A Time to Learn

So here I am in Philadelphia, getting ready for the Project Connect orientation at the seminary. The Project helps people who are discerning a vocation in ministry through retreats, mentoring and supporting immersion experiences in local congregations. This summer I'll be working with a student from Valparaiso University on pastoral care training and visitation. It's exciting to help mentor a future pastor and the experience thus far has confirmed my thoughts about wanting to be an internship supervisor when the time comes. I'm looking forward to hearing our guest preacher this weekend, the first of several sabbatical helpers. There are many activities popping up all over and I'm excited about getting engaged with all of them, with hopes that I'll have the energy to do them.

2nd Sunday after Pentecost

For those of us in liturgical churches (which has more to do with style of liturgy than its presence, according to the esteemed theologian Dr. Gordon Lathrop, all Christians have some kind of liturgy, even if it is gathered silence. Otherwise we'd have no cause to ever gather.) we are entering into several new seasons at once. Memorial Day, which properly is set aside to remember the gift of self that countless soldiers have given throughout our country's history, marks the "unofficial start of summer" in the U.S. and folks orientation moves away from schooling and work towards warm weather and recreation. At Trinity we have our own transitions as some programs are modified during the summer and others are paused until the fall. And of course, with Pentecost and Holy Trinity Sunday behind us, we enter the sea of green. Green readings, about the life and work of the church; green vestments to test the endurance in buildings without air conditioning; green paraments to remind us of our life in God.

The 'summer', however it is loosely defined, is not time off for the church. Worship and some education continues apace. There is ample planning, preparing and revising going on. Summer is a time to reinvigorate home visitation because the weather is less of a barrier to traveling to folks' homes. And in our particular context there are students to mentor, a vacation bible school to run and a campus ministry that needs to be brought up to speed.

This is the time to open up the garage, sharpen the tools and make sure we have what we need for the harvest ahead!

Helena's Handbasket

Tomorrow we remember Helena, the mother of Constantine. Following her son's conversion to Christianity, Helena was involved in a journey to the Holy Land where she was responsible for the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on the site of Jesus' tomb. Her generosity, simplicity and piety were well known in her time and she would worship alongside commoners in spite of her high social standing.

What a Mystery

One God, three persons. When translators attempted to bring the Greek idea of One God, three hypostases into Latin, the image they came up with was One God, three Personnae. These personnae were the masks from ancient theater that let the audience know that the same actor was appearing as more than one character. The same actor stood behind each personnae, giving life and energy to the character. Yet, each personnae was distinct, a person in their own right. I made these fun masks for the Sunday School devotions for the Feast of the Holy Trinity. No matter how we try to wrap language around the Trinity, it is always a mystery. However, this is certainly one of the more fun ways I've tried to offer some understanding on this doctrine.

For a fun geeky note, I snapped the photo with an LG VX9900 and then mailed myself the image in order to blog it.

Lost in Space?

Happy Pentecost to everyone! And for anyone who is keeping track, today is the commemoration for Matthias the Apostle. Technically number 13, Matthias took the place of Judas after Judas committed suicide. Matthias was chosen because he had been with the disciples from the beginning of the mission (a reminder that there were always more than just 12) and he had known Jesus. It's striking to think that discipleship and even apostleship work that way. The Spirit moves and selects the right people for the task, guiding each of us towards a place of purpose.

Between my father's illness, traveling and meetings for the church it's been hard to do much blogging lately. However, thanks some recent birthday gifts, I've been able to acquire a pretty amazing new device. See it here for further inspection http://eeepc.asus.com/global/
The EeePC is no larger than a paperback beach book or a paper daytimer. However, it has the much of the functionality of a notebook computer. To add to my joy, it runs a custom Linux desktop that is perfect for the form factor. And yes, even though it is small, it is possible to type on the keyboard. I am actually writing this post on the Eee. This little 2 lb. wonder will replace my turbo-charged widescreen laptop for traveling and off site meetings, I can pack it in its case and carry it like a datebook.

I tested out the media player yesterday, and was able to drop my music collection from the laptop to an 8G SDHC card. In addition, I've ripped a couple of movies I own and put them on the SDHC as well. The Eee makes a pretty sharp movie player for the road. The fullscreen mode was clear and sharp. Just plug in the headphones and enjoy your flight/train/bus.

Tonight we're holding the second class for the month of May, offering some basic perspective on Lutheran Christianity and our confessional history. If you're a local reading this, stop by Trinity Lutheran in Worcester at 5:45 for class followed by a community dinner and a contemplative worship.

Whirlwind of Activity

Well, just as much as Chicago and the National Workshop on Christian Unity plunged me deep into the bleeding edge of ecumenical discourse, last week's mission trip to central Pennsylvania got me immersed in youth work and service activities. The trip was a lot of fun, and we focused our spiritual life on four key topics:

1. God made everything, including us.
2. We're not alone, God is with us in and through the community of faith.
3. God has a special calling for each of us.
4. In service to our neighbors, we show God's goodness and act as the hands of Christ.

And our apologies and thanks go to the hardworking staff of the Gettysburg Pizza Hut on Baltimore Pike for rising to the occasion and feeding 57 hungry people at the drop of a hat.