We hopped in the vehicles on friday to go to our annual youth Snow Camp at Silver Birch Ranch in Wisconsin. We arrived late and went to bed. Then the Saturday festivities started. It was awesome! I went tubing down an icy hill. (Not good for my back, btw) They had power tubing available (being pulled by a snowmobile) which I didn't get time to do. But the best part was BROOMBALL!!! I always wanted to play hocky, and this is the closest I've come. One of our mentors even brought his hockey skates and played on them. What a blast! Our theme was “C.S.I.: Changing Self Image.” I think it went over well.

We returned on sunday afternoon, at which point recovery became a primary concern in my life. Fun, but thoroughly exhausting. I took monday off for "me" time. I went to Borders and picked up Colored Pencil Portraits by Ann Kullberg. It's a great book for anyone who uses primacolors (a.k.a., "art crayons). So far, my favorite pic of her's is here. Yes, that has been done with prismacolors.

But, I'm back in the office now. We are now podcasting portions of our sunday worship service. Anyone interested can find them under the link "Listen to our sermons" on Second Con's home page. I have to prepare and put up this week's audio file.

Also, I have to find time to make invitations for my ordination service. The set date is the last friday in february @ 7pm. (That's the 24th.) After a small amount of time following the service, we will be going down to the Krypto Lounge. I think many invites might have to do with a graphic link sent via e-mail. This whole paper thing is such a waste.

A couple of nights ago, St. Sebald called me from Japan. What a surprise! We used to do Monday night phone conversations every week. Obviously, her trip overseas has pretty much put a damper on that. I feel kind of bad for missing her call.

I'm preaching this Sunday. I've decided to go back and retranslate the psalm that I'm touching on. Here's what I've come up with:

Psalm 62.5-12
For God alone my soul awaits in the still silence,
because my hope flows from my experience with God.
God alone is my rock, my salvation, my fortress;
I shall not be shaken.

On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
God is my mighty rock,
my refuge is in God.

Trust in God at all times, O people;
pouring out the entirety of your hearts;
For God is a refuge for us all.

And know this:
The vain, self-aggrandizing pity-parties of the marginalized are ultimately meaningless,
and the securities of the rich and powerful are merely a delusion;
for, in the balances of justice neither holds weight;
they both go up equally;
even together they are lighter than a breath.

And so, do not trust in illegitimate wealth for your deliverance;
put no confidence in extortion,
and set no vain hopes on robbery.
And if legitimate riches do increase,
do not set your heart on them either,
for they will not save you.

Indeed,
once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
the power of salvation belongs to God alone;

Yes, steadfast love flows from you, O Lord,
and you compensate all peoples justly,
according to their faithful work.

It's a pretty loose translation. I was trying to capture the depth that I see in it, but isn't quite in the text. Therefore, I've expanded a few parts.

A quick look at the first line and anyone who knows that I tend toward the "armchair mystic" will realize why I wanted to work with this text.

As of last Tuesday, I have completed the final hoop for the presbytery for ordination. I was examined on the floor, and I thought they'd never stop asking questions. It was kind of fun really. Now, we can have an ordination service. I think it will be in the middle of February.

I wear a white robe on Sunday mornings for worship. Not everyone likes it. They think it looks too much like a sheet. Anyway, yesterday a parishioner told me that they had black choir robes upstairs in a little-used room. When I went up to check it out, I have to say that I wasn't all that interested in the choir robes. But, in my exploration I found...

*drumroll*

...a COSSACK!

I love cossacks. IMO, they are about the neatest liturgical attire out there. I can't wait to sport it tomorrow morning.

It's not the suggested robe to replace the one people don't like, so it will be interesting to see whether they like this one.

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. </td> Emergent/Postmodern 93% Classical Liberal 89% Neo orthodox 75% Modern Liberal 71% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Roman Catholic 68% Charismatic/Pentecostal 64% Reformed Evangelical 14% Fundamentalist 0% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

My response: Only 93%?!? I must be a slacker.

Mainline Christianity is in crisis. We are seeing our numbers drop year after year. Meanwhile, evengelical churches snicker as they benefit from some church growth (not realizing of course that they are the next to drop). It's not a new story. It just gets more prominent each turn of the annual calandar. I rediscovered this quote earlier today.

People are searching for spiritual connection and religious meaning. They want "to have their livees make sense," to find answers to ultimate questions, and to experience something beyond themselves--"wholly other" or "holy other." Nearly everyoe in American society believes in God, even many of those who do not express a deep longing for such a belief. People expect churches to provide a setting for religious experience and answers to ultimate questions. Instead, mainsteam churches seem to fear religious experience and avoid "imposing" answers. "Liberal Protestantism has not given its members eyes in the night," depsite the fact that most Amereicnas say they are interested in "spiritual things." (Rerouting the Protestant Mainstream, p.77)

I have a problem with this quote: the book was published in 1995. That's 10 years ago! Did nobody get the point? It is absolutely uncanny how a gazillion books and articles can be written about how churches can connect with the "real world" of today, but nobody can actually put it into practice. Is it really that hard? Is it really too hard to create a space where people can be "spiritual" in a church setting?

I think the problem is not that there isn't enough space to be "spiritual" in a liberal church. The problem is that the assumption is that new people are espected to be spiritual in the same way that the established people are spiritual. It just doesn't work that way. For postmoderns, certain things just can't be assumed to work. Sitting in a hard pew for an hour and singing to dirges can't be expected to trip their triggers. Not that organ music is bad; it's just that churchy types shouldn't expect newcomers to connect like they do. Getting up on early Sunday morning in order to get the kids dressed and ready for church isn't an assumed priority; not that it can't be, but it might not.

The reality is that the way we think about church has to change. It has to become less a monolith and more multi-dimensional. Some people do their things their way, and others do their things differently. It doesn't mean that we have to prefer one to the other. Rather, it does mean that somehow we have to create space for people to be "spiritual" in thier own way in the midst of a commuity founded upon mutual respect.

Why is this so hard to grasp?

I don't understand it.

Merry Christmas all!

The plans...

Participate in the 4:30 pm Christmas pageant.
Go home and throw together a travel bag.
Go to see the parents.
Hang out a couple of days.
Return on Monday evening.

Since the senoir pastor will be gone for a while, I'll be preaching on Jan 1st. Does that bite or what? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to spend New Year's Eve practicing my sermon (which will probably be pretty short and simple for once). Actually, it's not that bad of a deal since New Year's Eve isn't really all that big of a holiday for me anymore. There's a point at which the hazzards of the road and potentially the weather make quiet evenings the preferred choice.

I found this article on the web today. A major interest of mine is the deepening relationship between postmodern thought and Christianity (which I think is a good thing).

Here's the main blurb that caught my attention.

Though the postmodern philosophers are mainly atheists, or as Derrida puts it, "rightly pass" for atheists, their arguments actually show not that God does not exist, but that we are not God, either individually or collectively. Objective knowledge of reality--seeing reality through, as it were, "God's eyes"--is not possible.

I'm not generally thrilled with where Westphal goes, but I think this article is a good intro for anyone who wants to struggle with what it might mean to be a "postmodern Christian."

Currently, I'm the Interim Associate Pastor at the Second Congregational Church of Rockford. We're planning on revamping our entire web presence, and if things go right we'll be putting up a communal blog for the church. I want to set us up through LJ specifically because of the "friends" feature. I haven't seen anyone else pull off that kind of set up as well. Anyway, this all means this account may very well be reactivated.

I've done a bit of "spring cleaning" by deleting lots of past entries, mainly those that referred to my previous church in Ladd (I don't want to confuse readers who wonder where I'm located). I've left a lot, especially those things I thought expressed my thoughts and personality.

I have to confess that I was going to set up another account with the name "irREVerance." But some other bonehead is using it. How annoying. Not to worry. I'll get over it...later.

Meet my friend's brother's dog. Ain't he cute?