Prepare Ye

--> This letter was sent this week to members of the ONE in Christ Lutheran Parish in Wisconsin.    February 14, 2018 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, After much prayer, thought and consideration, I write to inform you that I have accepted another call, and will be leaving the churches of the ONE in Christ Lutheran Parish after Easter Sunday. The Covenant Lutheran Churches of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma have voted to call me to be their pastor, and I have accepted that call. Several times, I have shared with quote from the Apostle Paul when he encountered the Risen Christ on the road the Damascus. It is the quote from one of the chapel windows at the Seminary in Gettysburg, and I have had it tattooed on my left forearm. Paul asks, “Lord, what wouldst thou have me do?” I include that question in my prayers several times daily. I now feel that this is the time for me to follow the answer that Christ gives to Paul in Acts 9:6, “Ar...

OK, that was the call for the Donovan goal last year versus Algeria, (see below), but the Rapione to Wambach last second thriller was the 2nd most exciting thing to happen to me today. Today's goal in the 122nd minute. A year ago, in stoppage time. OBTW, I have been called to be the pastor to a two church combination in Wisconsin.

So, the last real post was Wednesday (the 23rd of February) when I put up the Tom Petty video, "The Waiting Is The Hardest Part." At that point, I, and my fellow Seniors at The LTS, were waiting on our seminary rep to get back from Chicago to find out what of the 9 ELCA regions we would get assigned to. (BTW, here is a great view of what happens from the Bishop's perspective ) People in 2 of the regions were told their bishops were going to meet on that Thursday and they should know what synod they were assigned to shortly thereafter. But for some reason that I haven't felt the need to pick at, many of them didn't find out until Monday, and some on Wednesday. That earned them a weekend of hell that I can only appreciate. Today, bishops of several other regions are meeting for the Council of Bishops. Today, they were to meet to decide which people who are assigned to their region will be assigned to what synod. Of the synods who were meeting today, all of my fe...

In around 30 to 90 minutes, the ELCA Region to which I, and others at The LTS, will be revealed. To quote Mr. Petty, "The Waiting Is The Hardest Part." Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - The Waiting

Today was the first day of the Senior Seminar at The LTS. We got to hear about the call process and hear call stories from some recent grads. I was not nervous or apprehensive about the process before lunch today. Everything was out of my hands until the Assignment meeting in 30 days. I have no control over what region I'm assigned to. Once assigned to a region, I have to wait for a Synod Bishop to call me to that synod. Again, I have no control over that. After the meeting, I'm very nervous. Tomorrow's meeting ... even more fun. Kid Rock - Born Free

For all of my friends in the ministry or trying to get into the ministry, I offer a cautionary tale: You take your first call in a town about two or three hours away from your home town. Things are going well in your first few months. You are getting settled in; you like the congregation and the congregation likes you. You develop friendships with your colleagues at other churches in the community. On the third month anniversary of your arrival at your new call, a woman, who is not a member of your congregation, is arrested. It is on an illegitimate charge. Five days later, on the day the woman is convicted of the charge, you are elected to be the leader of a new community group that will lead a community boycott in response to the arrest. That night you give an unscripted speech to a community assembly larger than any group you have ever spoken to before. On the eve of your fifth month in your call, your home is bombed. After a year, the protest is successful, and the city'...

I'm back in Michigan, living with Mom, for about a month before I pack up the G'burg apartment and move to the Garden in Virginia for internship. I've only been back a few days, and have run into a handful of people at some events. I have been pleasantly surprised by their reactions. Some didn't know where I had disappeared to, but said they can really see me as a pastor. A couple said that I really seem at peace with my decision and that they think I'll do an excellent job. A mentor and supervisor of mine said he wasn't sure about my "leap of faith," but is glad I am happy and can see that I made the right decision on my face. While I've been sure that my "leap of faith" was the right thing to do, a little positive reinforcement never hurts. The young man who played the piano at my home church played this as the prelude. (the song, not with the Amy Grant vocals) Through the years you've made it clear, That the time of Christ was near...

o For my Lenten disciple, besides giving up pop (I don't care what you call it here in the Commonwealth, it is pop. POP, POP, POP!), I have taken to meditating on the windows of the various churches and chapels I go to. Each Sunday, I am trying to go to a different church for worship. Each day, I try to pick a different window at The LTS's Church of the Abiding Presence. But I have become fixated on this one (the big picture to the left and/or above) that depicts the conversion of Saul. I started looking at it prior to our Internship Workshop, and have kept coming back to it. The passage quoted on the window is supposed to be from Acts 9:6 . But if you look there in most translations, like the NRSV , it's not there. It only shows up there in the King James translations (the original and any updates.) That's because it isn't in any of the Greek manuscripts . It does appear in Acts 22:10 when he is recounting this story . No matter where it appears, I am finding it a...

So, today was the announcement of the internship matches for the Middler class here at The LTS. I'm trying to think what the best Biblical verse is to sum up the feelings. The choices are: a) "And all the people went up following him, playing on pipes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth quaked at their noise."1 Kings 1:40 b) "Throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”Matthew 22:13 c) "A dispute also arose among them." Luke 22:24 The answer is somewhere in the middle. Most people were happy with where they have been assigned, but a few were not. I'm in a group in the middle. I did not get one of my preferred sites, but am happy with where I'm going. I wanted to go to an urban site because that is where I feel called. Instead, I'm going to a detached parish (my supervisor is a pastor at a near-by church, and I will work under his leadership primarily at another church who is currently without...

Just got back to Gettysburg after a great trip to the Catholic University of America (I thought Notre Dame had that title, but I was wrong.) Our LTSG first year students travelled to Catholic U for an introductory session on the Washington Theological Consortium , an arrangement between 16 theological institutions in the metro D. C. area that allows students at one institution to take a course or courses at another institution. While there, we got to meet students from some of the other member institutions and have dinner at one of the buildings housing some of the different orders on the Catholic campus. As it always happens when I meet other people who have been called to enter God's ministry, I am humbled and wonder why God called me. I am thrilled to be here at Gettysburg, and am excited about serving Our Lord. I'm not so thrilled by all the reading and writing I have to do, but the people whom I am meeting are SO talented and SO gifted that I feel so unworthy to be in ...

I got up early this morning and decided to go for a walk. (I "borrowed" the idea from Law & Gospel .) LTSG is on Seminary Ridge, but at the corner, it turns into Confederate Avenue. If you're familiar with Gettysburg, (the battle or the movie) Confederate Avenue is now the point from which Pickett's Charge was launched on the third day of the battle. It is also the site of many of the monuments to the Confederate troops who served and died here. I travelled the route a week or so ago with my parents in a car tour of the battlefield, but until talking to L&G, I didn't realize how close they were. I set out at 7 a.m. to see how far I could get by 8. I took my Bible and Devotions book with me , because I figured, you're sitting on one of the most historically inspiring areas of ground in the country, you may as well use it. I made it the mile and a quarter to the Virginia monument in 45 minutes (good time for an out of shape OLine coach with a bad knee...

Well, the first day of summer Greek is over, and I survived! Actually, today was one of the most inspiring, humbling, exciting days of my life. I am in class with 34 special, talented, gifted and blessed people. While I didn't get to meet all of them, and have probably already forgotten the names of some of the ones I did meet, when we shared information about ourselves; I am humbled to be in their company. So many of them are pipe liners, straight out of college, who knew that this was their path from an early age. I am so envious because I chose to walk away from God, while they ran to embrace Him. I know that we're all on our own path, but I wish my path could be a little longer. There is so much talent, passion and enthusiasm that I'm excited to spend the weekend parsing verbs. Well, not really, but I am excited to be here. My enthusiasm is only dampened because my being here means that I'm not home. But I am where I need to be now, and God will provide and protect ...

This was the sermon that I gave at my home church on Sunday, August 12 before I headed to LTSG . The lessons were: Genesis 15:1–6; Psalm 33:12–22; Hebrews 11:1–16 and the Gospel lesson, Luke 12:32-40. I have been working on this sermon for a while. Mostly because I knew I would be spending most of the last two weeks driving between Saginaw and Gettysburg. I knew I needed to get it done early. I knew I didn ’t want to realize I had left the copy on my computer in Gettysburg. Also, I think writing a paper before it is due is a habit I should get into. As I was working on this, I had a series of events or incidents happen to me. Some people believe that God is too busy to be involved in the details of their daily lives. I believe the opposite. I know that God is so big and so vast, that He is involved in the smallest details of our lives, from a story by a friend, to a song on the radio or room assignments or someone volunteering. I want to point out some of the little happenings that hav...

After 4 trips and over 4,750 miles driven, I'm in Gettysburg. Have a bunch of unpacking to do, and, oh yeah. I start classes on Friday! I'm thrilled to be here, but feel guilty for leaving family and friends back home.

I'm going to be moving to Gettysburg the next few days, so there won't be any positing for a few days. (Not anything earth shattering.) The next time I post, it shall be from my apartment. Before I go however, its time to empty the mental mailbag . I'm glad I didn't order the Big Brother feeds. I've been watching the shows and following the feeds and this year's housemates aren't that interesting. Maybe they're not interesting because there is a jerk/bully who's dominating the show. Dick (his real name) is a tyrant who seems to have a 3 year old's fit anytime someone has an opinion or does not follow his directives. I'll pay attention when I see someone has the spine to nominate and evict him. The Tigers (MY Tigers) are in a funk and can't seem to get out of their own way. But fortunately, the Tribe is right there blowing games along with them. I'd love to see them trade for a relief pitcher, but it doesn't look like it will happ...

I took today off so I could run errands, and not have it eat into my packing time. But I slept in, and wound up running behind. I didn't hop into the shower until 10 am. I turned on the radio (tuned to Family Life Radio) and listened to a sermon that Dr. Charles Stanley was giving as a part of his In Touch program. I normally don't hear his program because the radio in my office doesn't get a good signal for Family Life Radio. His sermon was on " the Circle of Our Impact ." He spoke about how we do not know whose life we will effect. We do not know where the ripples we cause by dropping a pebble into the pond will go. He spoke about people who influenced some of the great evangelists of our time, and how we need to fulfill what God has in store for us, not what we think we should be doing. Stephen's cries to God while being stoned influenced Saul of Tarsus. Dwight Moody was led to Christ by Edwin Kimball. Dr. Stanley said we will not know the impact we had unt...

When I first started thinking about my call to ministry and if the call was really for me or a wrong number, I spent a lot of time on the internet searching for information. One of the sources of information that was the most useful to me were blogs. Especially those of people who were in the seminary. Reading the thoughts of people who were doing what I was thinking about doing proved to be VERY helpful. They set aside some fears, raised some concerns, pointed out potential pitfalls and shared the joys. Although I've never met any of these people, they have helped me discern my call. In the past few months (and a couple in the past few days) some of them have finalized their calls, and are being/have been ordained. As I prepare to take my first steps, I want to give a cyberspace shout out to: Pastor Justin at FrontRowLutheran.com , Pastor Tracey at Tracey's Tidings and T at Praying on the Prarie . Thanks for the wise words even though you didn't know you were giving them....

While I'm busy packing and working on some writings, here are some fun & interesting posts from others. From Rebel Without A Pew , the Hogwart's Styles of Ministry. From "A difference that makes a difference," a great post about explaining exploring experiments. Or something like that. From the Crazy Lutheran , the bad news that we're all going to hell, except for the Roman Catholics. At least according to the Roman Catholics. BTW, I must officially be a seminary student. I have homework due for the first day of Summer Greek!

Actually, what a extended weekend. I've been feeling a little blue about leaving my hometown even though going to seminary is what I want to do, what I should do and what I am being called to do. One of the depressing things is leaving my family and friends behind and moving 10 hours away. What was piling on me was realizing that I have done a horrible job in keeping in touch with my high school friends and my college friends. I hadn't kept in touch and missed the people who were like brothers to me. I got a flyer in the mail a week or so ago about a reunion that my HS football coach was putting together for July 7th. He coached at my HS for over 15 years, and coached a number of sports and was inviting all of his former players to a picnic. I was debating if I should go and ultimately decided to go. When I walked into the picnic pavillion, I saw several people who I had not seen since graduation night 20+ years ago. It was just like we had only seen each other a few days ago. ...

Lord of all saving power, no matter how I feel or what this day brings, I will sing praise to you. Sometimes I sit in self pity. Sometimes I am sad or hurt by the events of my life. Help me to remember that praising you gives me new perspective and has power to change how I feel. Amen. from Daily Texts from the Moravian Church I've made a decision on what I'm going to do. I'm going to the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg , and putting my faith in God to take care of everything.