Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Adiaphora

So, here we are in Thanksgiving Week and life continues to roll forward. I have to say I've had some interesting experiences in the last week or so. On Friday night I ventured out with some friends to San Francisco. We visited the neighborhoods known as "Little Italy" or "North Beach" and Chinatown. It was a grand evening ... I tasted things that I never knew I could find. I even ate a "Phily Cheesesteak" and ordered it with the "traditional" CheezWiz. (I confirmed with my friend Scott who is from Pennsylvania that indeed the "true" Phily Cheese is made with CheezWiz, not that provolone that I was introduced to in my Midwestern version of the sandwich).

So, today I got an interesting email from my mom asking if I could site any kind of theological standing for having natural plants in the altar area of a worship space. Oh, my. Now, that's the kind of thing that we should be studying here at seminary! See, the topic came up because apparently her church got a letter from the Fire Marshall reminding them of a law that states that churches cannot have live trees with lights on them (something to do with unattended buildings and fire hazards ... makes sense) so apparently there is a grand discussion happening that surrounds the issue. I guess the debate must be "Live Tree vs. Lights on Tree" and apparently people are camping on both sides. So, my final comment in my response to my mom was, I guess the real question is "which is more important, arguing about adiaphora or doing the work that Christ has called us to do?" Of course, the question got me thinking, so if anyone can come up with a solid theological reasoning for live plants/trees in altar areas, let me know. The best I could arrive at was that we could draw a metaphor between the "living plant" and the "Living Word" but I admit, that was quite a stretch ... I also commented that I'm pretty sure it was not something Luther ever wrote about in his 53 volumes now cataloged as Luther's Works, but I have to admit, I haven't read every page.

Well, in researching the topic, I came across a quiz that seemed fun ... it at least reminded me that I am Lutheran in my stance on the Eucharist ...




Eucharistic theology
created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Luther

You are Martin Luther. You'll stick with the words of Scripture, and defend this with earthy expressions. You believe this is a necessary consequence of an orthodox Christology. You believe that the bread and wine are the Body and Blood of Christ, but aren't too sure about where he goes after the meal, and so you don't accept reservation of the Blessed Sacrament or Eucharistic devotions.


Luther


88%

Calvin


81%

Orthodox


75%

Zwingli


69%

Catholic


25%

Unitarian


13%

Well, I reckon that this post has certainly been enough adiaphora for now ... maybe more later in the week after I have thanked God for the many blessings showered on me and recovered from my early morning flight tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Another step forward ...

Well, friends. For those of you that are keeping score, I have made it one step closer to becoming a pastor. I'm sure most of you don't realize how many steps there are in this process. From the outside, it would seem like you make a decision to become a pastor, you get the degree, do the internship, and voila you start looking for that first call. Well, 'taint quite that easy. Along the way, there are several "checkpoints" where I get to write some essays in response to various theological questions (and some questions about my personal life) then I get to meet with some fine folks who have read the essay and they ask me questions and look for me to expand on ideas. I know, this all sounds confusing, if you want to get the real sense of the process, ask me privately and I'll give you all the details in enough detail to make sense.

The point of all of this is that I had my "Endorsement Interview" yesterday and it went quite well. The panel of three folks that spoke with me were in agreement that I should keep going in this process toward become a pastor. Their recommendation now goes to the full committee in January who will likely Endorse me. Yeah! That means I can move on to internship next year as planned.

In other fun and adventure lately, I had the opportunity to preach to my Teaching Parish this past Sunday. I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled about the text that I drew (Luke 20, story of the widow and 7 brothers) but I think I managed pretty well. Sadly, I left my stuffed animal (object of the children's sermon) at the church ... I hope she isn't too scared being there all alone. I'll pick her up and love her tomorrow when I am there for Education day.

I wish I could think of something deep and profound to add to my blog, but alas, my thoughts these days are consumed by classes and figuring out how to manage my time between reading, reading, going to class, reading, reading, attending and occasional meeting, reading, cleaning, reading, cooking, reading, and trying to stay sane. If you didn't catch the drift, there's a lot of reading going on right now. But I guess it's good for me.
I do have to offer my mid-season update of the Packers ... for those of you that haven't been following my favorite football team, now is the time to start. At 8-1 they are looking good. Now, I'm guessing my commenting in such a public way as this blog will surely jinx them and they will find ways to lose several games before the end of the season ... but I'm going to go with the confidence that they will keep winning ... all the way to the Super Bowl (I don't care if they win it, I would just like them to go ... thus making watching the game worth my while).
Other news will come in the next post or two ... there are some exciting things going on in the "house" but I want to hold you in suspense and give you a reason to keep reading. Maybe we'll even add a Jaguar to the family ... but that's only if it's a good runner!

Friday, November 2, 2007

Symbols from my youth ...

I happened to be thinking the other day about some of the symbols from my youth. Yes, some of these might date me a little bit, but hey, it is what it is. I was thinking about characters like this Mr. Yuk who seemed to be everywhere, maybe they really weren't everywhere, maybe it just seemed like it because they were parts of my education. Mr. Yuk is older than me, though not by much. It's funny how much information you can learn about things via the internet if you really take the time in the midst of the day to do so. I learned that Mr. Yuk is actually a trademark of a hospital in Pittsburgh, and here all along I thought it was some National Poison Control symbol. Oh, well.

Now, here's one that I haven't thought of in a while. Woodsy Owl. Woodsy's famous slogan (at least during my era) was "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" Good slogan, seemed to put the message into my head. Though, I have to admit I've been a lot of places lately where they could use that slogan.


When I was in New York a few weeks ago, we walked along a roadside that seemed to be the collection place for all kinds of trash. Woodsy would have been very sad to see that roadside. It got me wondering if Woodsy is still "alive" at it seems that Woodsy is indeed readily available to visit your school or other organizational meeting. Click Here to learn more.
What I have found just a little ironic is a web page that talks about how to dispose of your old Woodsy Owl costumes. I didn't do enough research to find out if the problem is that the old costumes don't portray the right Woodsy anymore or if the problem is that they are tattered, but apparently the appropriate thing to do, According to the USDA Forest Service is to "1. Incinerate the complete costume with the oversight of an official USDA Forest Service law enforcement officer*.2. The entire Woodsy Owl costume including each of the separate pieces is to be destroyed beyond recognition." Now, am I crazy or does it seem like incinerating Woodsy Owl flies in the face of everything that Woodsy stands for?



Lately here in California there has been much discussion about Forest Fires. Let's face it, we haven't done real well with forest management lately. As I type, the fires are still burning in Southern California, though they are getting "under control". But this brings to mind one of my favorite characters from the past, and that is Smokey Bear.

I was actually thinking if I could find a Ranger hat that I would try to dress as Smokey for Halloween ... afterall, it's an easy costume, a pair of jeans, a ranger hat, and a shovel (I guess some boots, too). But then I thought that maybe it would be a bit too frightening if I were walking about with no shirt on, afterall, I do look a bit too much like Smokey (he doesn't have a 6-pack).



I think Smokey is probably one of the more commonly known characters from my past. I mean, who doesn't love a bear who tells you that "Only YOU can prevent forest fires?" That's partly a lot of responsibility, but partly a chance to do good. Hey, I haven't started any forest fires, so I'm at least living up to Smokey's expectations for my life.
One of my favorite memories about Smokey was being in First Grade and learning the "Smokey the Bear" song during Fire Prevention Week. I even found a copy of the song so that you can sing along (you may need to click on the image so it's large enough to read).

A little known fact is that prior to the song, Smokey's name was simply "Smokey Bear" but the songwriter needed an extra syllable, so the "the" was added in the middle. Since the song was so popular, people quickly came to know Smokey as "Smokey THE Bear" ... oh, well. What's in a name anyway?

All this bear talk got me thinking about another bear icon from my youth. The Hamm's Beer Bear. I haven't seen Hamm's beer on the shelf of a store in a long time (I think I bought it once when I was in college simply because of the nostalgia factor) it seems it is still sold, but only in select markets (I'm sure northern Minnesota is one of them).
I do have to say, though, that Hamm's is not nostaligic to me for the beer (yes, my Dad drank it and I'm sure I stole my share of "sips" from his bottle or can as a child) but what really makes it nostaligic is the commercials that they ran.
Thanks to YouTube I was able to relive a bunch of those memories. Seeing one or two of these makes it clear that outside of the current "ban on cartoons advertising alcohol" that some of these are less than politically correct, but they are nostalgic pieces of history and very much a part of my childhood. The Bud Light "Real Man of Genius" commercials have nothing on the Hamm's Beer Bear!