Claimed, gathered and sent

I was afraid that if I joined Facebook, it would take away lots of time because it would be difficult for me to restrain myself. So, I've been dragged in kicking and screaming. I do like it however. I've connected with people I haven't heard from in years. But as one classmate wrote, "Welcome to the black hole." So, we'll see how restrained I can be...so far not very, especially since we had reading days earlier in the week and I didn't feel much pressure to get work done.

Sophia wrote: The pastor of my grad school parish once gave a fascinating reflection, at about this mid-point in the season, called "How to Survive the Mid-Lent Crisis"! As I recall, his main point was that by halfway through the season we have often found it very challenging to live up to our original plans....But, he suggested--on the analogy of the healing and reframing of our life plans that can happen during a mid-*life* crisis--that that can be even more fruitful. So here's an invitation to check in on the state of your spirit midway through "this joyful season where we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed" (Roman Missal). Hopefully there's a good deal of grace, and not too much crisis, in your mid-Lenten experience! 1. Did you give up, or take on, anything special for Lent this year? I took on something, increased attentiveness to hear God's voice, to quiet myself to listen, especially through lectio divina . A grou...

Here is the sermon I'm preaching this morning at Rural Lutheran on the gospel text Mark 8:31-38. +++ In the book The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning describes a common myth that flourishes today. It goes something like this: “Once I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, an irreversible, sinless future beckons. Discipleship will be an untarnished success story; life will be an unbroken upward spiral toward holiness.” This myth has done great harm because it misrepresents the way Christian life is really live The problem is, our daily experiences fly in the face of this idea. Some say it’s simply because we don’t have enough faith. If we only said and did the right things, we could have, as one televangelist suggests, our “Best Life Now.” In today’s gospel, we find ourselves arriving seemingly in the midst of an already unfolding drama. Today we are at the turning point of Mark ’s gospel between Jesus ’ Galilean ministry a...

This morning in lectio divina, we read and prayed with this Sunday's first reading, Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16. Above is what the text looks like when run through Wordle Word clouds are generated from text pasted into Wordle. The larger the words, the more times they appear in a given text. A number of things came to mind while going over the text: God is God almighty, covenant promises, name change and its significance. God names us, calls us God's own, and enters into relationship with us. God is God and does the impossible. After all our sharing, we fell into silence--a prolonged silence. The presence of God was almost tangible. As much as we may know God is with us, it is still wonderful when we sense that nearness. In that quiet time I could only worship and pray that God would move in our lives and in the lives of each of us on this campus--that there would be a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on each and every one. Gracious God, hear our prayer.

Week after week the workload in seminary seems undo able. I haven't posted anything lately because I, like others, have hardly come up for air from the piles on our desks of books and papers. Week after week I am stressed about whether or not I will get everything done that must be done. I'm not always sure (well, yeah I am) how everything gets done, but it does. This time I even tried to work ahead to no avail in preparation for guests. My daughter and granddaughter visited this weekend from Rochester, NY. There was tons to be done, but I was determined to be as present and in the moment with them as possible. I did have to do some work for teaching parish, but most of my time was spent with them. And it's a good thing because they arrived sick and needing lots of TLC. Sunday they were totally out of it, so Ray stayed home and gave them lots of love while I went to Rural Lutheran. They had perked up a bit while I was gone, but were still pretty out of it. I am so gra...

Sophia wrote: My son's tiny beloved lizard, Elf, is looking and acting strange this week. His skin/scales are quite dark, and he is lethargic. We are adding vitamin drops to his lettuce and spinach and hoping and praying that he is just getting ready to shed his skin--but it's too soon to tell. Others in the ring have also been worried about beloved pets this week. And, in the saddest news of all, Songbird has had to bid farewell to her precious Molly , the amazing dog who is well known to readers of her blog as a constant sacrament of God's unconditional love. So in memory of Molly, and in honor of all the beloved animal companions who bless our lives: tell us about the five most memorable pets you have known. The first is my beloved black lab, Tasha who I had to say good-bye to a number of years ago. She loved everyone and if she saw anyone playing a with a ball, she wanted to play too. Abby, who is still with us is next. She's Ray's retired Seeing Eye Dog. Abby...

It would be good if church mothers were included, but nevertheless a classmate forwarded this quiz to me. See what you think You’re St. Justin Martyr! You have a positive and hopeful attitude toward the world. You think that nature, history, and even the pagan philosophers were often guided by God in preparation for the Advent of the Christ. You find “seeds of the Word” in unexpected places. You’re patient and willing to explain the faith to unbelievers. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers ! In the Fall semester we read Justin Martyr among others in our Early Church and its Creeds.