WINTER BREAK READING GOALS

I like goals. I also like prizes and gold stars when I finish goals. I also find it necessary to make lists public in order that I accomplish them. Below is my reading goals for my Winter Break. Although a very short time, I’ve already accepted taht 50% equals sucess.

1. In the End - The Beginning: The Life of Hope — Jurgen Moltmann

2. Free of Charge — Miroslav Volf

3. God’s Behaving Badly: Media, Religion, and Celebratory Culture — Pete Ward

4. You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church … and Rethinking Faith — David Kinnaman

5. IASYM Journal: Volume 9, Number 2

6. Luther and the Beloved Community: A Path for Christian Theology after Christendom — Paul Hinlickey

7. They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations — Dan Kimball

8. Four months of Glamour and Runner’s World

SPACE TO BE CHURCH

Check-out a brief glimpse into Dr. Ryan Bolger at the Missional Church Consultation at Luther Seminary:

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Then check out my reflection posed on the First Third Website:

SPACE TO BE CHURCH: REFLECTION ON ON RYAN BOLGER'S PRESENTATION

OPPS. I CRAFTED.

Opps. I crafted.

Over.

And over.

And over again.

Until I made enough pins, clips, handbands, and necklaces to open a small shop.

LOGAN GET'S MARRIED

Before Neil and Heather got married, Claire got married. This meant a trip out east in early September to be part of something beautiful. This trip also meant a visit to my Alma Mater and a weekend with my big sister form Alpha Sigma Alpha and her twin sister. I then headed down to Blacksburg to visit with Kendall, another ASA sister. We then traveled to DC together. I was then passed off to my BFF. We then meet my twin sister from ASA for dinner, before making the trip to Richmond the next day for Claire’s wedding. Before the wedding we visited with Angela, who is one of my favorite sisters and also a fellow Iota in ASA.

There was a lot of sorority love. Claire was also an ASA and one of my college roommates senior year. Her wedding was beautiful. It showed her love for the tradition, dance and of course, Justin.

But before we even got to the wedding, Joanna and I curled our hair in the bathroom at the Richmond Art Museum, even though the lack of hair spray had my hair flat immediately. The only outlet was as soon as you walked in the door. The variety of expressions we received was worth it, especially when we had a curling iron dive into the trashcan. But you see, our adventure did not end here. We ended up getting dressed at a Kroger, a grocery shop.

I love the East Coast. I love the reunions with friends. And I love road trips with best friends.

MEGHAN'S STORY

I was sexually abused every day for six years, I suffer depression, I have tried to commit suicide three times, and I have a drug problem that started even before I was born. I have been taken away from my mom for the final time and have been kicked out of my grandmom’s house for good. I am a lesbian in a church that isn’t ready for me and I am an age that no one is there to respect me.

This was just the beginning of Meghan’s story.

We all sat there speechless.

I asked my small group to share who they were and who they weren’t. Knowing only a little about Meghan I thought she would have shared something more like this— My name is Meghan and I am in 10thgrade. I made the varsity basketball team my freshman year and I like biking. But I then realized that these things didn’t make Meghan who she was.

All these heartaches were just steps on her journey. She mentioned with almost every experience that she felt lonely or not loved. She shared that she tried to kill herself because she didn’t have anyone to love her or even know her. And she was dependent on drugs, because it was the only thing she had to be dependent on.

Meghan went on to say that she was in a foster home that prayed before every meal. She told us about this experience, saying “I knew nothing. I knew that people prayed in this world, but I didn’t know why. But with this family something clicked. And now I am a different person. My story continues on today knowing that I am loved and I should never feel alone. I take every step knowing that I have someone on my side. That I have a partner in crime and one that isn’t going to get my in trouble. Knowing that I am God’s child is the most important thing I now know.

Meghan got it. Her story was not all bad, because now she saw that she had hope. Hope that tomorrow will be better, even if she is still in and out of hospitals and foster homes due to continuing struggles. She got it. She knew that she was a Child of God and her story portrayed that in the most sincere way.

Three weeks later I was at Meghan’s baptism. She smiled the biggest, most beautiful smile when the pastor said, “You are a Child of God.”

DEEP IN MY HEART...

Living in the Midwest, I sometimes fear that I am going to miss something exciting. I am so excited that I did not miss Neil and Heather’s wedding. It was a beautiful and intimate wedding and celebration on the North Shore in Massachusetts. After a summer of Roanoke College weddings, it is rather sad to think it may be a while before the gang is back together.

OBSERVATION OF NATIONAL CHILDREN’S SABBATH

One of my favorite question as a child was what do you want to be when you grow up.
 
I had dreams of dancing across the stage at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York, New York as Belle in Beauty and the Beast. I would carry every emotion and note with sheer perfection. At the end of each night I would look out to a packed theatre, everyone on their feet, clapping and wooing for me, the star of the show. And just a few short months later I would be walking across a stage accepting my first of many Tonys.
 
I had dreams of being a Princess. A castle of extraordinary proportions would be built in my honor just down the street from my parent’s suburban Philadelphia home. There would be a moat and golden retriever puppies that would never grow-up. There would be a prince that would come home every night with flowers in hand and stories of how he slayed the suburban dragons. And he would protect me from the meanest of them all, my older brother.
 
I had dreams of being a doctor. I would fly past the other students in my program as I found a cure for HIV/AIDS as a first year resident. I would then give my life to living in subserian Africa. A medical facility would be named in my honor, and all the village children would great me on my walk to work.
 
I had dreams of being an artist. I would spend my day in my loft with ceilings that raised 12 feet high. I would have paints and supplies of every color organized in shelves and cupboards. Out my window I would see the city, my inspiration. My paintings would be known throughout the world and my personal assistants would have to feed calls from places like the MET and the Louve. People from all over  the world would come to look at my creative passion that came alive on canvas.
 
In one of my favorite books from high school, Boy’s Life, the main character, Cory looks to his father and says, “I’d like to be everything in the world. I like to live a million times. He father responds, “That would be a fine piece of magic, wouldn’t it?”
 
You see, I didn’t just want to be a princess or a doctor. I wanted to be it all. And in the native nature of being a child, I had a plan to make it happen. I could be an artist on Monday and have plenty of time to live in Africa while staring on Broadway. And like Cory’s father, my parents would live into this all, because they did not want me to loose my magic.

Just earlier this morning, I may have gotten a glimpse into what it would have been like if I could have been everything I wanted to be once. We had a ballet dancer and Irish dancers. There were basketball players and soccer players. There was kung-fu and karate. There was poetry and origami. There were the children of Calvary doing it all. They were living the million lives I dreamed of, all at once.
 
Today as we celebrate and observe National Children’s Sabbath, I cannot help but live into my childhood dreams. The imagination that I held that I could do anything. I remember the people that never said never. They lived into my magic.

But soon imagination and magic replaced reason. People surrounded me begin to ask questions. Are you sure you want to be a princess? Are you sure you are ready for the extra pressure of applying to medical school? Are you aware of the financial burden of being an artist could ensure? Are you sure you are good enough to make it to Broadway?
 
And just like that, I saw my dreams slowing disappearing. I had been tricked out of dreaming. I could no longer be a princess or an artist. Now when I was faced with the question of what I wanted to be when I grow, my answers had to be different. It was that horrible period in all of our lives when reason begins to trump imagination.

These people that once believed in me, that told me I could be anything in the world had turned their back on me. Those who joined me in my joy of my dreams had now decided that I need to think practically about this all. I saw myself being surrounded my hypocrites. And they all seemed to be old.

What in the world were they trying to accomplish. Why me?

I would then fight them all back, my feet would start to stump and my voice would start to raise, and like a professional, the tears began to flow. And with this winning combination, all the adults were back on my side, allowing me to live, once again, in my childhood imagination.

Well, that is how I wish it would have happened. Instead, I would see the embarrassment or anger in my parent’s faces, and next thing I knew I would be on my way up the stairs, taking each once with a loud thump. It was then a sharp turn to make it down the hallway. I would then walk in to my room and with all the power in the world, I would slam my door.

And so now, when approached with the question what do you want to be when you grow-up, I got scared. Do I make something up or do I say I want to be real-live Princess. And so, I answered with the answer no one wanted to hear.

Um. Ah. Hum. I don’t know?

It is an answer to a question that shows defeat, failure and instant frustration.

In the Gospel today, we see Jesus being just a little snarky. Here we have the Pharisees, hoping to trick Jesus one more time. And this time they think they got it figured out. They have crafted the one question that is going to trap Jesus. They say to Jesus? Is it right to pay taxes to Casesar, the emperor, or not?

Clearly they think Jesus has to answer yes or no. If he says, yes, it is right to pay taxes to Casear, Jesus is siding with the Romans, and against Israel and most of the Jews, including the Pharisees, who would consider him a traitor. If he answers no, he could be labeled a Rebel who opposed authority of Rome and the Herodians would be against him.

Could Jesus have continued in his snarky attitude and answered, I don’t know, what do you think? But instead he crafts up a cleaver answer to a rather cleaver question, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

This is one of those times I wish the faces of the Pharisees could have been captured on film. I imagine some raised eyebrows, some dumbfounded looks, probably quite similar to those I got when I shared what I wanted to be when I grow up.

So, what is Jesus’ answer saying. Is it warning the Pharisees about the separation of church and state? Or is Jesus saying that we owe absolutely nothing to false gods, like Caesar and should reserve all things for God?

We don’t know. I don’t know. But there is an inclination that Jesus is trying to make clear is that we cannot ignore politics and we cannot ignore the economy. These are things that surround us and in some way, claim part of our identity.

Jesus wants us to think.

He wants us to think and wonder the great questions like…

What causes do I support?
Who do I vote for?
How will I dedicate my time?
How can I use my gifts?

And even the question, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”

I could give an answer to all of these questions, even if it is as complex as I don’t know.

What causes do I support? I don’t know
Who do I vote for? I don’t know
How will I dedicate my time? I don’t know
How can I use my gifts? I don’t know
What do you want to be when you grow up? I don’t know.

There is always an answer to the question, but what does our identity in Christ, our faith in the triune God and the love of the community play into our answers.

This is the part that makes us think. We begin to wonder what does being a Christian mean in all of these questions? And maybe our answer is very simple, I don’t know, but that does not mean the conversation ends there.

We begin to answer these questions together in community. We wonder together. We question together. We remind one another to take on the imagination of a child. We need to step in to that realm of the impossibility and just sit and ask what if.

In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians this morning, we hear how the people first received the word. The story involves Paul coming to Thessalonica and proclaiming the word to the people. The people hear what Paul had to say, and some are filled with joy.

And like a fictional fairy tale, the letter ends with they lived happily ever after.

Yet just like us, there had to be the period where they had questions to ask. They needed to wrestle with who is this character of Jesus. You mean, I have to give up my other identity as a Gentile for something else. There had to be more.

As, we gather today as a community, everyone has the opportunity to hear the word proclaimed, and just like the people of Thessalonica, it is not always and they lived happily every after.

We, too, need the chance to wrestle and figure it all out. We even get asked questions and have to answer, I don’t know, but, what comes next.

As we celebrate our children today, there is something extremely special about this question. They may be able to tell the elaborate dreams of what they want to be when they grow up. They may be able to share a story from earlier in the week, but they also may not be afraid to answer a question with “I don’t know.”

And there is something beautiful and unique about a child’s, “I don’t know.” I think it goes a little more like this, “I don’t know, but teach me.”

Yet the word teach also gives us the space for something more. There is an old, and very common classroom model that is fully Lecture based. A teacher or professor gets up in front of the classroom and talks as the students are thought to be learning. There may be time for questions, but rather typically, at the end of the time together, both parties go their separate ways.

That’s not the kind of teaching we need to see.

It’s a teach that allows for mutual curiosity with the one’s faith, especially a child’s. It’s that living in to their dream, instead of discouraging for an answer or solution that seems more plausible or socially acceptable. It’s answering wouldn’t that be magical, like Cory’s father when he said he wanted to be everything in the world.

It is so easy for us to think of children with the social norms placed on them. Things like rowdy, young, misbehaved,  and even smelly all seem common. We think of them different then us. We think of ourselves as the ones with knowledge, with the answers to the questions, but we all have the places in our lives where we answer the question I don’t know, but do we neglect our child like curiosity to know more.

May we continue to live into the community of questions of doubt and being not so sure. May we continue to wrestle with our Christian identity like the people of Thessolonica or the Pharisees. And through this all may we continue to ask questions and know it is okay to say I don’t know.

For we have a God that has not limited those dreams to what is practical or safe. But she has given us the gifts to look further, dream bigger and brighter. And some of those greatest gifts are the children who allow us to live into the imagination we thought was left behind.

I BELIEVE

The Confirmation students at Bethel are in the midst of working on Faith Statements. In trying to explain the assignment, I asked them and their mentors to each share one thing they believed at the beginning of class. I shared that I believe that a new box of Crayola crayons is the best way to start the school year. Another student shared that I believe that markers are better than crayons. Because this was their belief, I controlled myself from a serious debate.

After giving them a few examples of what a faith statement could look like, I sent the students off with the mentors to have some conversation over some questions, including things like who are 2 people you think have a strong faith and why? What are four times you have prayed? I wanted to get them talking with their mentors about faith, and also starting to think about faith for themselves.

As we gathered back together, I asked each person around the table to write one thing they believed about God, Jesus, or faith.  As we went around the room and shared what we had all scribbled down on our little purple piece of paper, I realized that we had created our own creed. We each had something we believed and when put together, we were truly a representative of the priesthood of all believers. We do not all believe the same thing, but we all believe something. Here is belief statements put all together.

I believe that God is always watching over you and is always there for you no matter what.

I believe that God or Jesus are always listening.

I believe I will not have faith in God without being faithful to Jesus.

I believe that God always has a reason for doing something.

I believe God can control everything, except for your thoughts.

I believe God does listen to us and our prayers.

I believe God loves everybody.

I believe that God’s love will transform the world.

I believe that God is always with me.

I believe God will protect you.

I believe that God loves me and has my back.

I believe that God believes in us, and therefore we have hope.

I believe that I we are children of God and we are loved.

I believe that God is all powerful and all existing.

I believe God does what is best for everyone.

I believe everyone can connect through God, even if they are not Christian.

TRANSITION OF DEFINING EMBRACE

I was asked what my intentions were with this blog. It started as a project. I spent the Spring Semester working on an independent study. It started with a panic phone call to my advisor. I realized that I got confused while registering for classes. I registered for two classes that fulfilled the same requirement. I needed to find something else.

Nancy asked me what I was thinking. I have a deep curiosity for pluralism, emerging adults and ministry in the city. As our conversation went on she said what about community in the city. I do not remember how I answered, yet I know I had some apprehension of what I would do and read.

More clarification came my way as we begin to realize there is something unique about ministry in the city. Nancy wanted me to play with that.

It all made sense. My favorite thing is community. If I could have anything in the world, it would be community. I believe I first experienced community, well initial Christian community, when I participated in the Summer Theological Academy with Theological Education with Youth. I could talk about that experience and being in community, but I do not believe that I was able to truly articulate with that meant.

As we began to look for texts for this project, Nancy and I made suggests to one another. Through the reading, we begin to see how this would all play out. We knew in some capacity I would research congregations. After attempting to interview one congregation via phone, I knew that I needed a different route. At that point I realized the power of social media in our culture. The unique urban congregations I took interest in all had something in common, a website that articulated their history, ministries and hopes not just for their congregation, but the community that surrounded them.

I believe that social media and the internet held the identity for the congregation, and I would even suspect that many people in the congregations may not even be aware of the identity the congregations presents to the public.

It was through interacting with the internet presence of these congregations that I began to learn what makes community in the city unique. And as I moved forward, I started to transition from using the word community to embrace.

As the semester began to wind down, I knew that I needed to begin to present my findings. As I begin to write up formal papers to send to Nancy, I realized that this did not shape the project. I thought how can my final product look different, mainly because I was excited about how technology has changed ministry. Therefore, this little space came alive.

If you go back to the archives, you will find posts that look to my reactions to some unique congregations in the city, as well as being in dialogue with texts and people about what embrace/community. It was fun, because I am finally being able to articulate something that is my passion.

So, now I am left wondering, do I continue on this journey. And I suppose I will. I don’t think I will stop defining embrace. Because after that semester, I am left to define embrace for myself. I can see and read about it, but what does it mean to experience it.

As we move on, I transition to share my unique experiences with embrace while living in the Twin Cities, finishing a graduate degree or two or three, and serving three congregations and communities in South Minneapolis doing children, youth and family ministry.

I know that embrace is unique, and I’m ready to find a definition of it for myself.

THE CITIES ARE ALIVE IN THE SUMMER

I spent the summer doing a lot of wandering. There is something unique about the city in the winter, especially Minneapolis and St. Paul. People are around, yet it is different. Once the doors of summer were open, I experienced a new city. As I drive through South Minneapolis to get to work, I see a diverse group of people on the streets.

There are people carrying bags of recently purchased groceries, while others are waiting for the bus, and unlike winter, they are not huddled under the bus shelter looking for warmth. There are women and men that are on a casual stroll, but to counter balance their activity, there are men in suits walking with a stride that can only be explained as I have people to see and things to do. And more than anything else, I see children. Everywhere there are children. They represent a magnitude of races and cultures. Some are running down the street on their own, while others are being pushed and pulled by a parent or guardian.

But one thing is clear, the Cities are alive in the summer.

THE MURAL ARTS PROGRAM'S CORE VALUES

I’ve talked prior about my love for art and specifically, The Mural Arts Project. Naturally I can go one and one, but I wanted to share their core values in their entirety; I have shared specific values in the past. It is some of the most beautiful and exciting values I have seen for an organization.

OUR PALETTE OF CORE VALUES

Art Ignites Change

Art heals, art unites, and art changes minds in a convincing fashion. Art drives the agenda. Great art is never silent, can’t be ignored, and serves poorly the status quo.

Stories Must be Told

The sublime power of narrative drives our lives. Stories well told will shine transformative light into dark corners.

We Beats Me

It’s simple. We work in conspiring teams whose goal is gestalt. Everything we do is by and for the community. There’s no “I” in mural.

It Ain’t About the Paint

What we do is deceptively complex. What drives us is the opportunity to help life triumph over the forces of despair. We just happen to be good at painting murals.

Make Promises and Keep Them

We’re an ansty bunch, and proactively committed to the commitment to be proactive. When we walk into a room , we walk in ready to make great things happen. And when we say we will, we will.

Take Turns

There is no such thing as not my job. We expect to take on unexpected burdens when it’s our turn to do so.

Think Deeply, Create Fearlessly

The surface is something to get beyond. And because we have each other’s back, we go beyond in bold fashion.

Expect Permission / Ask Forgiveness

Bureaucracy has its place. Just not in our mindset.

The Biggest Risk May Be Not Taking It

Why look back on a life not lived? We see our chances and we take ‘em.

Art Is An Economic Engine

This is not art for art’s sake. Our institutional wisdom and intellectual property have value, add value, and are valuable. There’s no shame in earning fair compensation for unique professional expertise.

Yo, This is Fun!

We’re from Philly. We’re for Philly. And we’re having a hell of a good time.

SUNDAY SCHOOL AS THEOLOGICAL CHILD ABUSE

Is Sunday School Theological Child Abuse?

“What place children have in our churches is shaped by our ecclesiology – our beliefs about what church is. That is, ‘children’s ministry’ which is not explicitly justified by some theology of church remains tacitly justified by the common ecclesiological beliefs assumed within any given congregation. In the modern technocratic age, we tend to view everything through the lens of what we can concretely see and control. If we assume church is like this too – which we typically do – then ‘church’, for our children, is some sort of program which is designed to Christianly educate, socialize and entertain the children of church attending adults on Sundays.”

DOES SUNDAY SCHOOL HAVE A FUTURE?

Does Sunday School have a future?
I spend a lot of my time thinking, talking and being part of Sunday morning education. Sheldon C. Good has the serious question, does Sunday School have a future? He may be more optimistic then myself, but he does agree that it will look a little different than we have imagined int he past.

THE ENERGY AND EXCITEMENT OF DAY CAMP

Have you ever been part of the energy at a Day Camp? It’s something different. It’s something so unique that I find it difficult to even bring to words. One moment I am sitting there comforting a camper over the death of an ant. While ten minutes later I am listening to the most drawn-out story of a family vacation from another. The energy is alive as we take out first jump into the pool at the YMCA, and that same energy is alive as we give every last ounce of energy we have in us in order to create some sort of order. But there is that energy that cannot be explained in just one word. For that energy is changing and will continue to change. The question is how do we continue to live in that energy?

Day Camp was my life last week and it was that energy that I thrived off of. Of course energy is not always positive, but it is present. As we spent the week looking at what does it mean to be steward’s of God’s creation, energy is part of that. Of course in the sense that we should turn off lights when we leave a room and such, but also the very idea of how do we find the energy in our lives to be co-creators.

I struggle with this a lot, but the very energy and excitement of a group of young people excited to use their energy to make a difference carries such a strong message of hope to the reality of being stewards of creation.

SUMMER READING PROJECT

I have made a goal to read 15 books this summer. This is going to be hard. I hate reading, but I’m going to try really hard. And if I win, I will allow myself to read A Separate Peace, again.

Summer Reading List

1. The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why — Phyllis Tickle
2. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is hard — Chip Heath and Dan Heath
3. Vibrant Faith in the Congregation — David Anderson
4. Christianity Beyond Belief: Following Jesus for the Sake of Others — Todd Hunter
5. Faith Formation 2020: Designing the Future of Faith Formation — John Roberto
6. Faith as a Way of Life: A Vision for Pastoral Leadership — Christian Scharen
7. Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity … and Why It Matters — David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
8. A Common Word: Muslims and Christians on Loving God and Neighbor — Miroslav Volf, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad Bin Talal & Melissa Yarrington
9. Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity — Frank Viola
10. American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us — Robert Putnam & David Campbell
11. A Report from the Front lines: Conversations on Public Theology — Michael Shahan
12. Quaterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties — Alexandra Robbins & Abby Wilner
13. Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement — Lauren Sandler
14. Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping Our Lives — Anthony Giddens
15. Jesus Freak: Feeding Healing Raising the Dead — Sara Miles

Bonus: A Separate Peace — John Knowles