Don’t flay the sheep.

Eight Random Things

Meg, I’d be a little peeved that I’ve been tagged (because I really should be going through my voice mail, etc.), but it’s my first tagging. So, I feel honored and loved. Here goes:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I am currently a month and week behind on my church’s year of the Bible thingy. (About 100+ of us are signed up to read through the Bible together this year.) For the month, I blame Zora’s eating habits: I usually read while she has her early morning milk. But when we had the allergy scare, that whole routine got a little messed up for a month. Then, I jumped back into the scheduled readings and I’m slowly making up that month. For the week, I blame the youth group trip. I was too tired to see straight the whole week.
2. Trail mix makes me really gassy. I was reminded of this a few days ago while hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park.
3. I prefer ankle-less running socks to tube socks or (horrors!) the ones that go partway up the ankle.
4. I got almost no knitting done on this trip. Too tired (see # 1).
5. I need to get better at going to sleep earlier in the evening. There’s a window between 8 and 9 when I think I could conk out, but then I often stay up pater doing nothing in particular and suddenly it’s 11. I am not one of these people who can live on 5 hours (or less) of sleep a night.
6. Two weeks ago, I was in the park doing crunches in the middle of a run. Zora was snoozing in her stroller. I felt great about myself for finally exercising. Then some guy came up and started accosting me for doing crunches because they would ruin my back. This really ticked me off.
7. I’m going to the beach for July 4th. I can’t wait.
8. And, in honor of my 8th wedding anniversary, Erik is the only man I’ve ever dated or kissed. And this does not bother me at all, because he’s the best (even if he’s 30 now!) How cool is that?

I’m a lazy tagger, so I tag only 5 folks. (There was no promise that some terrible calamity would come upon me if I didn’t make it to 8.) I tag: Mary Beth; ppb; Teri; Meika; and Hieronymous (though I take no responsibility if he refuses to participate).

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We’re Back

We’re back. It’s been a crazy week, both on the road, and in Schemper-land. Here are some updates, in no particular order:

• Zora was fabulous on her first youth group trip. She even cut a new tooth with almost no complaining.
• Erik and I celebrated our 8th anniversary and his 30th birthday on the trip. I’m grateful to be married to a man who will go along with me, no complaints, during such a big week.
• Erik is 30. I’m officially married to an old guy.
• My youth group is fabulous. What a bunch.
• My house desperately needs to be vacuumed.
• I’ve rarely ever been this exhausted (18 hour bus ride, and I can’t sleep well sitting up or in moving objects).
• My sister moved to Europe yesterday. Eventually, she’ll be working in Dublin. But, in a few hours, she’s off to Norwich. I’m praying for low Aer Lingus fares.
• My brother is moving back to Chicago this fall. (Note to all potential empty-nesters: before you decide that downsizing your house will keep your young adult children form moving back in with you, you should talk to my parents. Their tiny 2 BR condo will soon have hosted all of my adult siblings except me at one time or another.)
• I got to see my cousin Chad in Denver. He’s working with a group on an urban sustainable living project. They grow corn in their front yard. I like Chad, because he’s the kind of guy who grows corn in his front yard.
• The CRCNA did some good stuff this week. (I know I’m Presbyterian, so if you wonder why I still care about this, see Susan.)
• If I ever get myself pulled back together (for instance, as of this moment, I haven’t showered in over 48 hours, and those 48 hours included an 8 hour hike in the mountains), I’ll have to post some more profound things about the last week.

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Rocky Mountain Highway

And…we’re…off….

Almost.

I board at bus at midnight, June 10, for a mission trip with my youth group in Colorado. We’ll be working here.

It has been months of planning, and scheming, and praying, and wishing were just on the road already.

If you want to pray for us, pray for these things:

• That we are safe and healthy
• That we keep covenant with each other as a Christian community living together
• That Zora enjoys her first youth group trip (and, join me in thanking God for a husband who willingly is giving this week to accompany us)
• That this doesn’t happen on Wednesday (and, thank God for protecting Mary!)
• That God walks among us when we least expect it, and when we most need his presence.

[ Filed under Journal | 4 Comments ]

So you want to be a teacher?

I spent two years teaching high school religion in an urban school. People used to ask me if it made me feel like the teachers in the typical inspirational-inner-city school movies. Not really. Those amazing teachers had too much energy. I was mostly exhausted. By the end of two years, I knew I was called to ministry in a church, not a high school. Also, I figured I had managed to survive two of the hardest years of my life before I age thirty, which seemed like a pretty good deal. I did miss my students, though, and the natural camaraderie that develops between teachers in a school.
So, finally, a movie that really portrays what it’s like to teach: Chalk.

You should watch this movie if you are:

• thinking about a career in teaching
• a high school student who might want a little glimpse of what your teachers go through in their first years
• wondering why teachers think they have it rough
• wondering why our public schools don’t always seem to “work”
• someone who ever taught

Then, write your favorite teacher ever a letter and thank them. They probably don’t hear people say “thanks” often enough.

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The theology of children

Just this afternoon, it hit me that we completely missed the Ascension at church. (I take full responsibility: I was the preacher on Sunday and I went with John 17. But, hey, it was confirmation Sunday and we had a lot to fit in.)

To make up for that, read Mary’s post about her deeply theological little buddy Anton.

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Are you young, female, and ordained?

Here’s some exciting news:

There is interest in the church-at-large about young, female clergy.

A few months ago, I joined a fledgling on-line discussion with a group of clergy-women under 35.

Then, exciting things started to happen (we have a fairy godmother of sorts who was interested in us, got other people interested in us, and found a grant!)

First, the National College of Preachers squeezed in a very special conference in August for young  women preachers. Wahoo!

And, the on-line group is expanding. Who knows what will come next?

If you want more information, go here.

(NP Group 17–I’m so sorry it took me so long to post this. I was drowning under the weight of my confirmation planning!)

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Around the Table

Protestant female-ministers don’t go in so much for the whole “bride of Christ” language that comes up more often among Catholic nuns. But this weekend, I was pretty much married to the church. (My husband and daughter got to tag along when they could make it.)

On Friday, I wrote a sermon in record time. Out of necessity.

Because, on Saturday, I had:

8:30-3:00 Youth Group Car Wash

(Meanwhile, the deacons were running a blood drive: I donated blood from my husband. I think I as high risk for fainting this weekend.)

9:00-10:00 Confirmation Rehearsal–Confirmands serve communion during the church service, as in “serve” with the plates being passed and “formations” etc. (Always a good thing when I have to be in two places at once. I find it empowers the laity.)

3:00-3:15 Shower

3:30-3:45 Sit on the couch and take deep breaths

4:00-5:15 Trip to Sams Club to pick up confirmation cakes (Which weren’t there. I have a theory going the Lutherans (accidentally) stole our Confirmation Cake order. The only way I can explain this. Next year, I’ll make sure to put the PC(USA) cross on the things so that the Lutherans can’t do this. If this last comment is making you think that I am uncharitable and anti-ecumenical, please remember that I know and love Lutherans, in particular the one I’m married to.)

5:00-6:00 Talk with some Kids and Moms about Children at the Lord’s Table (Oops, two places at once again.)

6:00-7:00 Alternative Worship pre-worship meal

6:15-6:30 Run home to pick up Erik and Zora (Oh, look! Two places at once again!)

6:30-7:00 Breastfeed and eat pizza. And continue theological discussion with moms, kids, and others.
7:00-8:30 Alternative Worship (Thank you, Bart, for letting me do nothing!)

8:30-9:00 Set up tables for Sunday School stations on 5 senses in worship.

Sleep, beautiful sleep

8:00-11:30 Church, including confirmation and all that goes along with that. (Priceless looks of terror on faces of confirmands when we hand them the plates and step back from the tables!)

11:30-1:00 Presbyterian Women Strawberry Brunch (I have never seen strawberries served so many ways. )

1:00 I go home to take a nap before my mother in law arrives.

Now, I’m not doing this to complain. In fact, being busy is somewhat invigorating for me. I love people, I love stuff to do. I LOVE churches where lots is going on.

And the best part of the weekend? In the midst of all this, I kept circling back to the communion table (literally and more representatively): confirmation rehearsal; eating hot dogs with the youth group; the thing with the kids and moms; eating Pizza with church folks; setting up a station on “Taste” in worship for the Sunday School kids; 2 girls reading the story of communion on Saturday night as we gathered at the table; communion on Sunday with the newly-confirmed; strawberries…

And, I hope that the group that stood up and confirmed their faith on Sunday will come back to the Table again and again, too. (That means you, Akua, Brian, Charles, Wes, Anne, Cassidy, Chloe, Ryan, Kyle, Taylor, Ben, and Kate!)

[ Filed under Journal | 3 Comments ]

Groupies

• John 17:20-26
• May 20, 2007 (Confirmation Service)
• Fox Valley Presbyterian Church

A few weeks ago, I decided to venture into the world of Facebook. Facebook is a social networking website. You type in your profile, and look around to find profiles of other people who you already know. I found my siblings, college and seminary friends, high school friends, cousins, former students, youth group members, a confirmand or two. You can also join groups. Some are exactly what you’d expect: for example, I found a group for alumni of my college and seminary and high school. I found a group for people who have lived in Berwyn, Illinois. There’s a group celebrating Spiedies, the delicious regional food-specialty unique to the county in New York where I grew up. There are groups to support political candidates. Church groups (and let me tell, you there are Presbyterian groups all over Facebook, over 500 of them! We have some work to do to catch up!)When you join a group, that group becomes part of your identity profile, and you’re linked to the other members of the group.

Among all the expected groups, there are some more unusual groups, complete with long names. Here are a few:

I’m from Chicago, so I can cross the street whenever I want
Tell Liz you love her so she won’t transfer to U of I
I worked at the grocery store in Ishpeming, MI
Presbyterian Boys are Hot
My Youth Pastor Can Beat up Your Youth Pastor

Even if we don’t maintain a Facebook profile, we know what groups we are part of. They are one of the ways we define ourselves. Who we are, where we’ve been, who we admire, who we hang out with, what makes us laugh. And some groups are based on the compelling personality or vision of one individual.

Looking at all these groups has me thinking about what is at the core of this group, the church. We’ve got 12 people today who are standing up to affirm that this is their group, confirming who they are, and who God called them to be, confirming the promises of their baptisms.

But this is my question: what is the glue that holds this group together? Confirmands, I’ll be straight with you. Underneath our celebration this morning, there is a worry. You see, we want you to stick around. I want to see you at church next year, at youth group, volunteering in the nursery, with Sunday School, at the church clean-up day. And we are worried that you might take this moment as a graduation, and decide you’re done.

But we want you to be part of the group. And so, when we pray for you, your parents, the congregation, the session, the pastors, we pray, in part that you’ll stick with us.

This passage from John is an incredible moment in the book. If you read carefully, its one of those moments when suddenly, like magic, the book turns and points right at the reader. Jesus has been praying during his last meal with the disciples. He prays for himself. He prays for them, and then, he turns and looks off the page, straight into our eyes, and prays for us. He prays for those who will believe after the disciples. Sit with the thought for a moment: Jesus prays for us. You and me. Here and now.

What Jesus says is not too complicated, it only gets a little  knotty grammatically.

He prays for the unity of those who will believe, the same kind of unity he has with God the Father. He prays that we would be absorbed into the unity that he has with God. God’s unity is no small thing. Jesus praying that we would be wrapped into the love, the friendship, the dance, the embrace, that exists between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Imagine dinner at the home of a family that gets along perfectly (and not in some sappy, fake sense of perfect). A family that gives and takes in conversation, where each member is completely comfortable with who she is, where each individual knows that he is completely loved, each person has a sense of their role in the family, and things feel complete when they are all together. The way they love each other flows out to the people they welcome to their table. There are no secrets, there are no skeletons in the closet. When they hug you as you leave, they say, “If you eat with us, we consider you family.” And they mean it. It’s a place you want to be invited again and again. Of course, no family is perfect. But if you’ve ever caught a glimpse of that as a guest at a meal, you’ve had a small vision of the love that exists within God, in the Trinity, within God.

The Trinity is not just some abstract theological idea the church invented to make your head hurt. It is the reality of God’s love. God is so very loving that God must exist in eternal community, in an eternal dance of three person: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God is so loving, that in Jesus, we get to be a part of that love.

At the root, what Jesus is praying for is not that we will sign up and be part of the group. At the root, Jesus is praying that we will long for God’s love, that we will seek it out, that we will do everything we can to return again and again and again that table where the Trinity talks and laughs and listens. Jesus prays that the thing we will most seek is to be completely surrounded, completely united with the love of God.

It is only that desire for complete unity that holds the group together. If we come here, if we sign up for this group, for any other reason, we might not stay.

But, if we hunger and thirst for God, we will come back again and again and again. We will want to gather around the table, to taste and see that God is good.

This is not just for the confirmands: this is for us all. Everyday, we are asked to confirm that we are part of this group. But the root of that confirmation is not that we sign up for the group. It’s that we want to move deeper and deeper into God’s embrace.

The group proceeds out of that love. Everything we do, our whole witness to the world, depends on our attachment to God’s love.

Confirmands, this is the hardest part of this sermon for me to preach: you are not done. This hunger for God is something you will have to keep seeking for.

And, in all honesty, I do not know how to tell you to get there. Because it is a journey that I am still taking.

None of us know exactly what to tell you—we are all traveling deeper and deeper into God’s love together.

But this is what we do know:

Every so often, there’s a moment when we feel like we’re sitting at the table with God.

It might come when you are having breakfast with your mentor.
Or when you’re helping someone paint the church garage.
Or when you smile at a friend from church on the street on town.
Or when you’re at FOTC
Or around the communion table, during a hymn, in the middle of the sermon

We never know when we get a glimpse.

But that’s why we want you here: to catch as much of a glimpse as you can of the love of God, to hunger for God, to keep seeking God alongside the rest of us.

This is our prayer for you, and not just ours, but the prayer of Jesus himself, who sits next to God the Father at the table, and prays for you.

Amen.

[ Filed under Journal, Sermons | 1 Comment ]

RevGalBlogPals Friday Five: The Big Event Edition

See here for more explanation about this one.

1. What?

Whatever, as long as I can bring my knitting.

2. When?

Summer’s easier for the youth/children’s pastor types. July or August. Not September or May. And we all know what December is like
3.  Where?

If it’s summer, I’d like some water nearby. Also, I find more isolated places are cheaper, because I don’t shop.

4.  Who?

Someone interesting, but my knitting can keep me occupied (great substitute for ritalin!) if need be. I think we have a creative streak in the RevGalBlogPals. How about following that lead?

5. Anything else?

I shouldn’t think too hard: I’ve got a sermon I’m supposed to be writing.

[ Filed under Journal | 5 Comments ]

What to do with kids during boring sermons

This is a great post about how to engage your kids during worship.

(And, no, even though I’m writing a sermon now, the title of this post is not an indication of how I think it’s going.)

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