  

The last year there has basically been absolutely no respect for me as the pastor.    People chose to believe things they read from strangers on the internet instead of me.   People pretty much ignored me except for that cursed "Minnesota nice" where they are nice to your face and turn around and say God knows what about you behind your back.

But the one power they could not take away from me was the power to preach the gospel.  

I still got in that pulpit every Sunday and preached the Gospel.  The more they complained about "Gospel lite" and "too much grace"  the more I preached grace and forgiveness and God's love.  

Many ignored it, some tried to argue against it, but I'm convinced some heard it.  

All I had was Christ and him crucified and the Gospel and I preached it.  

And that's how I survived.  

Until the last day when I had no sentimental tear jerking farewell sermon.  All I had was Christ and him crucified and that's what I preached.  

And to me it just proves what I've suspected all along---there's lots of things people think pastors ought to do these days and that's all fine.  But Lutherans have always taught the ordained ministry is about the Word and the Sacrament.

  Yesterday all I had was the Gospel and the words - "Take and eat, the body and blood of Christ, given and poured out for you, for the forgiveness of sin "

I will say more about what I learned this past year.  But I still need time to figure out how to say it in a way that helps me forgive this congregation but also recognizes that they do need my forgiveness.

I needed forgiveness too and of course part of the problem was that they were pretty unforgiving.  

Pastors need forgiveness.  Forgiveness helps me repent.    

It's so backwards when we insist repentance comes first.  

It is when forgiveness is withheld from me that I turn to justifying and rationalizing and excusing myself.  It is when I am forgiven that I can humbly accept my error and resolve to do better next time.  

Being unforgiven leaves a gaping wound.  

If forgiveness is  not forthcoming then the only way to heal that wound is to forgive the unforgiveness.

Love.  Grace.  Forgiveness.  That is all there is.

Airing our Dirty Laundry

Lately pastors in my synod have taken to handing over correspondence between their church, themselves and the bishop and spreading their version of confidential meetings with the bishop all over the internet.    This is because they believe they are victims of our big bad bully of a bishop, Steven Ullestad. Here is what I'm talking about.  Bishop Suspends Zions Pastors

Rather odd that these are the same group that want to restore LAW to it's rightful place and tone down all the grace stuff.  Except of course when THEY are the ones who are being asked to JUST FOLLOW THE DAMNED RULES already.

If you are an ELCA pastor, you can't serve another denomination without permission.  That includes LCMC and NALC.  "But but but!" They stutter.  "Nobody worried about the rules when there were gay pastors not following Visions and Expectations.

Well actually, there were.  Quite a few pastors and churches were disciplined.  And I know that the bishop who is doing the disciplining now, WOULD have been disciplined pastors and congregations had he occasion to in his synod.  I have heard him say he thought bishops who did not should have.  But he respected the reasoning of those who did not.

I just think it is unseemly to be sending letters the bishop wrote to YOU PERSONALLY to newspapers. But of course that is the way of this reality TV culture.  Invite everyone into your business to make judgments and take sides without a) having all the facts  b) any right whatsoever to make a judgment on the matter.


Anyway I trust our bishop.  And feel really bad he has to put up with this crap.  And am very proud that he is taking the high road and not engaging on the same level. 


And if these are the kinds of people who are leaving the ELCA -- sorry but good riddance.

If you are in the US VOTE

I know there is good reason for cynicism.   I know there is a lot of corruption.  I know we little folk don't have a whole lot of power.  But I still believe my vote counts.  Call me naive.  Call me idealistic.

Women in this country were arrested, locked up in insane asylums, beat up, force fed and lost their children so that I can vote.  People of color in this country were terrorized, tortured and killed so that all people could vote.

 Women in other countries risk acid thrown into their faces in order to vote. When Blacks obtained the right to vote in South Africa they would walk miles to polling places and wait hours in order to vote.

Vote, if for no other reason than to honor the people who sacrificed so much for this precious right.

Children Learn what they see

Saw this over at Beliefnet:  Video of baby worshipping - inspiring or a little creepy? -

(I gotta vote "creepy")

Now I don't quite know why this creeps me out as much as it does - but this is an example of how children learn to worship.  I guess they don't have a video of a darling little cherub learning the Kyrie...but this is why children need to be in the pew not in the nursery or in "children's church"

Carribean Black Bean and Pumpkin Soup

I found this recipe on the internet and made it tonight.  At first, I thought it tasted strange but the more I ate it, the more I liked it.  There are a lot of versions of this....

Here's the way I made it. 


1 onion, chopped coarsely

1 acorn squash peeled and chopped

1 Buttercup squash, peeled and chopped

1 granny smith apple, peeled and sliced

2 cloves garlic

1/2 jalapeno, sliced 

toss all the above ingredients with salt, pepper and a little butter and olive oil in a pan.  Roast at 375 for about an hour.   Puree the entire mixture together.  Put the puree in a pan and add the following ingredients

1 can coconut milk

4 cups Vegetable stock

2 Tb brown sugar

1 cup cooked black beans

Bring soup to boil, stirring and then reduce heat and cook about 3 minutes--then add

juice of 1/2  lime

chopped cilantro

Serve with a little cream drizzled on it.  I think I will make this again

"Easy A" - Funny, Entertaining but also a little Disturbing

 

Sneaking off the the afternoon matinee is getting to be something of a habit for me these days.  I saw a trailer for this movie and it sounded like fun.

First you have to get past not believing that Emma Stone, who plays the main character, Olive would go totally unnoticed in high school.  But she does.  Until she makes up a story about losing her virginity to explain why she didn't want to go camping with her best friend.  She is overheard in the bathroom by good girl Jesus freak Marianne who spreads the story all over school.  Suddenly Olive is noticed by everyone.

Now some people like Roger Ebert in his review, find it difficult to believe that such a story could be such a big deal in today's high school.  Well I've been to Ojai (where the story takes place) and I've been in small towns and while perhaps exaggerated, it is not totally unbelievable.

The name "Easy A" come from "The Scarlett Letter",  which Olive and her classmates are studying in English.  Olive decides to take full advantage of her new found notoriety, sews a scarlet A on her clothes and plays the part of the fallen woman to the max.

This is where it began to disturb me.  First she agrees to pretend to have sex with her gay friend who is being bullied.  Once everyone thinks he's been with her, he's accepted and popular.  Ew.  This movie came out before the rash of suicides by young gay victims of bullying but still...

Then she agrees to do the same for all the misfit and geeky boys in the school, in return for gift certificates to Pizza dives and home improvement stores.  You can tell she's clearly uncomfortable with this but doesn't know how to get out of it.

The movie purports to be about the importance of reputation but to me this is about using women for sex.  She is being used by these boys for her sexuality just as surely as if she had actually had sex wit them.  And she's being used to enhance their reputation so that they can have real sex -- that is, use other girls.

The other thing that is disturbing about this film is how utterly useless all the adults in Olive's life are.  Her English teacher expresses concern but can offer littler other than "you'll figure this out".  The guidance counselor hands her a handful of condoms and shoves her out the door.

That scene was a great illustration of how I believe we have let girls down in this culture.  Instead of teaching them independence and self-worth by who they are and what they can accomplish, we teach them their self-worth depends on their "purity" or we hand out birth control so they can continue to seek approval by using their sexuality.   The purity and the birth control people are handing young girls the same message - "Your value is in your sexuality --either save it as the only precious gift you can offer your husband or give it away but just make sure you don't get pregnant or an STD"

Even her parents, who are cool and supportive have nothing to offer her.  When Olive finally finds herself over head and confides in her mother, her mother simply says "You are smarter than me, you'll figure your way out of this"

So Olive is left alone to figure this stuff all by herself.  Is this how teenagers feel in our world?  That adults are totally useless to them?  Have we so abandoned our young people?

Oh and don't get me started about how the church lets her down.   From the snotty judgmental Marianne to a Bible that confuses her more than helps her, to two churches, there is no help for her from the church.  We can whine and moan about how Christianity is portrayed in the media or we can ask "why do people have the perception the church cannot help this girl?"  What help have we offered young people trying to find their way through this culture of sexual exploitation? 

I think this would be a good movie to take youth groups to --or rent when it comes out later -there is potential for some really good discussion. 

 

Some Good News for a Change

The miners came out of the mine
Shod with infinite paths
And eyes of physical weeping,
Creaters of the profundity,
They know, from the ladder's intermittent sky
How to climb down looking up,
They know to climb up looking down

César Vellejo
Quoted by Arturo Fontaine, In Chile, Love Moves the Sun and Stars

Living Lutheran

This is the new blog in town done by the ELCA - with ELCA bloggers.  LIVING LUTHERAN  It has ssome good stuff and nice to get us ELCA bloggers together.  Disclaimer - yes they reposted me last week but that's not why I'm recommending it.

The Social Network

Lately I'm discovering the joy of (and cheapness) of sneaking away for an afternoon matinee.  My excuse is that I need to keep up with the culture by seeing what everyone else is seeing. And Facebook fan that I am, I had to see the story of how it came to be.

I did have some warning by feminist critics of the misogyny of this movie.  Women basically exist in this movie to be screwed.  Sorry for my vulgarity but that's how it needs to be said.  I understand this is about college boys and they can be single minded on this subject but I have faith in young men and believe that even they do, somewhere in there, have less superficial relationships.

Interestingly enough, I believe it is the movie's protagonist, Mark Zuckerberg, who was the least misogynist character.  This despite the fact that according to the story, the whole Facebook thing began when his girlfriend dumps him for being asshole and then he proceeds to be even more of an asshole by saying cruel things about her on his blog.

But Mark Zuckerberg  (in the movie anyway) is neither a misogynist nor an asshole.  He's a genius with no social skills.  There is speculation that he has Asperger's syndrome.  Having a son with Asperger's, I saw the familiar signs and all I could feel for the movie character you are supposed to hate was sympathy.  The more of a jerk he was, the more I felt badly for him.  We think we don't act like assholes because we are good people.  We just have learned, through non-verbal and other informal ways how NOT TO ACT like assholes.  Some people don't learn that.  We are not better than them.  We have just learned to lie better.

Even Mark's relationship and eventual betrayal of his only friend Eduardo Saverin is more complicated than it seems.  Despite Saverin's loyalty and obvious love of his friend, he was ill prepared to deal with the growth and vision of his friend's project then called "the Facebook"    He was out of his element trying to be a business manager with an already outdated textbook business model.  Mark tried to warn him "I'm afraid you are going to be left behind".  Even under the best of circumstances, you could see that this was not going to end well.  These were 20 year old BOYS with no life experience, one of whom, never really understood how to be a friend, despite his longing to have them.

This Month's Newsletter Article

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,* but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly,* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love

I Corinthians 13

We live in a time of transition, turmoil and anxiety.  There is conflict, division and incivility, not just in politics but in our churches.  People lament the lack of respect while at the same time refusing to respect those with whom they differ.  Stands are taken.  Lines are drawn.

And yet even in the certainty of the rightness of our stand, the security of our boundaries drawn, there is a sense that something is not right.    Despite how right we know we are, we sense that all this stand taking and line drawing is in fact, not pleasing to God.

We can cite scripture chapter and verse to prove our point but 

“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal”

We know with all certainty that our stand is correct and true, our faith does not waver and yet 

 “if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”

Perhaps we have made great sacrifices for our beliefs but still

“If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,* but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

“But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.” 

All the things we argue about and which divide and cause us such anxiety will come to an end.  It is only love which is eternal.

We yearn for clear answers and certainty in this world but 

“for now we see in a mirror, dimly,* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known”

Why does the world scorn the church?  We can point fingers and come up with all the faults and sins unbelievers, but we still must answer the question, what does world see when it looks a the church?  Does it see love?  Is there an unbeliever such as the pagans in the time of the early church who can point to us and say “See how they love each other?”

God came into the world because of love.  God loves the world, sinful, confused and divided as it is.  God loves us, sinful, confused and divided as we are.  It sounds so simple and trite to simply say “Love one another” and yet if we are looking for commandments to save us – this is the one which will save us.  Love one another.  Love will save us.  Love already has saved us.

May God’s love continue to heal and transform us and empower us to love each other and the world in a way that heals and transforms.

Barking at Torah readers?

What I don't know about contemporary Jewish practices could fill a few books. Like who knew that it was customary for people in the synagogue to "bark" corrections to lay readers reading the Torah during worship? In this article, The Competitive Sport of Barking at Torah Readers – The Sisterhood – Forward.com , Elana Maryles Sztokmans discusses how the difference of the effect of this odd practice on boys and girls.  Boys (as in every other endeaver) are taught to ignore this harassment and continue reading as though they never heard it.  Girls haven't had this training and they end up crying in the bathroom after the experience.

Now I agree with Sztokmans' point that the whole practice of publicly humiliating  your Torah readers should be done away with.  But you know, learning to take public criticism in stride, learning to continue in public without acknowledging rude behavior, not taking everything so damn personally,  NOT dissolving in tears at every single perceived slight is something we need to be teaching little girls (and boys too).   And I don't know that there is a kind and gentle way to teach that.  But probably standing in front of everyone in the synagogue or the church is not the place for it.

St. Francis' Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon

Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,
All praise is Yours, all glory, all honour and all blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.

 

Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all weather's moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.

Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,
So useful, humble, precious and pure.

 

Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire,

through whom You light the night

and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You my Lord through our Sister,
Mother Earth
who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.

Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon
for love of You and bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those who endure in peace,
By You Most High, they will be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.
No second death can do them harm.
Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,
And serve Him with great humility.

A day in Assisi

"and dees ees St. Francis preaching to dee birds"

In 2004, thanks to a big chunk of my husband's life insurance, my kids and I took a 3 week trip of a life-time to Italy.  We did it on our own, took the train all over.  It was great.  In honour of St. Francis of Assisi, I invite you to read about our day in Assisi.  We rented an apartment in Rome for a week and too a day tour (it's about 3 hours away by bus).  Was not the highlight of our trip so you should probably read the whole trip blog :-)

Marburg Colloquy & World Communion Day

On October 1, 1529, Prince Philip brought Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli together in an attempt to reconcile their theological differences.   He was trying to unify all the Protestants in a political alliance against the Holy Roman Empire.

Out of 15 theological points, Zwingli and Luther were able to agree on 14.  But the last one was the sticking point.  They could not come to an agreement regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  Both rejected the Roman Catholic understanding that the bread and wine actually changed substance.  But Luther insisted while it was still bread it was also in some way, Christ's body.  It was as Jesus said "Take and eat, this IS my body"  

Zwingli just could not 'see Jesus' body in that bread.  The bread "signified" Christ's body.   Philip's hope for a unification of the two parties were dashed.  And Luther behaved VERY badly, refusing even to shake Zwingli's hand.

Today is World Communion Day, which I've never bothered to investigate what that actually means.  Probably not a good day to talk about the differences in understandings of Holy Communion.  Supposedly we've worked that all out with the Reformed tradition and the Methodists now.  I confess I have not studied the agreements, but I'll take the word of those who worked on it that our agreement on the Sacrament is sufficient.

My argument has always been we should all be able to come to the table together, regardless of how we understand how it works.  After all, does anyone imagine the twelve disciples had a clue, much less a shared understanding of what was going on at the Last Supper?  I still pretty much believe that although I did have an experience several years ago that showed me why some agreement is helpful.

It was my first year at my new parish.  Come Palm Sunday I was told we always did a joint service with the Methodist church in town and this year arrangements had been made for a drama group to enact the Last Supper.  Well enough.  Then it was suggested we have communion and the the other pastor and I preside.  This was before we had an agreement with the Methodists for table fellowship.  

I said as much to the planning committee and was told "We ALWAYS have communion together-what is your problem?"  Oh dear --first year here and I'm refusing to commune with my neighbors.  That won't do.  I called up my bishop and asked what I should do.  His answer was no answer, I was on my own on this one.

Well since I had always thought it was stupid that we couldn't all commune together anyway, I agreed.  The experience was jarring.  The Words of Institution were not said.  And I was simply handed the bread without the words "the body of Christ, given for you"  And I wished I had not agreed to preside.  I felt I could have participated as a member of the assembly but I should not have been "presiding".  

I had much more respect for Communion agreements after that.  

Oh and after that my congregation told me they had "never" had communion together with the Methodists at that service before.  We never did again under my pastorate.

On that note - Happy World Communion Day!

Friday Five - Sometimes it's Just a Job

The RevGalBlogPals are talking about the Job

1) What are a few of the tasks that you find tedious/energy sucking in your ministry position? Please note I said 'tasks' not people :)

 Come around February every year I have to fill out the dreaded Parochial Report.  Is there a pastor that enjoys that?  I get knots in my stomach just thinking about it.  Number numbers numbers swimming in my head and they never come out right.  It doesn't help that no treasurer has ever done his/her report the way the form asks.

It used to make me cry until one day I called up a synod treasurer and asked if they checked if my numbers were correct.  "No" he answered like I'm stupid  ~ "All we have is what you give us.  Oh so I could like, make up a number and nobody would know?  

Ever since then it's been much less stressful because I make up numbers.  They are close so the ELCA is getting good picture.  But it's a made up number. 

2) Is there anything you could do to make one of them better?

Yea.  Have the secretary or treasurer do it like I hear happens in some churches.

3) What are a few of the tasks that you find energizing in ministry?

I just love to teach--especially people that want to learn.  Nothing gives me a buzz like hearing "Oh gee pastor, nobody ever explained it like that before.  That really makes sense"  

I like teaching confirmation unless I get one of those classes where they just stare at me blank eyed.   I'd rather have kids talking and asking crazy off the wall questions and poking each other than the glassy eyed stares.  Fortunately I have had more of the talking crazy questions spitball throwing classes than the dreaded silent ones.

4) If given a quarterly spiritual day, how would you want to spend it?

I would go  to a Benedictine retreat center, read those books that I can't read at night (my usual reading time) because they are too deep and they put me to sleep, walk a labyrinth, eat delicious healthy bread made by nuns and sing the Psalms with them.

5) If given a quarterly spiritual day, how would you actually spend it?

No really I'd do that if I could.  If I couldn't, I'd read a couple of chapters of my deep book and then take a nap.

BONUS: What would your Dream Ministry job include?

Adults excited about a church history class.