Summer 2009

Now that I'm finally clear of all my term papers, I have a moment to update you on my summer plans. Through a Ministry Fellowship grant from FTE, I'll be spending my summer investigating models of congregational mission work. Specifically, my interest is in how to overcome the false division that exists in many churches, in which "mission" work is what we do to help others while discipleship and formation are the things we do to further our own spiritual journeys. In my own experience, and I think throughout much of Christian history (especially within Wesleyanism), works of mercy and engagement with the world have been integral to faith formation. I'm hoping this summer to dig into this idea a little more.

To that end, here's what I have lined up:

May 24-July 19, I'll be working as an intern at a Methodist church near Knoxville, TN.

June 5-15, Mission trip to Honduras with the church

July 9-11, Ekklesia Project conference, Chicago

July 22-August 5, Duke Divinity pilgrimage to northern Uganda

August 16-19, FTE Ministry Fellows gathering

Then it'll already be time to get underway with the Fall semester. I'm really looking forward to all of this, and hope to be posting reflections about ministry experiences (like last summer) as well as occasional snippets about my thinking regarding the role of missions in the local church. If you've got a good reading suggestion on that topic, I'm all ears.

When it comes to moderates, GOP Ex-Specter-ates!

You may know that I love puns. I particularly love it when the entire media tries to use the same pun. So thanks to Marc Ambinder for compiling today's headlines regarding Sen. Arlen Specter's switching parties.

Finals week

I know I've been pretty quiet here for a while. I'm working hard, trying to wrap up the semester. Hard to believe that I am 2/3 of the way finished with seminary.

This semester I had the mixed blessing of studying the gospel of Mark under a professor who has written a two-volume commentary on Mark. I found it very difficult to put together a term paper that I felt okay turning in, knowing that he has published over 1200 pages about Mark (not counting all the articles he's written).

But, I did turn something in. Rather than telling you about my paper, I decided to give you a visual digest using Wordle:

I was not aware of that.

You really only need to watch the first 40 seconds of this to get a sense of what the whole speech is like. Shout out to Portland for Blumenauer's rebuttal at the end of the clip.

The foolish man bought an imported car...

I think it's fair to say that most of us, after Hurricane Katrina, would've been uncomfortable with someone using Jesus' words from Matthew 7:24-27 to chastise people for choosing to live in a flood-prone area. After all, the "rock" that Jesus describes is obedience to his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount; "sand" is disobedience. While it may be common sense to build your house in a safe location, doing so is not an injunction from Christ.

So what are we to think when the President compares our derivative-based economy to a house built upon sand, and calls on us to "build our house upon a rock" by saving more, consuming less, and exporting more? It may be a metaphor that makes sense to people, but it reminds me that making a metaphor out of Jesus' metaphor usually results in associating Jesus' authority with something he didn't say.

Methodist Manna

I was surprised to discover today that for some reason, Cokesbury is selling off volumes of the Bicentennial Edition of The Works of John Wesley for $15 apiece (they usually cost $50). These are the authoritative scholarly versions of Wesley's sermons (4 vols.), letters (2 vols.), journals & diaries (6 vols.), and other works. For more on the Wesley Works Project, see here.

Can you decipher this?

You can't.

"We mocked, but took"

FINE POINT

by John Updike

December 22, 2008

Why go to Sunday school, though surlily,

and not believe a bit of what was taught?

The desert shepherds in their scratchy robes

undoubtedly existed, and Israel's defeats--

the Temple in its sacredness destroyed

by Babylon and Rome. Yet Jews kept faith

and passed the prayers, the crabbed rites,

from table to table as Christians mocked.

We mocked, but took. The timbrel creed of praise

gives spirit to the daily; blood tinges lips.

The tongue reposes in papyrus pleas,

saying, Surely--magnificent, that "surely"--

goodness and mercy shall follow me all

the days of my life, my life, forever.

(Published in The New Yorker, 3/16/09)

To the class of 2010...

I don't remember volunteering, but somehow I have been invited to serve on the University's advisory committee that will help select the commencement speaker for graduation in 2010. We have a meeting next week, when we will discuss criteria for selecting a speaker, and throw around some names. So ... anybody have any advice or suggestions? Bear in mind that this person will be addressing ALL the graduates: undergrad, law, medicine, divinity, business, environment, engineering, et cetera. If you have any tips for me, feel free to let me know in the comments, or by email if you have it.

This Hard Land

Generally, I don't think Springsteen gives very good interviews. He's kind of a weird guy, although that only occasionally comes across on stage. It's when he starts talking that you realize he's a little shifty, he maintains a soul patch even when not on tour, and in conversation he kind of talks like .... well, like a Bruce Springsteen song.

So I was really pleased by his interview on The Daily Show last week, which was funny, engaging, and not really awkward at all. I especially loved this: 

“We’ve had an enormous moral, spiritual, and economic collapse. People come to storytellers when times are like that. Our band was built from the beginning for hard times.”

Watch the whole interview here:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Bruce Springsteen - Interview
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor