in print

the for such a time as this program i am participating in is described in this article, which features a part of my story and the churches where i serve. here is the link:
http://faithandleadership.com/features/articles/new-pastors-small-churches

five months and counting

i recently realized that this has been the longest stretch i have gone without stepping a foot in seattle - five and a half months. the last stretch was probably about 3 months when i was at fuller in pasadena - a combination of spring quarter and a couple of summer intensives before going home to seattle for vacation.

it's hard to believe that it's been that long. time has definitely gone by quickly (isn't there something about time flying when you're having fun?). in that time there's been many firsts both in life and as a pastor. we've met many great people. we've grown together as a family. i'm growing into my role as a pastor. it's been a season of adjustment and growth.

however, as the snow gently melts (yes it is slightly melting... leaving ice behind) and we look forward to spring and new life, i feel that it's high time to start doing something different, new. it feels like i've been hiding behind the mantle of the 'new guy' or the 'new pastor' and it's high time to get past that and move forward in life and ministry. i'm not sure what shape that will take, but i've been excited from the start at the potential that the two congregations i serve have for ministry to the community.

ordinary time

following the liturgical calendar we are in what's called ordinary time. we just got through advent and christmas and lent and easter are still over a month ahead, and so it is this in between time that i am finding myself recovering from christmas and planning for lent and easter.
it is also in this period of time that i am realizing that i have been leading worship and preaching weekly for about 20 weeks. there was one week when i was out of town and another week when the children did the christmas program at one of the churches... but i still needed to prepare and preach at the other church that week... so 19 weeks in total (16 in a row). Now I realize that that's not a record by any means, but i do recognize that perhaps i am in a lull or a funk right now... it feels as though I've been preaching the same of message for the past 3 weeks now (which, of course, i didn't)... that the routine of prepping for worship and preaching a sermon week by week may become... well, ordinary.
yet the act of worship and the delivery of a message should not by any means be ordinary. when we enter into worship service on Sunday morning, we intentionally come before the living God and offer up our worship to him. when the preacher stands in the pulpit and delivers the sermon, that is the culmination of a week or more of wrestling with the text and dancing with the Spirit to bring about a word for the congregation. All this is wrapped in the mystery of God at work in our lives and in our worship on Sunday mornings. That is anything but ordinary.
so perhaps this week things need to be shaken up... preach from a different text, sing different music...something to wake us up out of our snowy, mid-winter slumber... because if we are in Christ, we are not living in ordinary times...

christmas eve

It's Christmas eve and I'm missing Christmas in Seattle. In about an hour there will be candlelight service at presby and I miss old friends. I miss the post-candlelight dinner with family and the peace of driving in the quiet streets to family houses.
However in missing Christmas in seattle I have to remember not to overlook the new friendships and traditions started here. We had a wonderful time with our candlelight celebrations and plenty of new friends to celebrate with. And Christmas is beautiful with fresh snow, crisp air and bright lights. I do miss family. It's our first Christmas away from everyone. But I am happy to be a part of the lives of the people here and to celebrate with them as well. With the wonders of technology,
the distance doesn't seem as far. Needless to say I think we'll be spending a lot of time on Skype tomorrow. Better fire up that webcam. Merry Christmas!

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digging out

we had about 5-6 inches of snow last night. This was the second snow storm with significant accumulations this season. So I spent some time this afternoon clearing the walkways in front of the house and clearing the path to the mailbox.
internships are suppose to prepare you for the work you will be doing once you start your vocation for real. Who knew that shoveling snow during my internship at presby was in preparation for me to be a pastor in here... it was rather prophetic preparation to say the least!

advent

For the four Sundays in advent I am doing a sermon series focusing on the person of Jesus, entitled "What Child is This?" that coincides with the advent candles (prophet, Bethlehem, shepherds and angels). The first week I dealt with Jesus as more than just a prophet, asking the question Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" This past Sunday I spoke on why Jesus came to us a king in a manger, and the intimacy of God knowing who we are and identifying with us by coming to us in such a lowly manner. Next week is Jesus as the good shepherd. For the fourth week I'm focusing on Jesus as the good news the angels proclaimed.
I know there is a lot more theological depth to plunge into when you're talking about the person of Jesus and christology, but I have found it refreshing to try to keep things simple... not throwing a lot of theological baggage around. And that is refreshing, not worrying about who said what about this or that, but simply letting Jesus be Jesus. It is probably easier said than done - we always bring something from ourselves when we think about Jesus - but if we let the text speak, I think we can come to some fresh perspectives on Jesus, especially during this advent season.

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whether weather

Sorry for not being so diligent in updating my blog. It's almost a given. if you have a blog you don't update it... i've been busy with Thanksgiving and now were in full swing with Advent.
Anyway, for the past week or so i've been rather obsessed with the weather. The temperature has dropped and it has barely broken over freezing once or twice over the past couple of weeks. i've been going to NOAA a lot to check the forecasts and to watch the doppler radar to see if there's snow coming. Last week we were suppose to get some snow, but the storm pretty much missed us. However, today we got our first significant snow of the season. It's been snowing all day. there must be about 3 inches on the ground now. Unfortunately, i think it's too cold for the kids to go out and play. Plus, it's powder snow, so it's not really good snowball snow :{

times of our lives

I performed my first baptism yesterday. It was a wonderful celebration with lots of family and friends in attendance along with the congregation. It got me thinking about the unique and I would argue sacred role a pastor plays in the life of church members. We are involved in very significant points in people's lives - from birth to death we are invited in to participate in major milestones - be it the baptism of a child to the death of a loved one. Now I know this from my pastoral theology courses and such, but it doesn't truly hit until you actually are participating in such a capacity. I was just struck and humbled by the reality of it all as I prepared and administered the sacrament. My life and the lives of the people in the congregation are intertwined in unique and often otimes intimate ways that we as pastor should hold as precious and holy. As I fumble around in my first call as pastor, I hope and I pray that I can serve my congregation with all the dignity, honor and respect that these moments demand, all the while bringing glory to the God I serve and give thanks to for this privilege.

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high-tech farming

yesterday i had the opportunity to ride in a combine harvesting corn. (the picture is not an actual picture of me in the combine... just a pic i pulled off the web that looked like yesterday). it was an awesome experience. i didn't realize how much technology went into farming. there was a gps system installed that tracked where we were harvesting. tied to that was a computer that measured and tracked the yield and moisture content of the grain harvested (there were probably other variables measured, but it was fairly involved system). so at the end of the harvest there is a map that shows how the different areas of the field yielded and the farmers can then go back to the field to figure out why that area did or did not yield as much crop...pretty sweet. i've gained a new appreciation and respect for the work farmers do - it's hard work, pretty risky and takes a lot of smarts and know-how.

ladybugs

Sorry I haven't updated on a long while. Life has been busy getting settled in ahome and church - not to mention doing some traveling.

Our home is being invaded by ladybugs! I guess it could be worse like cockroaches, but it is funny to see these ladybugs pop up here and there around the house. I am always reminded by Dennis Leary that not all ladybugs are ladies.

new book, new characters

as lucy, edmund, susan and peter waited for the train, they were magically drawn back to the land of narnia. however, they did not return where they left off. no, it's been over a thousand years in narnia since they left and all of the friends they made were long gone. where are the beavers? where is mr. tumnus? even their kingdom, cair paravel was left in ruins. it was again, a brand new world to explore and new friends to make. there was no real time to say goodbye to the beavers and mr. tumnus. they were quickly thrusted into a new world and new adventure.

that is how i feel at times. my last few days in seattle were fast and furious. so much had happened in the last few weeks in seattle and then it feels almost instantly that we were transported to south dakota with a whole new cast of characters to meet. no, mr. tumnus isn't here, nor are the beavers, and we miss our family and friends in seattle. However, we have been meeting trumpkins and reepicheeps here in south dakota, and they are proving to be faithful partners in the opening chapter of our new book. And needless to say, the same aslan is here as he was in seattle, and that is a comforting thought.

first cravings

man, I could go for some Chinese food like dim sum. I was in Fargo yesterday and thought about finding some for dinner but didn't want to go to some place that seemed rather stereotypica/borderline racist towards 'orientals'. oh well...I ate a lot of rice today.

busy

we've been busy this week setting up home. we've been unpacking, organizing and finding new spots for all of our stuff. i disassembled a lot of our furniture for the move here... now i have to put it all back together. so far none of the parts are missing, which is amazing to me.

we've also done a bit of traveling in the area. we went up to fargo to return the truck. we did some shopping. the sam's club up there has kikkoman shoyu, but we didn't find any japanese rice. we bought some long grain rice to see how that is and maybe use to stretch out our 50lbs of japanese rice we brought over...

yesterday we went to watertown. i got the oil changed on the mini-van (btw, i don't trust toyota of kirkland, where i got the mini-van), and it got the once over to make sure it was still doing good after the trip. afterward and after some additional shopping we had dinner at culvers. their food was pretty good. their frozen custard and lemon ice were excellent. the frozen custard was pretty rich... i don't think it was good for my lactose intolerance, though.

today i go to fargo again to drop my mother-in-law off at the airport. i'll have to see what else there is to do in fargo before i head home.

home new home

we drove from our hotel as normal... about 20 miles down the road we exited for gas. as we slowed down, we asked ourselves, 'what is that siren noise?' Oh yeah, i forgot to turn the alarm off the car we were towing... so for 20 miles we had a car alarm going off behind us and we didn't know it!

we saw evidence of asians in this part of the country. there were a couple at a gas station in montana and at lunch in fargo there was an asian...

we made it to south dakota last night. we had to drive through a pretty bad thunderstorm to get here, but we made it! we got in about 7 our time and many people of the church came to help unload or super-packed truck. we are grateful for their help. now we are unpacking and finding homes for our stuff.

we miss everyone in seattle a lot, but look forward to getting things started here. praise God for getting us here safely. the journey continues...

bismarck

it was a long drive today (560 miles), but we made it to bismarck, nd. it was amazing to finally get out of the mountains and have the sky open up in montana. we then stopped by the painted canyon visitor center when we entered north dakota. i'd post pictures, but my technology is so out dated that i have to wait to download my pictures from my camera :( (i'm also blogging, which is somewhat outdated as well...) i'm now tired... must get some rest

big sky

'i would like to have seen montana,' said the dying guy from the red october... why, yes...now i have seen montana... and yes, the sky is pretty big here. we made it to bozeman today. got in late. driving through the rockies in the dark, in the rain, with a big moving truck, towing another vehicle, is not fun... tomorrow hopefully we make it through the rest of montana... it's a big state. so far, no sightings of anyone named hannah...
btw... imo starbucks via is a very good alternative to bad hotel coffee... good trip purchase

spokane

the first leg of the journey takes us to spokane. it was pretty neat seeing the other side of washington state. living in wa all my life, i have not seen this part of the state, so it was nice to take a tour of i-90 beyond the cascades. driving the truck and trailer isn't too bad. i just need a lot more room to stop and i'm not suppose to exceed 55mph (if i do, i go back to the future...1.21 'jigawatts'). another day of driving... we'll see where we end up today!

still in seattle

we postponed our departure one day to allow us to pack to the max...

re:booted

God, by His grace and sovereign timing, has got us on the move again... this time to south dakota! i thought it was about time to dust off this blog and use it again to update family and friends of our new adventures. i can't promise how often i will update this, but check back once in a while. i'm sure there'll be a lot of things for me to blog about from SD!

adieu

it is time. it has been time for a while -- time to hang up the keyboard and take down this blog. it has run its course and served its purpose. i have felt for a long time now that on the one hand, my ramblings have not lived up to the title of the blog, while on the other hand, my ramblings don't express the depth and breadth of my experience.

thanks to the two or so readers who actually read this blog. i leave you again with a quote from henri nouwen:

The word no longer communicates, no longer fosters communion, no longer creates community, and therefore no longer gives life. The word no longer offers trustworthy ground on which people can meet each other and build society....

...often it seems that we who study or teach theology find ourselves entangled in such a complex network of discussions, debates, and arguments about God and “God-issues” that a simple conversation with God or a simple presence to God has become practically impossible. Our heightened verbal ability, which enables us to make many distinctions, has sometimes become a poor substitute for a single-minded commitment to the Word who is life. If there is a crisis in theological education, it is first and foremost a crisis of the word. This is not to say that critical intellectual work and the subtle distinctions it requires have no place in theological training. But when our words are no longer a reflection of the divine Word in and through whom the world has been created and redeemed, they lose their grounding and become as seductive and misleading as the words used to sell Geritol.

Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart(New York: Ballantine Books, 2003), 38-40.