Interlude

What with the new church and everything, I got behind.  Plus, you know, it's the holidays, and I basically could live without them, probably forever.  There is not a day when I don't feel the knife in the gut at least a dozen times.  My most hated Thanksgiving moments: when people complained that all their children wouldn't make it home for the holiday.  Really?  It's a problem that all your children are healthy and alive somewhere else?  I haven't decided yet what I think about Christmas this year.  I should know, shouldn't I?    But . . . it's hard.  It's really hard.  The music, the stores, the presents ~ they don't bother me (much) anymore.  We're even going to an Advent concert Friday night.  But sometimes I am doing . . . whatever . . .  and I realize that I am on the verge of bursting into tears. 

Anyway ~  we have decided to get a Christmas tree, and so there are piles of old lights from the basement and boxes of new lights from Target in the kitchen and sunroom and living room.   I decorated the mantle, and I meant it when I said that I was nearly incapacitated by that project.  It is only approximately a million times easier to churn out Advent sermons than it is to open boxes of decorations from years gone by. 

 

Meanwhile ~ I have been grading college papers for the past eight hours.  (Yes, I was really behind, and I suddenly decided to get it over with.)  I am trying to focus on the positive, which mostly has to do with my students' reflections on the course and on some of their "outside experiences."  Many of my Catholic students have been to Protestant worship services (one described a megachurch service as more akin to going to youth group than to mass, which I thought was pretty funny), and many of my Protestant and Jewish students have been to mass for the first time.  There has been at least one humorous moment there, too, involving communion.  Well, I found it  humorous.  I guess I should give better instructions.  The megachurch communion was just sad.  I am hearing a lot about ritual or lack thereof, with the assessments being quite varied.    Lots of the kids went to our fabulous Jewish history museum, and ~ my favorite so far ~ one young man ended up attending a Sikh service at his family's funeral home, where he usually works parking cars, but got roped into helping one day when another employee was sick. 

 

The comments that make me the happiest come from students who say how much they hated the idea of going outside their comfort zone and how glad they are that they did.  And the ones from students who have found real-life applications emerging from the class: the young Methodist man whose cousin brought a Muslim exchange student home for Thanksgiving, just as we had begun our introduction to Islam, and found the courage to ask her questions and respond to hers, and the young lady who said that for the first time the Mass readings meant something to her, and that she turned to her mom and said, "This is just what we've been learning about!"

 

The more academic papers . . . well, I can't claim great success there.  But I decided last August that my real role this fall was to be a cheerleader for these students studying religion seriously for the very first time. I think that was a good goal that I have more or less achieved.  Most of them will take their second required religion course and that will be that, but most of them have also started considering matters they've never thought about before.  That's a good result for all of us.

What Shall I Write About?

 

 

Let's see . . .  there was the National Day of Prayer breakfast.  I was reminded, as I sat in a banquet room with 450 people and listened to prayers that were 100% Christian and essentially included an altar call (in words, not acts) and a rousing singing of "God Bless America," that two years ago I served on my home city's committee for an interfaith commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.   These were very different experiences and events.  I could write about those.  Or not.

 

Monday I went to an outstanding program on suicide prevention for clergy and mental health professionals.  I learned some things that were immediately helpful, and heard some viewpoints that were disturbing.  I could write about that.  Or not.

 

This afternoon I am co-officiating at a funeral with a Church of the Brethren pastor.  We have some, uh, differences.  I could write about that.  Or not.

 

Last night I was told that if I were a more experienced pastor, I would know when to remain silent.  I could write about that.  Or not.

 

I am having some trouble here.  In general.  Last week someone who knows about these things said to me, in a good kind of way (I think), that I am an extremely self-actualized person.  I don't really understand what that means, but I think it explains why I am having some trouble.  In general.

 

I think what I'll write about is this: On my walk this morning, I saw a red-headed woodpecker.  Made my day.  And it wasn't even 8:00.


 

On My Kindle

In another 48 hours, I will be delivering out-of-town friends to overnight destinations and preparing to sleep for a long, long time. I doubt that I'll write anything much between now and Monday; there's still a lot to do, there's a potential for a major change in the service, and Michelle arrives late tomorrow afternoon ~ which means nonstop conversation ahead!  My dear friend Carol arrives as well, but she's staying with friends, so we have to wait a bit longer for our actual encounter.

In the meantime, I'm about to settle in for a little reading and I thought that I'd record what's in active status on my Kindle at the moment:

Resilience, by Elizabeth Edwards.  I'm reading it since she, too, lost a son and then discovered that she had breast cancer.  A lot of other bad things happened to her, too, and she died knowing that her husband had completely failed her and their children.  I'm finding the book oddly disjointed, which is not surprising, I suppose, although it seems that an editor might have taken things in hand.

An Ignatian Pathway, by Paul Coutinho, S.J.  I'm not sure I'm even past the introduction yet, so I have nothing to say about this one.

The Monks of Tibhurine, byJohn Kiser. I loved the movie, and I'm glad I saw it first, as the visuals have stayed with me and help to fill out the book.  I'm fascinated by the monks' interactions with their Muslim neighbors, and by the Algerian history of which I knew nothing. 

Church and Countryside, by Tim Gibson.  I came across this title when I was doing some online research on the concept of the rural church.  I'm not very far into it, but I was grateful to discover that others have begun to explore and analyze the unique potential for contribution by small churches whose congregants have intentionally chosen rural and small town lives.

Christ, The Sacrament of Encounter with God, by Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P.  I've heard of Schillebeeckx, but never read him.  Last week his name came up in a series of lectures on suffering to which I was listening; he is apparently a great proponent of the value of narrative.  In fact, I would venture to say that he has had a huge impact on another person I know.  This might have been the only book of his available on Kindle; at any rate, it's the one I bought.

So there you have it, the eclectic reading interests of a Presbyterian pastor, immediately pre-ordination: breast cancer, grief, Ignatian spirituality, interfaith engagement, the contemplative life, the rural church, and Christology.

I wonder what the list will look like a year from now!

Saturday Seven

1 ~ Off to Small Church in a few minutes for the monthly pancake breakfast!

2 ~ I had forgotten repressed some of the realities connected with living in two places ~ the careful thinking needed to plan clothing and food, the packing and unpacking.  Siiiiiigh.

3~ If you've sent me an email in the past 10 days or so, I hope to respond in the next few.  Small Church Small Town: a different world!  Last week I forgot my computer, the church internet was down for two days, and my cell phone does not work inside the house or church.  My access to technological communication was very much limited, and  ~ it's amazing how far behind you can get in a matter of hours.

4 ~ Also, cancer takes up a ridiculous amount of time in terms of doctor's appointments and reading.  I've had to spend some of mine backing out of commitments to which I know I can't do justice right now.

5 ~ I've taken a six-month leave of absence from the board of the interfaith dialogue organization with which I spent the summer planning the 9/11 commemoration, and I've backed out of a much-looked-forward to speaking engagement a week from today.  I was supposed to present Calvin and Ignatius:  16th Century Spiritual Comparisons and Contrasts for my seminary's spiritual direction program, but I know that I can't afford the five-hour round trip, and now I have a new doctor's appointment Friday anyway.

6 ~ The one thing I've decided to hang on to is a presentation a week from Monday for a friend's class on Death and Dying.  She teaches students in nursing and gerontology at a local university, and asked me to lead a class on the experience of grief for her students.  I had just started to plan it when my life was thrown out of whack, but I think I probably can do it pretty easily, yes? And it's right here in town.

7 ~ Tomorrow morning: My first sermon as the official pastor of Small Church!

Friday Five Faith and Culture Edition

 A terrific Friday Five from Terri today! She writes as follows:

This week the church I serve is a host site for the University of Michigan, Dearborn, Worldviews Seminar. It's a week long summer education course open to anyone, with continuing ed hours to be earned. It's a survey of the world religions with a morning lecture at the university, led by Lucinda Mosher. Then the group drives over to the church for lunch, a short lecture, and then they board a bus for a tour of local religious buildings. They tour Buddhist temples, an Antiochean Orthodox church, a synagogue, a mosque, and many other area houses of worship.This year is the tenth anniversary of the seminar.

In addition to the Worldviews Seminar the congregation I serve is planning to participate in Episcopal Faith Shared and Faith Shared. I am working to have members of local Jewish and Muslim congregations present and participating in our Sunday morning service.

So, in honor of a week of interfaith study and celebration:

1. Have you ever had an experience of a religion other than your own? And, if so, what was it like for you to experience something different? If you haven't, what religion might you like to study, experience, and learn more about?

I spent six years teaching in an Orthodox Jewish day school, which was like entering another culture each morning.  Since I taught literature and world history to intensely curious students who seldom encountered anyone outside their own community of faith, we had some wonderful conversations about belief, practice, and culture.  Typical ninth grade questions:  Why are Christians polytheistic?  Why does Mel Gibson hate us?  Do you really believe that Jesus rose from the dead?  And what's with those pumpkins on Halloween?  The whole experience was challenging, often disconcerting, and led to wonderful friendships with students and teachers.  As usual in such situations, I learned far more than I taught.  Probably the most important thing I learned is how much respect is generated when people adhere faithfully to their own beliefs while maintaining a stance of openness and generosity to others of different traditions

2. Have you ever studied, traveled, or explored other cultures? What and where, and when?

Most of my travel has been either in the United States or Europe, so I can't say that I've been far afield, culture-wise.  However, when our son Josh spent his 11th grade year in France, we  got a tiny taste of French life and culture through the time we spent with his family there.  I have maintained a warm relationship with his French mother and brother for the past almost-ten years, despite our infrequent communications and the tragedy we have all shared.  Gregarious Son leaves for a law student program in Novgorod and St. Petersburg day after tomorrow, so we're about to learn something about Russian culture ~ I hope!

3. Any stories you wish to share about a person (author, teacher, etc), or a friend or colleague, from another culture or religion, who has impacted you in some capacity?

The rabbi who was the principal of the aforementioned school had a big impact on me.  His own pre-college education had taken place entirely in the black hat yeshiva world; his high school friends considered him in danger of worldly influence when he decided to attend Yeshiva University in New York City -- a bastion of Orthodox Judaism from most points of view, but in theirs, a hazardous place in which people study law and medicine and secular  literature as well as Torah.  He explained once that his parents, while deeply religious, were also brilliant, alert, and attentive to the world around them.  The mix of worlds produced a quietly compassionate and effective man, one who could talk with authority on almost any subject, was genuinely curious about everything, and was universally respected by those he encountered across a wide spectrum, from teenagers in trouble to adults who had far-ranging educations and life experiences of their own.  He and I had a number of fascinating conversations over the years.

*****

I started this entry early this mornng but ran out of time before I had to leave for a meeting.  One of the pastors from my field ed church of year before last recently invited me to join the board of a nonprofit that promotes interfaith dialogue.  That organization is one of a number co-operating on an interfaith commemoration on 9/11, which is how I found myself hosting a meeting of the publicity committee this morning at my home Presby church, a committee whose membership is Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish and Christian!

On a Brighter Note (Ecumenically Speaking)

I'm teaching a section of Intro to Religion at the local Jesuit university, where the spring scholar in residence in religious studies is offering a series of six presentations to the community at large.  Last night I ended class early so that my students could attend one of his talks, and decided that I would go as well.  

I've met this gentleman briefly, but was a bit preoccupied at the time.

At the end of the talk, I moved to a seat next to a Jesuit whom I know and said, "Am I right in presuming, from his name and from one of the references he just made, that he's Presbyterian?"

"He is."

"Then there are two of us in the department at the moment."

"We're blessed!"