A Short Week on the Cape

This year Bishop's Convocation was on Cape Cod, Hyannis to be exact.  And what a lovely area for Bishop's Convo.  Even when we were inside for the majority of the time, it was great to arrive a bit early to explore the town and spend Tuesday afternoon outside (at a bar of course) enjoying the gorgeous fall weather.

The keynote speaker was Nadia Bolz-Weber, the founding pastor of House for All Sinner and Saints, an emergent Lutheran congregation in Denver.  Nadia is a very engaging speaker and spend the majority of the time of the first time set aside for her to speak talking about herself and how she came to be an ELCA pastor with sleeves of tattoos, multiple piercings and swears about as much as I do.  She then talked some about the Millennial Generation (people my age and younger) and why they aren't coming to worship.  None of that was really all that new for me, especially as someone born on the cusp of that generation.

However she then showed slides of things that House does throughout the year that help engage people in worship. Some of these I'm most definitely stealing.  They made an icon out of Christmas ads people received in the mail.  A series of pictures from the earthquake in Haiti were used for the Stations of the Cross.  A bake sale on Reformation Day called the "Sale of Indulgences."  An Alleluia banner created every year on Transfiguration Sunday is physically buried in the ground for Lent and comes up at Easter moldy and bug eaten.  On Maundy Thrusday everyone is encouraged to bring 30 pieces of silver which are dropped into a bowl at the end of worship and donated to an organization that represents people who have been betrayed.  On All Saints Day people bring in pictures of people in their lives who are dead and use those pictures for icons for the day.  Operation Turkey Sandwish were turkey sandwiches, stuffing muffin and pumpkin bars are given to people who have to work on Thanksgiving with a note that says something like "It sucks that you have to work on Thanksgiving, but we give thanks for all you do and wish you a great Thanksgiving."

And probably my favorite of all: a stewardship t-shirt that on the front says "This shit ain't free" and on the back: "So you better tithe, Bitches!"

These are just the ideas I remember.  I love the creativeness in worship, that it doesn't have to be a straight follow the rubric.  That people can use art and media in worship to help deepen the experience.  That the bible stories are brought to life by putting them in modern terms and doing service in God's name.

Overall I had a great time at the Cape, and as always I love hanging out with my fellow pastors and rostered leaders in New England Synod and I know my sermon for tomorrow is highly influenced by this week...now if only I get a chance to preach it because even though it is only October in Connecticut, we are breaking all sorts of records with about 4 inches of snow already fallen.

A Preacher in the Making

This weekend was the New England Synod Assembly, the annual gathering of clergy and lay leaders from throughout the synod to do the business of the synod, hear about what the Spirit is doing throughout the region and learn from each other.  This year, for the first time, the assembly was held on Friday through Sunday instead of Thursday to Saturday to allow more youth and working adults to attend (in previous years there has been a largely disproportionate amount of retired people present).  But having Assembly on a Sunday meant that pastors, including myself, would not be at their congregations to preach and preside.  So what to do?

A few months ago, the synod office gave congregations a variety of options to choose from in figuring out how and what to do for worship on the Sunday of synod assembly.  I gave this list to the worship committee who wanted to have a lay preacher and to extend the celebration of communion from the previous week.  Wonderful!  But then the people who would normally fulfill such a role, my regular worship assistants, were all going to be away on vacation or at reunions or wherever this weekend.  So then we decided to have a Youth Sunday and one high school student was suppose to go to assembly with me but the other (yes there are only two at Bethlehem) would be wonderful leading worship.  Well the one going to Assembly, Ryan, was no longer able to go and volunteered to not just help lead worship but to actually write his own sermon!!! (This makes this pastor want to jump for joy every time I think about it)

So below is Ryan's sermon, at least the written portion, he also has a video and I'll working on getting that up shortly but I'm not completely technically savvy.  The sermon was based on the week's gospel, John 17:1-11.

Enjoy, and let me know do we have a preacher in the making? 
In today’s Gospel we heard of Jesus’ last night and him asking that those who continue his work in this world will live in unity. But, ironically enough most Christians have not done his word because there is Hundrends of denominations  among 20 branches of Christianity. That is not Unity! But , even though we fail to follow this we still spread his word from generation to generation. How are we still able to spread his word?
Even though the bible and it’s stories of redemption, forgiveness, and the power of being a believer to this very Sunday those same aspects still are part of our every-day life, Especially, the sinful nature of all humans on earth, we need the Lords forgiveness for our mistakes and what we have failed to do. With his forgivness we can see that it is real and that we as Baptized christens see it as our job to spread his word . Christians today we do understand that there is division among us, Christians and the world. As Jesus said “ so that they may be one, as we are one.” this is still shown today. As I see it Christian or not us as humanity are ONE, but our jobs are still the same, continue his work, my work, her work, his work , our work to spread the knowing of his work that he started for us to continue until he comes again.
His disciples in the gospel were prayed for, by Jesus that they will spread his word the way he had. With the disciples accepting, this shows that they are willing to have Jesus’ forgiveness and that Jesus is for real. With this acceptance to forgiveness this shows that Jesus intercedes for his disciples.
This is showed still to this day by Jesus Interceding of all of Humanity even the ones who don’t believe, he still loves us. We are still able to spread his word because we are forgiven. Jesus still comforts us by forgiving our burdening sins, and interceding humanity. Now how is this alive in Life today?

(after video)

This showed that faith can be such a powerful aspect in our everyday life. I am sure the professor was forgiven by God. With gods open arms to comfort our everyday sins and forgive us for our trespasses and for what we have failed to do. We say Amen.

One Long Boring Meeting

This past week (Thurs - Sat) I attended the New England Synod Assembly.  For synod assemblies it was pretty boring, or as a colleague called it - bland.  There were only 4 resolutions one on Palestine, youth/young adult participation at synod assembly, energy audits in our churches and giving the bishop permission to speak against Arizona immigration laws and similar legislation that is coming to legislation in New England.  Each of these resolutions passed by over 90% of the vote and for most of them either people did not speak against them or only brought up concerns about them. No sex! Nothing about evolution!  No concerns over who we are all going to hell as a church because we now allow pastor who are gay to be in relationships! 

But the resolution time is either hotly debated or boring depending on the year, but what about the keynote?  Well she was lofty, that would be a good word.  She spoke softly not in volume but in tone with lots of pauses.  The main topic was on the Trinity which makes my head hurt and is a hard topic to grasp onto in order to bring back concrete ideas to implement in an individual congregation.  At one point I looked back on the assembly hall (I was sitting near the front) and the majority of people looked like their eyes were glazed over or they were about to fall asleep. 

But there was some highlights.  A friend of mine and fellow blogger was ordained.  Churches in Rhode Island were uplifted for the great work they have done with Good News Garage.  And of course, because we are Lutheran, there was beer.  I had a wonderful time catching up with friends and meeting new people around a beer in the evening or over a meal. 

And while fellowship is the part of synod assembly that I most enjoy, I do hope that next year will be a little less bland. 

A Day in Worcester

Today I went up to the synod office in Worcester, Mass (pronounced Woo-ster for those non-New England folks). There was an orientation meeting for pastors and rooster leaders who are new to the synod. There was about 13 of us, most of whom were ordained/commissioned/consecrated in May or will be this weekend.

I was able to hear a little bit more about New England Synod, both its history and its current ministry, as well as meet a few of the many leaders with in the synod. We were able to fellowship over lunch as well as have conversation about how the New England Synod can and should continue in ministry, especially after the actions of churchwide assembly in August.

Overall it was a good day, I just wish that it wasn't a two and a half hour drive one way. I left at 6:30 this morning in order to make sure that I would make it there by 9:30. That also meant that I woke up at 5:45 this morning - first time I woke up before sunrise in months. So in all I spent about 5 hours driving and 5 and a half hours there.