I’m am drowning in a question. The question concerns ‘pastoral identity’.
As many of you know, I am currently on internship in an ELCA church (liberal Lutherans for those who don’t know what that acronym means). This is turning out to be a very good experience and my supervising pastor and I get along extremely well. We have found that we both enjoy discussion and even a touch of healthy debate about all things ‘God’ and all things ‘church’. Our life experience and even our ‘generation gap’ are proving to be a source not of tension, but of different points of view. One such issue I am beginning to find is the topic of ‘pastoral identity’.
I do not have any intention of sharing our conversations or point of view as that simply wouldn’t be fair, however I do want to raise an issue to all of you reading this BLOG, this issue of pastoral identity.
What is it that constitutes a strong pastoral identity? Is it the title? The office? The call to preach? Is it the clerical (you know, the black shirt and white collar that make us look like a priest)?
In short, I’m wondering how this ‘pastoral identity’ can or should be evaluated. I am a ‘pastor’ (and yes, I will use that word even though I’m still on internship) who does not wear a clerical collar (except maybe funerals and such). In my tradition, it used to be a very common item in a ‘pastor’s’ wardrobe. It still is the ‘expected’ attire for many Lutheran pastors in many congregations around the USofA. For me however, it is not.
It isn’t because I think they shouldn’t be worn, quite the contrary. If that is how a pastor chooses to represent the ‘office’ then more power to them! I don’t think they are wrong or right, which of course means I also don’t think that they are necessary. I don’t think that one’s ‘pastoral identity’ can be measured by how they dress.
So then the question is, how DOES one evaluate or measure one’s comfort or acceptance of their ‘pastoral identity’? This is a strange topic for me, since in my 10 plus years of ‘lay’ ministry’ (whatever that is), I have almost from the beginning been called ‘pastor’. So what gives? Do I need to develop my pastoral identity just because I hate wearing clericals?
What do YOU think?
Posted in Christianity | Tags: ELCA, Lutheran, Clerical Collar, Clericals, Pastoral Identity, Pastoral Office, Office of the Keys, Internship, Seminary, Traditional Church, Identity
Hey all…some of my sermons are now posted on this site. The church I am currently serving doesn’t record all of the sermons and doesn’t have a website to post them anyway. So…I will post every sermon that I preach that is recorded…even the crappy ones. Click on the tab above labeled “SERMONS”…enjoy!!!
Posted in Christianity | Tags: Audio Sermons, ELCA Lutheran Sermons, Lutheran Theology, Palm Sunday, Sermons
So, I know I haven’t posted at all during internship. I apologize for that. I have made that decision because I feel I should keep a ‘low profile’. Since much of what I write can be viewed as controversial and I am on internship, I thought it would be best to just keep my mouth shut. However, today I heard a story that I could not ignore and wanted to post it here and let all of you respond to it accordingly.
In light of Act 11:1-18 this story was told to me. I most likely will get the details wrong, but the message will apply. The story:
The theologian William Barclay writes about a group of soldiers during World War II who had lost a friend in battle and wanted to give their fallen comrade a decent burial. So they found a church with a graveyard behind it, surrounded by a white fence. They found the parish priest and asked if their friend could be buried there in the church graveyard.
“Was he Catholic?” the priest inquired.
“No he was not,” answered the soldiers.
“I’m sorry, then,” said the priest. “Our graveyard is reserved for members of the holy church. But you can bury your friend outside the fence. I will see that the gravesite is cared for.”
“Thank you Father,” said the soldiers, and they proceeded to bury their friend just outside the graveyard on the other side of the fence.
When the war had finally ended, before the soldiers returned home, they decided to visit the gravesite of their friend. They remembered the location of the church – and the grave, just outside the fence. They searched for it, but couldn’t find it.Finally, they went to the priest to inquire as to its location.
“Sir, we cannot find our friend’s grave,” said the soldiers to the priest.
“Well,” answered the priest. “After you buried your fallen friend, it just didn’t seem right to me that he should be buried there, outside the fence.”
“So you moved his grave?” asked the soldiers.
“No,” said the priest. “I moved the fence.”
**************
There are many issues facing the church today, issues where lines are being drawn, borders are being fortified, and fences are being built. Like in the text, we place certain things, behaviors, and yes, even people on the ‘out side’ of the fence for all kinds of reasons. It seems to me, in light of this text, in light of the resurrection, in light of the Gospel, that no matter where we place these boundaries and borders, God, like the priest, moves them to a position of inclusion…whether we like it or not.
Ok…your turn…go!
Posted in Christianity, Church, ELCA, Homosexuality, Inclusion, Lutheran, Religion
Well…I’m sitting outside in St. Paul, MN at Luther Seminary. It is 81 degrees, slight breeze, clear skies…beautiful. Life is good…no…God is good.
Posted in Christianity
Well, we made it!!! We (my family) have driven across the country and arrived in Austin, MN. We woke up today and it was about 52 degrees out. That is about a 60 degree difference from the day we loaded our trailer…WOW!!
Anyway…we are here, we are safe, and the journey continues.
Peace
Posted in Christianity
In my final week of class, we are reading an article that has some very strong political overtones (like much of the prophets). Here are some excerpts for the purpose of spawning healthy (and fun) debate:
A friend of mine and I were talking about the kids she works with at school. She works with severely disabled kids, kids who need significant extra attention, kids that although there are programs and moneys designed to provide for them that still are arguably not getting the attention they need. The question or topic centered around our role as a society to ‘provide’ for these kids as well as others in need. Some thoughts…
From The Role of the Prophets and the Role of the Church by Gene Tucker:
“…justice, in both its Hebrew and its English forms, is originally at home in the law court. In Israel, the decision (judgment) establishing justice was pronounced at the conclusion of the trial, restoring right and fair relationships among the parties. Justice came then to be the claim each person has upon others in the society, and which God has upon the people. The dimension emphasized by the prophets is the failure of justice at the social level, and that means the weak must be protected from the strong. To withhold power, or to misuse it, is a distortion of God’s will, whether the power be economic, political, or military. Israel’s crime, says Amos, is selling the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, trampling the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and denying legal due process to the afflicted (Amos 2:6-7).”
In light of our conversation last night and of Amos 2:6-7 that was just quoted, are we selling or ‘giving up’ the righteous, those who are trying to redeem the society, make things right for those in need in order to save a buck (or a pair of shoes as Amos puts it)? Are we misusing our resources by not providing the way we ‘should’ simply to provide better for ourselves? Who’s head are we trampling in the name of individualism? In the name of the strength of our economy and of our bottom line? What role do we play in this dance?
“…any prophetic understanding of the church and its ministry will have a profound sense of the social, corporate, and institutional dimensions of human life. Such an awareness is especially important in a society which tends to stress radical individualism, which likes to think of itself as a nation of self-made men. These are two persistent frontier images by which we understand American life and history. One is that picture of the cabin on the frontier; standing beside it is the lonely, solitary individual with his rifle against the wilderness, and his plow to till the ground. That is the one we remember. But the other image also comes from the American drive to move West. It is the barn-raising, when all members of the community came together to help one another, to create a society, and to celebrate even their need for one another. The prophetic role will emphasize that second image, the communal dimension of the church’s ministry will be aware that justice and righteousness, and faithfulness to God, are corporate realities or they do not exist at all.”
Anyway…this was just for fun as I am thinking a lot about this now due to the class I’m taking….
Posted in Christianity
Sorry I haven’t posted lately. I just finished my final paper for my Youth Ministry class at Luther (literally finished last night) and now I’m preparing for Leadership Lab in IL. Our band, Maryland Parkway is leading worship for the week…PRAY FOR US!!!!
Posted in Christianity
A classmate of mine, Jerry, told a story of his little eight year old girl, Zoe. The family was on their way to church one Sunday morning. Their church structure has a bell tower of sorts. On top of that bell tower, is a cross.
Zoe noticed that morning while on the way to church that the cross on the tower gets bigger as you get closer to church. It gets smaller as you move away from it. Then she thought for a moment and said, “It is kind of like God. The closer you are to Him, the bigger He seems. The farther away you are, the smaller he seems.”
I have engaged, both in my own heart as well as with others, in the eternal debate over the act of Salvation. Not that it happens, but how it happens. This is the debate that seminarians salivate over. Is salvation a free gift that happened on the cross? Is it done and over? Once and for all? Complete? OR…do we have to accept this gift? Do we play a role of any kind, including believing (if you can call this an action), in the act of salvation? Do we have to ‘accept’ Jesus as our Savior?
Of course there is a lot at stake in this question, more than most of us can articulate. But what I want to get at are the choices we undoubtedly have in what we do with this salvation whether we choose salvation or not.
We can argue about Free Will all day long, all year long, and yes, even an entire lifetime. However, we do have choices. You can choose to stop reading this article. You can choose what to have for lunch: Mac & Cheese, a Peanut Butter Sandwich, or just buy a Quarter Pounder w/Cheese at the ever appetizing McDonalds (oh, and it is also your choice to whether or not to Super Size it!). We simply experience choices in our lives. When it comes to our experience of God in our lives, we often have choices as well.
Believe it or not, we can choose to read the Bible. We can choose to pray, sing to God, talk about God, ask questions about God. We can choose to put God at the center of our lives. I do not deny that the Holy Spirit can sneak up on us and surprise us. It happens all of the time. However, we also have a choice in how we relate to God. How we live out our faith and how we grow spiritually. Our life with God is a process, a journey, a moving thing.
MARTIN LUTHER
This life, therefore, is not godliness, but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. This is not the goal, but it is the right road. At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed.
My point is simply this. My point is that Zoe, the eight year old girl in the back of the car is absolutely right. When you are close to God, God seems bigger. You are driving the car. Which direction are you driving, towards the cross or away from it?
Posted in Christianity
Well, I’m in Minnesota. Its green.
For those that do not know, I have begun my ‘return to seminary’. I have roughly two semesters of academics to complete and a 12 month internship. This week, June 1st, I start my first class (well, re-start) at Luther seminary.
I’ve been in professional ministry for nearly 10 years and it still amazes me how God can sneak up and suprize me. I am suprized by how flippin’ excited I am to get back on this path to ordained ministry! I am married, have two kids, work in both the ‘church world’ as well as the corporate world and generally have very few suprizes any more. However, yesterday that changed.
I flew in to Minneapolis, rented a bright yellow car (not my choice of color), drove to Luther Seminary and found myself giddy. Yep…a grown man…giddy.
Although it happens, miracles are rarely big. They rarely are the divisions of seas, raising of the dead, healings and the like. I personally find them in the small things (or seemingly small). I find them in the laughter of my children, the moments in the morning waking up with my wife, and most recently, being giddy at being in a situation where I have faithfully followed God’s call and ended up on a Lutheran campus…giddy.
God never ceases to amaze and suprise me.
Still giddy…seminary, day 1.
Posted in Christianity
…so I need to say that I feel like I’ve been an observer ‘of’ the world for the past 10 years. Similar to watching CNN every morning while I drink my coffee, I’ve been watching the world go by, taking in the information and events of the world, and then going about my daily business relatively unchanged by the stories I just witnessed on the ‘boob tube’.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been busy over those 10 years. I’ve ministered to youth and families in a couple of churches, started a family with my beautiful wife, worked in Organizational Development for a publically traded finance company, recorded a couple of albums, played some gigs across the country with my band, consulted, published some articles, wasted time on the Nintendo Wii, played as the understudy music guy for The Second City Comedy Club in Las Vegas, watched a lot of TV (The West Wing, House, Countdown w/Keith Olberman, Life, Criminal Intent, etc), listened to music (preferrably Dave Matthews), read books, hit rock bottom and, with help from family and friends, picked myself up again. To say that I’ve simply been sitting watching the world go by over these years is not correct…I’ve been busy, just not all that…effective.
So, in light of my ‘ineffectiveness’, I’ve decided to change a few things. It’s time for me to stand up and step up. It is time to stop watching the stories of the world unfold in front of and around me and start influencing those stories and maybe even creating a few of my own.
This blog is intended to be part of that. It is intended for me and people like me (and those not like me at all) to share their thoughts, opinions, dreams, visions, experiences about faith, politics, art, sex, science, and whatever else trips thier trigger. It is intended to be a catalyst for conversation about those topics that are not very ‘PC’ in polite company as well as those that are. This isn’t the first of such a venue, nor will it be the last. But it is mine…well, ours actually. It will belong to all of those who choose to participate.
Ok…so, maybe this is all a bit melodramatic. However, I do want this to be a place for me to put down my thoughts and for others to agree, disagree, argue, rant, rave and debate with me. I want it simply to be a place for discussion and debate about issues in life even about life itself.
So…have at it!! Let me know what you REALLY think and don’t hold ANYTHING back!
Posted in Uncategorized
The site is still under construction. I’m still learning about all of this stuff. In any case, I would like your input!! On the right, click on the “Thought/Article” titiled “Priesthood of All Believers” and offer up your thoughts!!!
If you are new here, please read the “What’s This About” page…Peace!
THANKS!
Posted in Christianity, ELCA, Theology, Uncategorized
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
On my first ‘live’ day on this thing we call a BLOG, I have received incredible feedback and insight. Not all if it is for public viewing, so I will take the concept and tweak it so you can experience what I experienced today…
In response to the “What’s This About” article on the right, there was one post in particular humbled me quite a bit which is something everyone, everyone needs (not to be confused with Thneeds…some of you will get that). This person has known me for about 10 years and felt it necessary to call me out when I described myself as ‘ineffective’.
They rightfully pointed out that calling ourselves ‘effective’ or ‘ineffective’ is not our job to do. We simply are not qualified. This person correctly assigned the task of judgment to God. This is interesting in that when most people refer to the Biblical text “THOU SHALL NOT JUDGE” it is usually in defense of something they know they are doing wrong and do not want to be held accountable to it. In this case, the concept is being used in a way that keeps me (or any one for that matter) from belittling myself. It is being used to keep me from hurting myself.
You see, God uses us, whether we see it or not. Since tomorrow is December 1st, I feel that it is safe to mention the movie It’s A Wonderful Life (normally I think the rule follows that of Christmas music…can’t mention it or play it until after Thanksgiving). In that movie, George feels like a failure. He doesn’t see the true impact he has on the life of others. In the unique gift from Clarence, he is allowed to see the impact he has had on those around him.
God uses us…even when we don’t see it.
I thank this person for pointing this out to me. This person has given me a great gift, something to be thankful for…
For Christmas this year, think of someone in your life that has impacted you. Think of someone that may not even know how much they have influenced you. Once you have figured it out…let them know. Let them know how God used them in your life.
Trust me…it is the best gift you can give…
PS…don’t forget to read the Priesthood of all Believers thingy!!!
Posted in Christianity, ELCA, Theology
Ok…so I really hate to travel. The funny thing is that I used to LOVE it. I loved the airport, the plane, the hotel. I looked forward to getting out of my routine, out of the same day-in, day-out monotony of a Monday through Sunday schedule. As I saw it, it was a chance to look at the world, my goals, my life from a different perspective. Even if I was traveling for work purposes, the experience brought to me a sense of ‘retreat’, renewal.
So what has changed? Honestly, the change is a simple one…family…kids.
Although the time away still brings with it an opportunity to reflect on my life, my goals, and the world, it no longer bears the sense of renewal it used to. In fact, quite the opposite. Becoming a father, at least for me, has in many ways reversed my perspective on many things. Before kids (I’ll call it ‘B.K.’) daily life was monotonous, dull, boring, draining. Work was simply work, meal times were a necessity, and meaning was something I had to search for.
After kids (or ‘A.K’) daily life is anything but monotonous, dull and boring. Every day brings with it a new opportunity to learn. Whether it is a new word, new letter, new number, a new way to get hurt or a new way to hurt your sister – there is always something new. I find perspective through the experiences of my kids. Work, though it takes time away from my family, also is a means of providing through finances new experiences for my kids (piano lessons, gymnastics, soccer, interesting vacations, etc). Meal times are not just a time to fill a growling, hungry pit in my stomach, but a time to gather as a family and share our day together, a time to gather and give thanks to God for the experiences the day has provided us, and a time to simply BE together.
This is why I now hate traveling away from family…meaning or lack thereof. The meaning I used to find in the change of perspective provided me through sleeping in a different bed provided by a hotel room, by the pursuit of a new and exciting cuisine forced upon me by the necessity of HAVING to eat out while on the road, or looking out of the airplane window from 30,000 feet at farmland, mountains and rivers, is no longer sufficient. It no longer feeds me.
Meaning is right in front of me every morning (usually much earlier that I’d like) when I am woken by the smiles of my two daughters.
Through this process of realization of where I find meaning (no longer in the new and different, but now in routine and familiar), I thought about church and worship. I am a guy who loves ‘new and exciting’ worship. I have always resonated with contemporary styles and sounds (and by contemporary I don’t mean the Lutheran definition, I mean the actual one). Although it is cliché, I was always reading and thinking about what was understood to be ‘Gen X’ or ‘post-modern’ styles of worship, church, and ministry. I could not understand the affinity for ‘traditional’ styles of worship and church. The monotony, dull, boring repetition of the same actions, the same words, the same songs was to me, well…meaningless.
I wonder if there are parallels. Is my experience of daily life somehow an illustration for these different styles of worship, church and ministry? Do people possibly find meaning in the weekly repetition of the same worship format, same worship songs, same worship actions week after week, year after year in the same way that I have found meaning in the Monday through Sunday schedule of family life?
I admit that I still am not a fan of traditional worship (Green Book, Blue Book, Red Book or whatever book). However, maybe more people like me, who want modern music modern video screens might have at least a better understanding of why people put up with ‘that other style’ of worship. They may not be attending that worship because of duty or because that is what they’ve always known, but maybe they have somehow found meaning in it…
What have I learned? Hmmm, along with traditional worship (Lutheran style), I also hate traveling without my family. It’s just one more thing to complain about…
Posted in Christianity
Check out the May issue of THE LUTHERAN. I will have a new article published concerning the topic of Confirmation.
Posted in Christianity
Please offer your prayers to the people of the Fargo/Moorhead area as they prepare for the floods.
Posted in Christianity
Check out my new article in the Lutheran at http://www.thelutheran.org/article/article_buy.cfm?article_id=8041
Posted in Christianity
I have received a number of comments and questions about my article in the May 2009 issue of THE LUTHERAN (copy on right entitled “Confirmation Sucks”). People are saying, “good to know, but what’s next?”. I have received enough feedback along these lines to prompt me attempt some answers and send them in to THE LUTHERAN. In the meantime, however, allow me to share some thoughts. The following words were in response to a specific question that was posed to me. I simply have ‘cut and paste’ my answer into this post. I’m curious as to how others feel we should, if necessary, change confirmation.
My response…
My background will give you insight to the lens through which I look at this issue. I went to Wartburg Theological Seminary, served as Team Leader for two large ELCA congregations (worshiping 1600 per weekend or more), consult an ELCA congregation in Youth Ministry and work in the corporate world of Organizational Development (designing and delivering training initiatives for the company). This experience has taught me to first look at the goal of a given department, team, or ministry. We can do that by asking some questions.
Why do we have ‘confirmation’?
What is the purpose?
What is the desired outcome?
Without getting into the theology of baptism according to the Augsburg Confessions and so forth, let me say that from a practical standpoint, all ministry is to some degree about faith formation. How that ‘faith formation’ happens can be accomplished through an endless number of styles, programs, strategies, etc. So, if the ministry of confirmation is first and foremost about ‘faith formation’, then we have the root answer to our first set of questions.
Now the question is, “How do we build and nurture faith in people of this particular age group? How do we form faith in Jr. High students?”. This is a fundamental shift already. Do we call this confirmation any more? Are we doing age based ministry? Who should be involved? Do we have classes? Are they even classes? Maybe they are just meetings? What do we meet about? Do we learn anything? Maybe plan activities?
To solve this I point to the Youth and Family Institute (no this isn’t a commercial). They work with individual congregations to develop plans and strategies that are congregationally based, unique to that culture that focuses not on traditional programs and methods, but on faith formation for our youth. Sometimes traditional programs and methods work very well, sometimes we have to be innovative and come up with something brand new. That ‘something’ may work in Florida, but not in Oregon. So I REALLY believe that this shift in confirmation in not about selling another book or program as many have done in the past, but rather asking a difficult and honest question in each faith community. “Are we effectively forming faith in our youth?” The answers, the brutally honest answers usually are humbling.
That is a LONG way to tell you what I have done and what I have found effective. Here is what has worked for me.
1. Confirmation – a ‘bait and switch’ – People still drag their kids to confirmation. Although they do this for the wrong reasons, it still is an opportunity as a church to minister to families and to youth. Use it…Parents who drag their kids to ‘confirmation’ are doing it because that is what their parents did to them. They think we will teach them word for word, line for line the Small Catechism. That they will serve 80 service hours over the year and wear a white dress-like garment so they can properly light and extinguish candles. Parents themselves hated doing this when they were kids, but they still put their kids through the same torture. I actually had two names for my Jr. High ministry. Life-long Lutherans knew the ministry as Confirmation, everyone else knew it as High Voltage. They were one in the same (I’ll describe what it consisted of in a bit). To Lutherans it was comfortable, to non-Lutherans or non-church attenders, it was…comfortable and fun.
2. Relationships not Lessons – Yes we still gathered and had lessons of some sort. We even used very traditional Lutheran materials, but that was only a façade. Our small group leaders were not required to know the material and prepare lessons in the same way a teacher prepares lesson plans. The leaders were trained to build relationships, to be ‘pastor’s, not teachers. There is a significant difference. There is a ton of research (biblical and cultural) that shows that ‘faith is caught and not taught’, that ‘faith is formed through personal trusted relationships’. If this is true, then we do not need teachers, but relationship builders. Leaders would be required to write notes (snail mail and e-mail) to everyone in their group every two weeks. They also attended events or activities with the group. It was about building relationships.
3. Personal not just Corporate Faith – The only other requirement of the leader is that they were able to ‘tell their faith story’ or give their testimony. In a healthy relationship with kids/youth, questions are inevitable, hard questions. The hardest question for Lutherans (in my experience) to answer is, “Why do you go to church?”. In other words, they are asking, why are you a Christian? Can you answer it? Leaders need to tell the story in all of its gorey detail, honestly and un-edited. The Bible is full blood, sex, murder and deception for a reason, because it is real life. We need to tell how God is a part of our ‘real life’ as well. This is tough, but critical. Once this happens, and it will if relationships are built, now we have a solid educational platform. To be honest, now the education of ‘confirmation’ makes more sense…teach away.
4. Edutainment? Absolutely – Many youth ministries are accused of being more about entertainment and not enough substance or actual education. To this I plead completely guilty and I’m proud of it! Why not have a blast? Why not be silly? Why not create an environment that kids want to invite their friends to? Why not play crazy games, get dirty and wet? Why not have a good time at church? Why not?? Parents ultimately came up to me asking what we are doing because their daughter or son absolutely did not want to miss High Voltage/Confirmation? Remember, they generally hated their Confirmation experience. They can’t believe their child loves theirs.
5. Not an Experience of God, but God of Our Experience – This not my phrase. I first heard it from Leonard Sweet. I really like it. In all things point to God. Whether relationship building, story telling, being goofy, getting wet, praying being silly, answering questions about sex, masturbation, or homosexuality, we did it all in the name of Jesus…always.
This isn’t clear I know, but they are a few points that I always fell back on (and I typed this really, really quickly-sorry if part of it doesn’t make much sense). They worked for me. Again, the challenge is that it isn’t ‘ministry in a box’. You need to have the time and talent to innovate, create, strategize and plan around clearly defined goals. You need to build relationship with kids and parents. Start a dialogue and create an environment where people are having such a good time being a part of a God community, that they are willing to tell others about it. That is a sign of success.
I would be happy to give you more specific ideas for your culture and congregation and/or answer more questions on this site!!
Peace!!
Posted in Christianity, Church, Confirmation, ELCA, Lutheran, Religion, Theology, Youth Ministry | Tags: Catechism, Confirmation, ELCA, Lutheran, Religion, Youth Ministry
