The Early Beginnings of Civility

I’m pretty sure I could have caused some significant damage if I hadn’t been seeing a dang good chiropractor of late… when the opposing team ran onto the field at last week’s Solon High School football game, the two young kids next to me started hollering “boo” at the top of their lungs and my neck snapped to the left to see who was offering such a welcome.  I’m not sure why I was so caught off guard.  It’s not the first time I’ve heard boos at a football game!  Part of it had to do with the dad who stood with the boys and did nothing- at least he wasn’t booing.  Part of it had to do with the age of the boys. 

I asked one of my colleagues and friends who is Mr. Sports his take on it.  Am I just being an overly sensitive parent of a daughter who is way too idealistic? 

Nope. 

Phew.

Seriously. 

What is going on?  Aren’t we teaching our kids to be good sports anymore? 

And I don’t think it takes too much to connect what we teach our kids to what we witness going on in Congress, tennis courts and public discourse in general.  I can’t change Sen. Wilson, or Serena or newscasters but I can change the way I speak and act and you’d better believe I’m teaching my daughter what it means to be a good sport. 

Thoughts?

Back to School in More Ways than One

School started back up this week and with it some routines.  After K2 gets on the bus I usually head off for a walk.  This week I’ve been catching up with some of the podcasts from The GodComplex Radio.  Carol Howard Merritt and Bruce Reyes-Chow are two PCUSA pastors on opposite coasts who have put together some amazing interviews with an incredible folks.  If you haven’t listened to it – go check them out now.  I’m trying to re-work my Monday schedule so that I can listen live and engage in the online conversations that happen. 

Yesterday I listened to the Calvin episode with Dr. Stephen Ray.  Listening to him speak made me want to sit in on one of his classes or read one of his books.  If you haven’t read Calvin’s Institutes or have even seen them here is what you need to know:  Calvin’s Institutes are dense, thick, at times confusing, challenging – and printed in two volumes.  On thin paper.  With a really small font. 

So when Dr. Ray was asked to summarize Calvin’s work he said this:

The sum of Calvin’s Institutes is this:  either you trust God or you don’t. 

Wow.  I’m pretty certain I would have failed my ordination exams if I had given that answer but he is so on target.  I can think of countless conversations with good, faithful folks who struggle with Calvin’s understanding of predestination and the sovereignty of God.  It is hard to not make it all about us and what we must do in response to God’s gift of grace.  Or that we have to somehow initiate our own salvation.

Ray’s words make me think of that image that God grabs hold of us long before we grab hold of God and that ultimately, whether we grab hold doesn’t matter. 

Thanks Dr. Ray.  I think I’ll pull out Calvin’s work and do some reading.

Either you trust God or you don’t.  I’ll be pondering that for awhile.

Deep and Wide

Go read this post.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.  Go.  Read.  It. Now. 

http://www.achurchforstarvingartists.com/2009/07/more-than-1-way-of-being-christian.html

Jan is a great pastor, wonderful writer, and friend and colleague I treasure.

I’m Boss of My Body

We were enjoying a lovely afternoon at the pool after a very fine day tasting wine in the Santa Ynez Valley.  Lots of laughs between Jeff and K2 while I enjoyed reading Take this Bread on my Kindle.  We swapped dinner ideas with some folks who were enjoying the hot tub.  It was a picture perfect vacation afternoon.  Until a family came to the pool:  dad and three kids.  Dad took it upon himself to make sure his son went into the pool.  The boy, I’m guessing he was about 10, had no desire to swim.  No matter, dad taunted him to take his shirt off or it would get wet and then chased him around the pool.  Dad got big sisters into the act “it’s not our fault if his shirt gets wet!”  The boy grabbed anything he could find to keep himself out of the water:  the chaise lounge, table top, chair legs.  It was painful to watch.   It was obvious to those of us around the pool that the kid did not want to get into the water but by this point dad had invested way too much ego into his endeavor.  We left before it ended.  It wasn’t until this morning that the words I wished I had said came to me.

I’m boss of my body, please don’t/stop (fill in the blank).

Way too many years ago, Steve and Nancy Harrington shared with us a phrase they had taught all their kids when they were little.  It was one we filed away until we had a  child of our own.  It is simple yet powerful.  It reminds kids that they do have power.  K2 uses it when we are having a tickle fight and it is time to stop.  It doesn’t matter if she starts the tickling back up a moment after we stop.  We respect her request.  We remind her that there might/will be times when people don’t respect her request and she needs to get out of the situation in anyway possible.  As an almost 9 year old those situations have remained minor and I pray that they always will be easy to resolve. 

I keep thinking about that boy and that dad.  It was probably meant to be playful fun but it didn’t look like much fun for the boy 0r the rest of us around the pool.  I hope someone teaches him this line.  I wish I had thought to say it then but since I didn’t I’m telling you to teach your kids, your friends, yourself. 

You are boss of your body.

Stuff I Love to Hear

The sound of K2 dropping books from the bed as she reads by moonlight…or flashlight…or the light of the clock next to her. 

I know someone else who used to do that, too.  Now she is lucky if she finishes a page before her head hits the pillow.

3 Books You Should Read

I’m on a bit of a reading binge this summer.  K2 is doing the summer reading program through our county library and I’ve decided to re-live my childhood and do the same.  I keep a list of what I read on this blog that I’m sure every single one of my five readers have perused.  In case you haven’t, here are three I recently finished that I think everyone of you should read.

Velvet Elvis  Rob Bell of Mars Hill wrote this book a couple of years ago.  Bell has a fondness for all black wardrobes and goofy glasses but has written a compelling book about being a Christian today.  You should read this because it will push you to think about what you really believe and possibly even reconsider all the stuff you learned in Sunday school over the years.  And if you never went to Sunday school it will help you put some words to your faith.  And if you don’t have faith, you might find yourself reconsidering.

Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation by Carol Howard Merritt , should be read by every pastor, elder, deacon, church leader.  period.  I often find Alban books to be a bit thin when it comes to theological reflection but this is not one of them.  The intent of the book is to challenge churches to think about how they minister to “young adults” but I think it is a challenge of how to minister. period.  Read it.  Now.

Finally, Salvation on the Small Screen?  24 Hours of Christian Television is hilarious.  And thoughtful.  And entertaining.  Nadia Bolz-Weber is the mission developer for House for All Sinners and Saints.  Here was her challenge: to watch 24 hours of TBN – the Trinity Broadcasting Network.  Maybe it is something only pastors do, but there are times Jeff and I will find ourselves actually watching one of the shows on the network and being, well, a bit snarky.  Okay, more than a bit.  Bolz-Weber is snarky, too, but she is also thoughtful and does the hard work of taking her criticisms and turning them back on her own theology and practices.  That is a good practice for all of us.  Even if it does hurt.  Ouch.

What’s Your Image of “Church?”

If it’s Thursday it must be El Campesino. It started well before our arrival and has grown over the last few years.  Now you’ll find 20-40 Pioneer folks gathered in a room set-aside by the owner.  Chips, salsa, and margaritas flow.  Folks who have never touched mexican food in their lives and could probably do without it have joined the crowd.  Relatives and friends often show up.  The conversations flow freely as well.  People that wouldn’t normally talk to each other on a Sunday now break chips together and invest in each other’s lives in ways that I believe, sadly,  would not otherwise happen.  The youngest ones (elementary) grab a table in the corner and often “babysit” some of the bambinos that tag along.  Birthdays are celebrated with a silly hat and a dessert shared by all. 

Tonight as I sat watching and listening I was struck by the beauty of it all.  A couple of high schoolers showed up late and started chatting with one of the older couples next to them.  Down at the other end someone was sharing stories of her experience at the Big Tent.  K2 played server and took orders of the folks around her – folks that are her family now.   

And they will come from North and South, East and West, and sit at the table of God…

What’s your image of “Church?”

 

image from www.missionary-independent.org

Memorial Day and Being a Pastor

I receieved a frantic phone call on Friday:  “The pastor who was suppose to pray on Monday had surgery for throat cancer.  Do you know anyone who could come?”  “Would they mind a woman?”, was my response, trying to be sensitive to expectations (and maybe hoping Jeff would go instead!). 

I am glad I went.  I’m not a fan of war (who is, really?) but it was moving to see these men gather to honor those who had died.  It didn’t take much of an imagination to wonder what they had seen during their lives.  One gentleman was on the front lines of four significant battles (Iwo Jima being one of them).  Another gentleman carried the wreath as he gripped his crutches with his armpits.  One of the other soldiers offered help but no doing.  It was the least he could do, I suppose, for those who had made the “ultimate sacrifice.” 

I wondered if some of my colleagues thought I was giving in too easily by agreeing to pray at such an occasion.  Was I somehow giving creedance to violence and war?  I don’t think so.  It was an honor to give thanks for the lives of so many and I can’t imagine anyone was upset that I prayed for peace. 

May it be so.

Gratitude for the South

I had a wonderful time in Nashville this last week with eleven amazing women.  We studied with Amy-Jill Levine, read the Great Emergence, ate some wonderful meals, laughed until our sides ached, cried with and for one another, prayed, and renewed our souls.  It was pure gift.  It was an honor to be included and I am – and will continue to be – grateful for the invitation. 

I lived in the South for almost 17 years and it didn’t take me long to remember the many things I appreciate about the South. 

• directions that include “go the red light” regardless of what color the signal might be when you get there!
• folks who respond to my “hey” when I pass them on the street!
• a gentile hospitality that is all its own.
• hushpuppies and cheese grits.
• family connections – it is amazing to watch folks find how they are related.  It is truly poetry and there are times I’m a bit jealous!
• Springtime in the Southland – you are right, Emily Saliers, there is nothing like it! (And thanks be to God for Zyrtec!)

I Have Succumbed

As my spouse will tell you, I often mock something and then decide I really could use it.  Email (I thought we could share an account); Palm; GPS; and now twitter.  Although JP does not twitter. 

But I do.  God forgive me.