Chick FilA is so good...
Friday, July 29, 2005
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Saturday, July 16, 2005
A Wedding Sermon
Grace and peace to you from God, our creator and from Jesus, who is the Christ, Amen!
Jennifer and Mike…we are all so happy and proud of you. Please allow me to be the first to say congratulations! This is a wonderful day, and a blessed day, and we are all honored to be here to share in it with you.
Having said that, I have a word of warning for each of you:
Mike, you need to know that there are an awful lot of people back in Maple Grove who love and care about Jennifer. You take very good care of her…we’ll be watching…
And Jennifer, there are people here in Baxter who will be doing the same. Mike, if she gives you a hard time at all, I have entire photo albums of embarrassing photos of Jennifer going back to 5th grade. I’ll be happy to send some up to you if you’re looking for material to embarrass her with. As a matter of fact, I brought up a “starter kit” with me today…nah…we’ll worry about that later…
A marriage is a sacred, and holy thing. We are taught from an early age that a marriage is like a fairy tale. It should begin with “once upon a time” and end with “and they lived happily ever after.” In the middle is the time of the man and the woman, often a prince and princess, finding each other, falling into an incredibly passionate love, honoring and worshipping each other, caring for each other, never arguing…with a fairy god mother always watching over them, dispensing assistance and advice
This is a beautiful image. We all grew up with it. Each of us hoped to someday find our prince or our princess.
However, I’ve come to realize that the image of a fairy tale isn’t necessarily an accurate depiction of marriage. For that matter, it isn’t even a very helpful image.
For one thing: the fairy tales never told us what happened when Prince charming would leave the toilet seat up. The fairy tales never took into account how busy and over committed people get, and how it always tends to make the princess late, driving the prince nuts.
Let’s look at your own life together so far: I never heard of a fairy tale that began with “competitive flirting” …with disagreements over whether the princess won the air hockey game or if the prince “let” her win. A fairy tale romance never began with the phrase “How would you feel about a relationship?” Fairy tales never took into account graduate school…medical school…in-laws…goofy friends…long distance in relationships…
No; as fun as they are to dream about, modern marriage is not like a fairy tale. Modern day marriage is much more like a reality TV show.
Now, you know the kind of shows I’m talking about. They are the shows where people’s strengths and weaknesses, their foibles and quirks are on display for the other. We are all imperfect people. We live in an imperfect, sinful world, in imperfect, sinful homes.
In the midst of the imperfection that is our reality, we have to learn how we can live together as married couples.
Jennifer and Mike, There are three things I’d like you to remember about your marriage:
The first is this: You must let go of yourselves. I remember a conversation I had with a friend once about a year after his marriage. I asked him how it was going, and he said “great, But it’s really hard”. I asked him what was hard and he said “I feel like I don’t get to be myself anymore. I feel like my freedom and my independence has died.” I thought back to all of my pastoral counseling courses, rallied all the wisdom I could muster and gave my best pastoral answer: “Well Duh.”
You see, God is busy at work today. In this place, at this time, God is creating something brand new. God is making a new creation in you. You are no longer Mike, the independent…you are no longer Jennifer the free. You are a new being, fused together. Not individuals, but together in a way you have never experienced before. You are bound by God’s Holy Spirit into something brand new. You are literally a new creation.
It is amazing. You will know each other’s thoughts, finish each other’s sentences, be able to know the other’s feelings with a glance…or sometimes a glare…
It is the letting go of some of the individuality you had before. In John 12:24, it is written that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” At one level, to enter into this new covenant we must “die to ourselves” and embrace being a part of this new creation.
The second thing to remember is that you are not alone in this. The scripture you chose for your wedding today is especially meaningful for me. It is the same one that Lori and I chose for our wedding service. What makes this new creation that we all witness today happen at all is the infusion of God’s Holy Spirit into this marriage. God is present in this relationship in a way that you haven’t experienced before.
Now, because we have spoken, I know that you know this. Mike, when you proposed, Jennifer’s first question to you was “have you prayed about this?” You nodded, just wishing she would get on to saying “yes.”
An old couple was driving in their pickup truck one day when they pulled up behind a young couple in a convertible. The young couple was sitting close, with his arm around her. The romance was obvious. The old wife looked at her old husband, sitting behind the steering wheel across the cab of the truck from her and said “remember when we were young, and we used to sit like that?” The husband looked back at her and said “well, I haven’t moved.”
The focus the two of you have on your faith is wonderful. God is present, fused in your marriage with you. God promises that He will not move. Together, continue to draw near to Him.
Finally, no matter what, you need to forgive. You can argue and fight all you want. But at the end of the day, you must forgive. Ephesians 4:26 reminds us to not let the sun go down on our anger. You are forgiven. So forgive each other.
Every night talk with each other. Talk about your day. Talk about your joys. Talk about your frustrations. Talk about what you did to make each other angry, or hurt. And then pray. And forgive. Forgiveness is a lost art. Reclaim it.
Jennifer and Mike, you have been gifts to all of us. Now God is calling you into this marriage. Let go of yourselves…draw near to the God who draws near to you, and love and forgive over and over and over and over…
And in this new reality, this new creation, may you live happily ever after.
Amen.
Jennifer and Mike…we are all so happy and proud of you. Please allow me to be the first to say congratulations! This is a wonderful day, and a blessed day, and we are all honored to be here to share in it with you.
Having said that, I have a word of warning for each of you:
Mike, you need to know that there are an awful lot of people back in Maple Grove who love and care about Jennifer. You take very good care of her…we’ll be watching…
And Jennifer, there are people here in Baxter who will be doing the same. Mike, if she gives you a hard time at all, I have entire photo albums of embarrassing photos of Jennifer going back to 5th grade. I’ll be happy to send some up to you if you’re looking for material to embarrass her with. As a matter of fact, I brought up a “starter kit” with me today…nah…we’ll worry about that later…
A marriage is a sacred, and holy thing. We are taught from an early age that a marriage is like a fairy tale. It should begin with “once upon a time” and end with “and they lived happily ever after.” In the middle is the time of the man and the woman, often a prince and princess, finding each other, falling into an incredibly passionate love, honoring and worshipping each other, caring for each other, never arguing…with a fairy god mother always watching over them, dispensing assistance and advice
This is a beautiful image. We all grew up with it. Each of us hoped to someday find our prince or our princess.
However, I’ve come to realize that the image of a fairy tale isn’t necessarily an accurate depiction of marriage. For that matter, it isn’t even a very helpful image.
For one thing: the fairy tales never told us what happened when Prince charming would leave the toilet seat up. The fairy tales never took into account how busy and over committed people get, and how it always tends to make the princess late, driving the prince nuts.
Let’s look at your own life together so far: I never heard of a fairy tale that began with “competitive flirting” …with disagreements over whether the princess won the air hockey game or if the prince “let” her win. A fairy tale romance never began with the phrase “How would you feel about a relationship?” Fairy tales never took into account graduate school…medical school…in-laws…goofy friends…long distance in relationships…
No; as fun as they are to dream about, modern marriage is not like a fairy tale. Modern day marriage is much more like a reality TV show.
Now, you know the kind of shows I’m talking about. They are the shows where people’s strengths and weaknesses, their foibles and quirks are on display for the other. We are all imperfect people. We live in an imperfect, sinful world, in imperfect, sinful homes.
In the midst of the imperfection that is our reality, we have to learn how we can live together as married couples.
Jennifer and Mike, There are three things I’d like you to remember about your marriage:
The first is this: You must let go of yourselves. I remember a conversation I had with a friend once about a year after his marriage. I asked him how it was going, and he said “great, But it’s really hard”. I asked him what was hard and he said “I feel like I don’t get to be myself anymore. I feel like my freedom and my independence has died.” I thought back to all of my pastoral counseling courses, rallied all the wisdom I could muster and gave my best pastoral answer: “Well Duh.”
You see, God is busy at work today. In this place, at this time, God is creating something brand new. God is making a new creation in you. You are no longer Mike, the independent…you are no longer Jennifer the free. You are a new being, fused together. Not individuals, but together in a way you have never experienced before. You are bound by God’s Holy Spirit into something brand new. You are literally a new creation.
It is amazing. You will know each other’s thoughts, finish each other’s sentences, be able to know the other’s feelings with a glance…or sometimes a glare…
It is the letting go of some of the individuality you had before. In John 12:24, it is written that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” At one level, to enter into this new covenant we must “die to ourselves” and embrace being a part of this new creation.
The second thing to remember is that you are not alone in this. The scripture you chose for your wedding today is especially meaningful for me. It is the same one that Lori and I chose for our wedding service. What makes this new creation that we all witness today happen at all is the infusion of God’s Holy Spirit into this marriage. God is present in this relationship in a way that you haven’t experienced before.
Now, because we have spoken, I know that you know this. Mike, when you proposed, Jennifer’s first question to you was “have you prayed about this?” You nodded, just wishing she would get on to saying “yes.”
An old couple was driving in their pickup truck one day when they pulled up behind a young couple in a convertible. The young couple was sitting close, with his arm around her. The romance was obvious. The old wife looked at her old husband, sitting behind the steering wheel across the cab of the truck from her and said “remember when we were young, and we used to sit like that?” The husband looked back at her and said “well, I haven’t moved.”
The focus the two of you have on your faith is wonderful. God is present, fused in your marriage with you. God promises that He will not move. Together, continue to draw near to Him.
Finally, no matter what, you need to forgive. You can argue and fight all you want. But at the end of the day, you must forgive. Ephesians 4:26 reminds us to not let the sun go down on our anger. You are forgiven. So forgive each other.
Every night talk with each other. Talk about your day. Talk about your joys. Talk about your frustrations. Talk about what you did to make each other angry, or hurt. And then pray. And forgive. Forgiveness is a lost art. Reclaim it.
Jennifer and Mike, you have been gifts to all of us. Now God is calling you into this marriage. Let go of yourselves…draw near to the God who draws near to you, and love and forgive over and over and over and over…
And in this new reality, this new creation, may you live happily ever after.
Amen.
Friday, July 15, 2005
A friend in pain
A friend of mine is in vocational pain right now. It is an unjust situation. He is paying for the mistakes of his boss, who is now covering the whole situation up as a "personnel issue" rather than either an issue of vision (which it is), or an issue of personality conflict (which it is).
His life. His future. His vocation. His security. And those of his family are threatened.
Please pray for David.
His life. His future. His vocation. His security. And those of his family are threatened.
Please pray for David.
Good Book
An interesting book on "why" young people participate in faith communities.
Interesting because it's ethnographic research.
Interesting because it draws insightful conclusions.
Interesting because I think it's more right than wrong.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
The power of Symbols
I saw an interesting interview with a Catholic priest on cable the other day. The interviewer was asking him about his vocation. The priest said "it's a little like your wedding ring." "Huh?" replied the intrepid interviewer. "Take your ring off...are you still married? Of course you are." You are always married whether or not you are wearing your ring. It's the same way with the priesthood. Whether or not you are wearing your clerical collar, you are always a priest. It's not something you put on and take off. It's who you are."
Interesting. Especially as I've been beginning to purchase clerical garb, preparing for my transition in vocation.
But it also makes me wonder about what we do with the laity. We talk a good game in regard to the priesthood of all believers. But we still do a pretty good job of creating a heirarchical system. I wonder if one of the reasons is that the laity, in particular the professional laity, lacks symbols to draw themselves into community, and to create signs of who they are.
What would it be like if there were ways of people identifying for themselves their own sense of call? How would we as a church do that? Is it necessary? It is wise?
I am processing...
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly . COVER STORY . The Emerging Church, Part One . July 8, 2005 | PBS
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly . COVER STORY . The Emerging Church, Part One . July 8, 2005 | PBS
An interesting story on the emerging church movement.
An interesting story on the emerging church movement.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Process
Focusing on what's going on in a group, and in how a group works is often at least as important as focusing on what the group produces. Not to get wrapped up in process, or to let it completely distract from a group mission (nothing is worse than a group spending its time in relational navel-gazing). But what a group can accomplish is magnified when they are corporately self-aware.
The task of the leader of a group is to ask the questions, sometimes difficult, of the group that triggers the questions, and to do the "naming", sometimes more difficult, of the observed behavior from which a group can grow.
This naming is vital to the willingness of a group to grow in community and in spirit. Particularly in the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God is not dependent on the members of the group for her presence. Rather the Spirit is a constant (wherever 2 or 3 are gathered...). However, the Spirit of God's ability to become manifest in real ways are dependent on the willingess of the group to allow the Spirit to work in a corporate way.
I'll let you know how it goes.
The task of the leader of a group is to ask the questions, sometimes difficult, of the group that triggers the questions, and to do the "naming", sometimes more difficult, of the observed behavior from which a group can grow.
This naming is vital to the willingness of a group to grow in community and in spirit. Particularly in the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God is not dependent on the members of the group for her presence. Rather the Spirit is a constant (wherever 2 or 3 are gathered...). However, the Spirit of God's ability to become manifest in real ways are dependent on the willingess of the group to allow the Spirit to work in a corporate way.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
A Sad Day
When our alarm went off this morning I did the normal routine...stumble...drink coffee...brush teeth...drink coffee... Finally we flipped on the radio and heard something about London. We killed the radio and flipped on CNN to see about the bombings in London.
The same, "sick to my stomach" feeling began to twist my insides. "Again...not again..."
It was a sad day.
Sad because of what happened, and sad because of what it means.
It reminds us again that we are all vulnerable. Things and places that we counted on as "safe" are not. We used to know we were safe. Now that knowledge is recategorized as an item of faith. We can't know that we're safe.
We knew this four years ago. Today we were reminded again.
It is too much a cliche to say "I don't understand how someone could do this." I do understand. I understand that this is the only way some people feel that they can fight back. It is not justified or justifiable. It just is what it is.
The "War on Terrorism" is not a normal war. There are no rules. There is no "civility." It even goes a step beyond guerilla war. It attacks non-combatants. It is unconventional.
It must be defeated unconventionally.
So far, conventional methods, them military, seems ineffective. It reminds me of the image of grabbing a handful of sand and squeezing. The tighter we squeeze, the more seeps through our fingers.
I don't know how to defeat this unconventionally. But I don't think we're searching for the answer yet.
In the meantime, I'll pray.
Sam and his buddy, Darth
At Como Zoo, Sam eating a Darth Vader ice cream bar.
Memo to self: Never let a child eat ice cream that's been dyed blue.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Nick Coleman: Faith can unite us to fight poverty
Nick Coleman: Faith can unite us to fight poverty
An awesome column on the work of the church in the realm of fighting poverty.
An awesome column on the work of the church in the realm of fighting poverty.
Sunday, July 03, 2005
4th of July
Tomorrow is the 4th of July. I have to admit to having some mixed feelings about this. Yes, I am grateful and thankful for the nation in which we live, and for the freedoms we enjoy. Yes, I am completly supportive of those who serve our nation.
But I can't help but wonder if we are really furthering the cause of independence in Iraq, and other nations. Are we at war for the people of those nations, or for our own self-interests? Are we really bringing freedom, or just extending the pain and suffering?
Again, to be clear, I don't wonder these things because of any concern over the work of our troops, who are following orders.
But I wonder about the wisdom of being there. There is no clear exit strategy, and apparently no real hope of being out of there any time soon. And while we're there, there is no real hope of peace.
I also have significant concerns still about "why" we are there. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Sudein was no real threat to us, or to anyone.
And to hear the President continue to refer to linkages between our troops in Iraq, and the 9/11 attacks when quite simply there is no clear linkage. None.
As Christians, we are called to work for peace. How to do this when the path is so unclear and so difficult?
It all makes me uneasy this fourth of July.
But I can't help but wonder if we are really furthering the cause of independence in Iraq, and other nations. Are we at war for the people of those nations, or for our own self-interests? Are we really bringing freedom, or just extending the pain and suffering?
Again, to be clear, I don't wonder these things because of any concern over the work of our troops, who are following orders.
But I wonder about the wisdom of being there. There is no clear exit strategy, and apparently no real hope of being out of there any time soon. And while we're there, there is no real hope of peace.
I also have significant concerns still about "why" we are there. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Sudein was no real threat to us, or to anyone.
And to hear the President continue to refer to linkages between our troops in Iraq, and the 9/11 attacks when quite simply there is no clear linkage. None.
As Christians, we are called to work for peace. How to do this when the path is so unclear and so difficult?
It all makes me uneasy this fourth of July.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
