In honor of Ella, my cat

So, I haven't blogged in forever, and all I give you is this graph? But it made me laugh out loud - I couldn't help it. Also, Graph Jam is hilarious.


see more Funny Graphs

Dan Dick: United Methodeviations

I have a problem with Dan Dick's blog, United Methodeviations: his posts have too much content for me to process. I am constantly bookmarking his posts because they are harder to take in with a quick scan (like I give most of the blogs I read). So I bookmark his posts, and try to get back to them later, ending up with a situation like my current one where I have 11 of his posts bookmarked that I still want to read more carefully. If you aren't reading his blog yet, you really should be. In an effort to actually read his posts more carefully and share them with you, here's a summary of some of the posts I've bookmarked:

Show Me the Money Mission - talks about giving being up during the recession in congregations that are mission focused rather than self-focused. "Too many churches focus on giving to the exclusion of generosity, ignoring the fact that you can alter a person’s giving patterns (behavior modification) without helping them to become a generous person."

Theology of Worship? - questions what theology undergirds what we do in worship. Not as in liberal or conservative theology, but what it is we think worship is about. "I am not advocating a particular theology that all United Methodist congregations should subscribe to. I am reporting that the congregations experiencing the most vital, vibrant, transformational and meaningful worship (as reported by the worshipers, not the worship leaders) are those where the leaders can articulate a clear, precise, deeply spiritual, and widely shared answer to the question “what are the underlying beliefs and motivations about God and the worship of God that shape and inform what you offer as leaders?”"

Mediocrity Not a Goal and Blasphemediocrity - why do we settle for (and sometimes even only strive for) mediocre in the church? "I have a fat folder of notes, e-mails, and letters from former lay leaders, pastors, council chairs, trustees, choir directors, children’s coordinators, teachers, and team/committee chairs explaining their decision to leave their church and go elsewhere — some choosing to leave altogether. The most common thread is this — the church has broken their heart by failing to be Christian. As one powerful letter puts it: 'I am not mad. I’m crushed. I am not leaving the church because it is doing bad things. I am leaving it because it isn’t doing any good things."

How Deep the Well - one of my favorite posts, about clergy wholeness/wellness. Pastors and parishioners should really take a look at this one. "How deep is the well from which we draw? If we are not being fed on a regular basis, what makes us think we have anything of value with which to nourish others? If we are not drawing from a renewing, sustaining source, why are we so surprised when we “burn-out?” The correlation is strong and, unless we as Christian leaders reorient our priorities, the message is clear. If we do not cultivate a vital prayer life, dedicate ourselves to an intensive study of scripture and spiritual teaching, participate in worship as a fully engaged member of a congregation, commit to regular and intentional self-care — physically, emotionally, and intellectually – and nurture and protect key relationships we will not be the people God needs to lead God’s people."

facebook ads

So, I was on facebook today when I noticed this ad in the sidebar:

"Get Fit to Preach - Even with the busy schedule of a pastor, you can get in great shape without the gym or lifting weights. I'll show you how I did it."

Fabulous.

Songs

Another meme. (I'll try to write a real post sometime this week.) Borrowed from David.

• What song makes you instantly think of junior high? Mr. Big, "To Be With You"
  
• What song takes you immediately back to high school? Songs from Rent, which was hugely popular when I was in high-school
  
• What song reminds you of your first girlfriend/boyfriend? Proclaimers, "500 Miles"
  
• What song reminds you of your first heartbreak? Bon Jovi, "Bed of Roses"
  
• What song reminds of being young and reckless? Haha. I was young once, but never reckless!
  
• What song is still your favorite after all these years? None are still my favorite, but Indigo Girls' "Blood and Fire" is still up there.
  
• What song reminds you of summer? Gloria Estefan's "Live for Loving You."
  
• What song reminds you of vacation? Rod Stewart, "Rhythm of My Heart," and Extreme, "More Than Words," - camp more than vacation
  
• What's the first album/cassette/cd you purchased? Whitney Houston, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," the single
• What song do you still have in your collection after all this time? Indigo Girls, the first alblum, is probalby the album I've had longest
  
• What song do you think you can sing but you really can't? Tuck and Patti, "Time after Time"
• What song do you always mess up the words to? "Million Voices" from the Hotel Rwanda soundtrack. Part of it is in a different language, but I sing along as if I know what I'm saying.
  
• What song makes you immediately 'bust a move'? Any song that I associate with junior high dances, such as: "Finally," by Ce Ce Peniston
  
• What song do you wish you could fall asleep to? I have a hard time falling asleep to music - I can't not listen to it, and so it keeps me awake. But if I could... the pas de deux from The Nutcracker or "The Kiss," from The Last of the Mohicans.
  
• What song do you wish you could wake up to? Tracy Chapman's "Change," a good tone-setter for the day.
  
• What song do you want played at your funeral? Sorry - can't imagine having 'regular' songs, and not my favorite hymns, at my funeral. So..."Be Thou My Vision," "I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry," "Shepherd Me O God," etc.
  
• What song do you want played when your casket opens? Open casket? No thanks.
  
• What song do you currently have as a ringtone? "Overture," from Jesus Christ Superstar, of course.
  
• What song do you currently have as a ring back? I don't have a ringback. But my other ringtones include U2's "Mysterious Ways," more Jesus Christ Superstar tunes, and "Masquerade" from Phantom of the Opera.
  

Seven Random Rules

I was tagged by Melissa to do this meme, and since I haven't been blogging about anything else....

Seven Random Rules
Here are the rules:

Post the rules on your blog.
Write 7 random things about yourself.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post.
Pass on the tag.
—

7 things:

1. When I was in eighth grade, I accidentally ran over my own ankle with a mini-van. It takes a special kind of skill to do that. I didn't break any bones. I remember feeling mostly embarrassed, because this took place near my junior-high school and I didn't want my classmates to see me.

2. I hate, hate, hate flying. When I have nightmares, they are usually about flying. Not about anything bad happening on the flight - just being on a plane in my dream is enough to constitute calling it a nightmare.

3. I love Irish things, and Irish names. I'm a little bit Irish (I'm a little bit of most every European background except Italian, which is ironic when you grow up in Rome, NY) but probably not enough to constitute my fascination. I especially loved the name Aidan, until everyone under the sun started naming their child Aidan. I blame this, of course, on Sex and the City. (Actually, just after I wrote this, my mom surprised me with a Celtic Nativity. Cool.)

4. I am extremely competitive about a lot of things. This is something most people don't know about me unless they know me well, because usually my introverted-ness and my hatred of conflict dominate in public settings, and I keep my competitiveness in check. But in reality, I like to compete! My congregation in Oneida used to get a kick out of this because I would rally our Relay for Life team to try to raise more, win more prizes, etc., so that we could be "the best."

5. I am left-handed, and left-handed people are awesome.

6. I used to be extremely neat and organized. Then, in high-school, I had a very busy time during my junior year when I was in The Diary of Anne Frank, and a switch flipped, and I became a messy, disorganized person. I still have tiny pockets of extreme organization, like in my DVD and CD collections. But everywhere else, I have piles.

7. I've been keeping a journal since fifth grade. I used to index them (see #6) by person, so that you could figure out (and by you I mean me, since I've never let anyone read my journals...) on what page(s) I'd mentioned someone. I have about 30 volumes of journals. I used to write daily, and recently went through some very dry journaling times, but I've been writing a bit more lately. My journals are probably my most important possessions to me, aside from my photo albums.

Tagging:

1. Jason Moore

2. Tim Quick

3. Jockeystreet (if you would deign to such a post...) (Todd, I don't know if you blog about non-theatre things, but you can do this too if you want.)

4. John the Methodist

5. Gavin Richardson

6. Episcogranny, whose blog I've been reading of late

7. You!

Link Love

My apologies, again, for my continued lack of blogging-desire.

In the meantime, some links to check out:

from cnn: Obama's face on food stamps? - racism in the campaigns
from jockeystreet: My brother reviews The Secret.
from Dan Dick's GBOD blog: blasphemediocrity and a post about megachurches.
from slaktivist: a really excellent post called "They Need Help"

Happy reading!

Sabbath Questions

How do you keep the/a Sabbath? How did you start your Sabbath practices? What were your Sabbath practices growing up? When/why did they change? If you had total control over your schedule and ample time, what would be your ideal way of spending Sabbath?

What I've Bookmarked

I'm enjoying vacation days post-Easter Sunday, so rather than be productive myself, I thought I'd share links with you to several posts I've had bookmarked:

Michelle at 33 Names of Grace has a post about teaching Spiritual Practices in her congregation. She talks about helping people experience the holy. I think people long to be helped to find holy places. We're so interested in demythologizing things that have been made holy (which is certainly necessary/good/important sometimes), but I think sometimes we go so far and make it so difficult to find and claim and dwell in holy places.

Christopher Gudger-Raines at Among the Hills always has thoughtful lectionary-based haikus, but I especially liked his "Haiku from Hell: Peeps Edition" for Easter.

At the Christianity Today blog, there's a post about atheists in the war, and the (changing?) role of faith for deployed military personnel.

Deb at Palabras de Deb has been sharing some of the liturgy she's written lately, which I often bookmark and hope I'll remember next year, because I really like it. For example, here's a Palm/Passion Sunday liturgy that's excellent. She also has a post up about a pastoral letter from Bishop MaryAnn Swenson, a list of 10 concrete things General Conference could do to facilitate discipleship.

At Eric's Blog, methoblogger Eric Helms asks if you've ever used the biblical practice of casting lots to make a decision. Here's a confession: Around junior high, I was starting to get the sinking feeling I was going to end up in the ministry, something at the time rather unappealing to me. I would ask God to give me the answer, via card games, my version of casting lots. Guess what? Becoming a pastor was the chosen answer every time.

John of Locusts and Honey linked to this post about reflecting on the Eliot Spitzer scandal that I found thought-provoking: "There's an interesting episode in the life of Jesus of Nazareth in which the people were amazed at his character, his integrity and his incredible accomplishments. But John's gospel says, "Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people..." (John 2:24)

What did Jesus know about all people?

It's the same thing you know about yourself.

No matter what you may tell others (i.e. "I'm basically a good person."), there is something at the core of your being that seems to stain even your best intentions. Like Gollum in the caves of Tolkien's trilogy, it dwells within the heart and mind of all. Rarely does this beast reach full ferocity and manifest itself so publicly in some heinous act of cruelty or depravity. But it crouches at the doorstep for each of us, insinuating itself into our daily lives.

The distance between you, or me, and Eliot Spitzer is not so great as we would imagine, or wish."

Happy Reading!

Cat Blogging: Ella Writes a Sermon

This is how I found my cat, Ella, earlier tonight:


















Maybe she'll have some ideas for my Easter sermon.

Religion at Work

CNN.com has this interesting article up about religion in the workplace. They mention Corporate Chaplains of America, which I'd never heard of before.

Excerpt:
"Rob Skinner did not expect to find a chaplain in the office when he started his sales job at Piedmont Air Conditioning in Raleigh, North Carolina. "I was a little worried because I didn't want God shoved down my throat," says Skinner, 38, a self-described liberal Christian.

Turns out Dwayne Reece, from the nonprofit, nondenominational Corporate Chaplains of America -- which provides Christian chaplains for companies that request them -- offered encouraging words instead.

Piedmont had hired him after the death of an employee, and it worked out so well, he's been visiting for nine years. "Having him there really makes you feel that the company cares," Skinner says.

Religion, like sex and politics, once was considered inappropriate watercooler talk. Not anymore. Prayer sessions, religious diversity groups and chaplains like Reece, along with rabbis and imams, have become more common across corporate America in the past decade."

What do you think? Obviously, as a pastor, I don't have to worry about how to fit religion into my profession in this sense. And in fact, including most of my part-time and summer jobs, I've hardly ever worked in a way totally unconnected to the church. Maybe when I was a lifeguard at the Y in high-school, but even the Y has Christian foundations. What about those of you who work in other settings? Do you think there is space for your faith in your workplace? Have you encountered a corporate chaplain?

Questions

Now that I finally have internet access at my parsonage, I find myself not coming up with things to blog about. So, some questions for you all instead, that aren't ready for stand-alone posts:

• Do you have a projection system at your church? What do you use it for? Do you use it every week? Do you (or does your pastor) use it in preaching? Every week? How?
  

• Do you have a Christian Education/Sunday School Program at your church? What ages? When does class meet? What curriculum do you use? How is attendance?
  

• How does your congregation celebrate Laity Sunday?
  

• Do you usually follow a theme for the whole season of Advent (or Lent)? This is something I've just started doing in the last two years, and it has helped give me more direction and cohesiveness to the whole direction of the season. Yes, it is time for worship planners to be thinking about Advent already!
  

Fake Pastors

Have you seen this site? Hilarious. I especially like "Fake Joel Osteen" and "Fake Rob Bell."

(h/t to Gavin)

RevGals Friday Five: Harry Potter Special

Today, I've reached the breaking point in this whole being in a cast nonsense. I had a lot of running around to do today, after a busy week, and I'm just wiped out. My ankle doesn't hurt - it is the rest of my body that can't wait for the cast to be off. Ugh. So, even though I have more thoughtful posts in the back of my mind, I think it was best to play some RevGals Friday Five instead:

Option 1: Accio Friday Five!

1. Which Harry Potter book is your favorite and why? I think they keep getting better and better. As the characters age, we see more depth of emotion, intense action, etc, and more unfolding of Rowling's carefully, complexly crafted world. Four, five, and six are especially excellent.

2. Which character do you most resemble? Which character would you most like to get to know?
Oh, Hermione for sure. I'm afraid I was always a bit of teacher's pet in school. To get to know? Harry, of course!

3. How careful are you about spoilers?
a) bring 'em on--even if I know the destination, the journey's still good - I am generally a reader of spoilers, which drive my older brother crazy. Here's something else - I usually read the last page of books first! I can't help myself. I still read the whole book, of course, but I can't help peeking ahead.
b) eh, I'd rather not know what happens, but I'm not going to commit Avada Kedavra if someone makes a slip
c) I will sequester myself in a geodesic dome to avoid finding anything out

4. Make one prediction/share one hope about book 7.
I hope Snape turns out to be on the 'good' side - I will be awfully disappointed if he's really with the Deatheaters.

5. Rowling has said she's not planning any prequels or sequels, but are there characters or storylines (past or future) that you would like to see pursued?
I think more about the early days of Voldemort would be interesting, and about Albus Dumbledore as a young wizard.

Earmarking

I just read this article: "Interns Chase Congressional Pork" on Cnn.com's Anderson Cooper 360° blog - about congressional earmarks and transparency of requests for earmarked funds. The article talks about the difficulty in getting members of Congress to own up to what they are requesting, and includes a link so that you can see if your representatives were willing to share their requests or not. (Mine (Arcuri, D-NY and McHugh, R-NY) have not responded.)

The results so far?

• 45 have turned over their requests.
• 68 flat out refused.
• 6 told us they did not request any earmarks.
• But the majority, 316, never responded.

Has your representative responded? What did they request?

RevGals Friday Five

Just for fun today, I'm playing the RevGals Friday Five, this week on books:

1. Fiction what kind, detective novels, historical stuff, thrillers, romance????
I love the classics - Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, plus I love C.S. Lewis' Chronicle of Narnia, Barbara Kingsolver's books, and of course, Harry Potter.

2. When you get a really good book do you read it all in one chunk or savour it slowly?
For really really good books, I tend to get through them as fast as I can. But some books, even good, are just too dense. I don't usually intentionally savor them, it just happens sometimes!

3. Is there a book you keep returning to and why?
Oh, I have quite a few I regularly reread (which my brother doesn't understand). Louisa May Alcott books - they always inspire me for a simpler way of life, and they remind me of the holidays, so I usually read them around Christmas. I reread Jane Austen novels because of the good romance - who couldn't use a little more Mr. Darcy? Ditto Bridget Jones' Diary and Mark Darcy. I reread The Chronicles of Narnia fairly regularly - for fun. And Harry Potter - to remember what happened in preparation for the next book in the series!

4. Apart from the Bible which non-fiction book has influenced you the most?
Maybe The Working Poor by David Shipley. But I'm not sure.

5. Describe a perfect place to read. ( could be anywhere!!!)
In bed on a cold and rainy day.

Was Jesus a Pastor?

Was Jesus a pastor? (Pastoral identity is on my mind these days.) Yes? No?

How? How not?

If not, what was Jesus' primary function/modus operandi? (Besides, say, Messiah...) Teacher? Rabble-rouser?

Oops...

So...in December I fell while I was running at the park. I hurt my ankle pretty badly, but, that night I was hosting the UMW Christmas party at my parsonage, and so I didn't go to the ER or anything. I just figured it would get better.

A month later, the ankle was still causing a lot of pain, and every time I tried to run again, I would make it about 60 seconds before it hurt too much. I got X-rays. The X-ray showed some spurring on my ankle, but nothing serious.

I visited an orthopedic surgeon. He sent me to physical therapy. I've been doing that twice a week, without seeing much change.

My orthopedic surgeon sent me to have an MRI. I got the results finally today. I have, among other issues, a fracture, spurring in two places, a torn tendon, and lots of fluid buildup.

Oops. Guess I should have gone to the ER that first day. Not sure yet what treatment will be now, but I have a bad feeling that some sort of surgery may be involved.

Bits and Pieces

I am in Washington, DC for the rest of the week at the spring meeting of the General Board of Church and Society, so pretty soon you'll get to hear my usual meeting reflections, lucky readers!

For now, a few thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head with not enough to them for individual posts:

• Mini-review: I recently listened to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer on audio CD. What a fantastic book! I highly recommend it. The main character is 9 year-old Oskar Schell, who is trying to cope with life after losing his father in the World Trade Center on 9/11. I found myself literally saying, "Oh!" out loud while listening, because there are so many simply deeply moving scenes.

• Mini-review: I also recently saw In the Land of Women with my mom. The movie stars Meg Ryan, Adam Brody, and Kristen Stewart, and focuses on Brody's character, Carter, who tries to get some direction for himself following a breakup. I wasn't expecting much - a light movie to enjoy - and certainly it wasn't an Oscar-contender or anything, but I thought it was better than expected. It was strange to see Meg Ryan not as the romantic lead exactly, but as the older woman - the mother - and I thought she gave a good performance. Stewart is fine as the brooding teenage daughter, though the girl is seriously skinny - distractingly skinny, worrisomely skinny. Brody - cute, ok.

• Last weekend I had a meeting (Camps, Conferences and Retreat Ministries - CCRM) at one of our conference camps, Camp Aldersgate. I grew up going to Aldersgate (located in Brantingham, NY, in the foothills of the Adirondacks), loving it, packing my bags weeks before camp, and eventually was on staff myself as a lifeguard. But I was remembering - when I was hired as a lifeguard, I wasn't actually certified as a lifeguard. They had to send me to one of those one-week intensive lifeguard training things. And in fact, I wasn't even a very good swimmer when I was hired as a lifeguard. But once I was hired as a lifeguard, I became a good swimmer. I knew that to even begin the crash-course, I would have to start with a 20-lap swim, which I definitely couldn't do at the time of hiring. So I switched from my regular gym class to the beginning swim class at my high-school, and the teacher just let me swim laps while she gave everyone else lessons. I just swam and swam, and she would give me occasional tips on form, etc. So by the time I started work, I was ready to be a lifeguard. I don't know - I guess I was reminiscing as I was looking out at Pleasant Lake, and thinking about how sometimes we need to be asked and expected to do something before we can learn to do it, and know that we can do it. Does that make any sense?

• VA Tech - I've read so many good reflections on the VA Tech tragedy, and keep feeling like I should write about it too, but the truth is that I have no idea what to say other than that it is a horrible, tragic event and I'm so sorry for all the people whose lives are impacted by it. Andy B. at Enter the Rainbow had some insightful thoughts to share, so I direct you there.
  

New Music

I recently ordered some new CDs that came in the mail this week, and I'm very happy with my selections - U2's Achtung Baby (had on cassette once...) and The Best of 1980-1990, The Best of Bonnie Raitt - I had her Luck of the Draw, but lost it (temporarily, I hope) and got this to fill my Bonnie Raitt void - excellent music - and then Tracy Chapman's newest, Where You Live.

Tracy Chapman is by far my favorite singer. She first came to my attention in college when a dancer choreographed a piece to "Fast Car." I used "All that You Have Is Your Soul" as the title and focus of my first ever sermon. I like this newest album, and have been mulling over the first track, "Change":

If you knew that you would die today
If you saw the face of God and love
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that love can't break your heart
When you're down so low you cannot fall
Would you change would you change?

How bad how good does it need to get?
How many losses how much regret?
What chain reaction
What cause and effect
Makes you turn around
Makes you try to explain
Makes you forgive and forget
Makes you change
Makes you change

If you knew that you could be alone
Knowing right being wrong
Would you change?
Would you change?
If you knew that you would find a truth
That brings a pain that can't be soothed
Would you change would you change?

How bad how good does it need to get?
How many losses how much regret?
What chain reaction
What cause and effect

Makes you turn around
Makes you try to explain
Makes you forgive and forget
Makes you change
Makes you change

Are you so upright you can't be bent
if it comes to blows
Are you so sure you won't be crawling
If not for the good why risk falling
Why risk falling

If everything you think you know
Makes your life unbearable
Would you change?
Would you change?
If you'd broken every rule and vow
And hard times come to bring you down
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that you would die today
If you saw the face of God and love
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you saw the face of God and love
If you saw the face of God and love
Would you change?
Would you change?

Origen?

Seen around the methoblogosphere... If you just don't know what to do to fill your time these next three days, you can take this "Which Church Father are You?" quiz. I'm apparently Origen. Huh. No "Which Church Mother are You?" is available, so no way to know if I'm a Hildegard or a Julian...

You’re Origen! You do nothing by half-measures. If you’re going to read the Bible, you want to read it in the original languages. If you’re going to teach, you’re going to reach as many souls as possible, through a proliferation of lectures and books. If you’re a guy and you’re going to fight for purity … well, you’d better hide the kitchen shears. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!