Celebrity Bonds

Everybody has a celebrity bond. Perhaps you're a celebrity look-a-like, share the same name of someone famous, attended the same high school a movie actress did a generation earlier, or something else coincidental. Well, I just discovered a new celebrity bond for myself. My friends that appreciate Seattle professional sports will enjoy this one. Last night, while helping out with a middle school production of Grease, I met the daughters of former Seattle Mariners catcher Dan Wilson. Crazy, eh? Turns out the Wilson family moved from Seattle, WA to Rye, NH back in July 2007. And yeah, guess who else moved from Seattle to the seacoast of New Hampshire last summer... yup, you guessed it.

Blood & Guts in the Bible

Last night I covered a Bible study class that my senior pastor usually teaches. He was going to be out of town so I happily agreed to teach the class. Then he told me the class was working through the book of Deuteronomy and that I could pick up where he had left off in chapter 7. I honestly don't know much about Deuteronomy and as I read through this seventh chapter I was slightly alarmed. The following is just a few verses that pretty much sum up the whole chapter:

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations… and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.”

Ouch! Nobody wants to teach from a text where God is portrayed as a merciless war monger. Fortunately, this particular text turned out to be a really great teachable moment for the class. A passage like this just goes to show why we need to know the whole biblical narrative and refrain from parceling out certain verses from their larger context. As a class, we talked about how this passage makes more sense considering there was good reason for no treaties to be made with other nations because it was Israel’s kings after all that were lead astray from God because of intermarriage and because they worshiped the God's of other nations. Moreover, we read a passage later on in Deuteronomy where God tells the Israelites to provide care for the alien within the covenant community. Connecting Deuteronomy 7 with the rest of the biblical story brings more to light. Difficult texts like Deuteronomy chapter 7 can be a bitter pill to swallow, but I like how they can also be very helpful in bringing us into a fuller understanding of the biblical story.

Happy Anniversary, Grandma!

Some of you know that my widowed grandmother remarried last spring on March 31st—my good friend Joey’s birthday. Well I’m happy to announce that Grandma Roz just recently celebrated her 1st wedding anniversary. They celebrated by taking a trip to Vegas. Check out the cool picture below. I find it a little strange that another woman is in the picture with them, but then again, it is Vegas… Happy anniversary, grandma!

OK with Being Evangelical

I’m affiliated with a smaller denomination called the Evangelical Covenant Church. But I must admit that I shy away from using the word evangelical when describing my identity as a Christian. When I share that I am connected to a denomination with the word evangelical in the name, it’s always accompanied with a fear that people will get the wrong impression of me. In my opinion, the word evangelical for many is synonymous with the religious Right and organizations like the Christian Collation and controversial figures like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Without wanting to sound judgmental or condescending, let’s just say I would rather not claim the same label as these folks. However, as I’ve been reading Jim Wallis’ book, God’s Politics, I have been encouraged by the many distinctly evangelical organizations around today that have shown a deepening social conscience while avoiding some of the more negative stereotypes often associated with evangelicals, including my own denomination which receives special mention on page 83 of my paperback edition. Wallis writes: “Several conservative evangelical denominations, like the Evangelical Covenant Church, have now made the critical links between evangelism, compassion, and social justice.” I’m becoming more comfortable with my label.

Looking Back

Exactly 8 months ago today I moved to New Hampshire. Right now I’m trying to figure out what I think of this milestone. In some respects 8 months is a long time. By other standards 8 months deserves nothing more than a shoulder shrug. Regardless, the move out east has been a huge change in my life. Leaving the familiarities of life in Seattle and the many friendships created while in college has been very difficult. I never imagined the loneliness I would experience from saying good bye to my friends and family. Nevertheless, I have been thoroughly blessed to have come to this new world. By virtue of my work at a church, I inherited a whole community of people pledged to support and encourage me during my internship. On any given Sunday morning, wearing a clerical robe that I still don’t feel quite comfortable wearing, I see the pews full of beaming grandparents, smiling aunts and uncles, curious little cousins and new friends.

A Labor of Love

Last week I visited a sugar shack. Prior to this I had no idea what a sugar shack was, so if you’re wondering right now what a sugar shack is don’t feel bad. A sugar shack is a small building where the sap from maple trees is magically transformed into delicious maple syrup. Alright, so it’s something short of magic, but I find the whole process of taking the life-blood of a tree and making it into the sweet stuff I put on my pancakes for breakfast absolutely fascinating. The process begins by taping maple trees and then collecting the sap into buckets that hang from the taps. Then the sap is poured into a metal basin called an evaporator. The evaporator sits on top of a giant wood burning stove and essentially boils down the sap until you have nothing left except the finest syrup you’ve ever tasted. What I find most fascinating about the whole process is the fact that it takes 40 gallons of sap to yield 1 gallon of syrup. It’s definitely a lot of sap and a lot of work for not a lot of syrup. No wonder practitioners of this trade call it a labor of love. If you have supplied me the courtesy of reading thus far you are probably wondering why I think anyone should share my fascination for maple syrup production. But I find maple syrup production to be a great example of how some things in life are worth our devotion despite the seemingly small return. For me this would be youth ministry. Sometimes I feel like all my lesson preparation, program planning, phone calls, and conversations over lunch bear little fruit in the end. However, like maple sap, when it’s all boiled down, the realization of lives being changed is very sweet.

Bounce Passes & Poodle Skirts

In the town of Rye, New Hampshire the old church in the center of Rye’s historical district is only a stone’s throw away from the Rye Junior High School. It has been my goal to be involved as much as possible at the school. Over the winter I filled a vacant spot to coach 7th & 8th grade boys basketball. In many respects, the very notion that I would even attempt to be a middle school basketball coach is hilarious. To begin with, I have never coached basketball. Secondly, I didn’t play organized basketball past the 8th grade (I got cut from the freshman team). Thirdly, I’m just not very good at basketball. But I wasn’t going to let this stop me. My team went 3-5 for the year including a buzzer-beating loss to a private school from Portsmouth. Overall, it was a great experience; I learned a lot and got my “in” with the school in Rye.

Last week I started helping out at the school in Rye again. For this next gig I have exchanged the whistle and clip-board for a script book. I’ve assumed the roles of back stage supervisor, set design assembler, video camera operator, and push the play button on the CD player guy for the school’s production of Grease. Again, like the coaching gig, I have no idea what I’m doing.