Long, long ago, during grad school days, one of my friends came home quite angry. "Do you know that you can't be gay and be a Lutheran pastor?"I replied, "You do know that I'm not in charge of that, right?" At that moment, I would have described myself as non church going, even … | Continue reading
My day is quickly filling up as the various ends of semesters all come into sight. But let me record a moment from yesterday's worship service at Faith Lutheran that went really well.Yesterday's Gospel was John 10: 11-18, which talks about the sheep hearing the shepherd's voice … | Continue reading
The weather has shifted a bit here in the Southern Appalachians. We had summerlike weather for much of the week, where I went for a walk amidst the dogwood blooms and azaleas and returned home dripping with sweat.Today we're back to chilly rain. It's much more autumnal than spr … | Continue reading
Before we get too far away from a teaching success story, let me record it. First, some background. Long ago, to teach the process/how to essay, I had students create something out of Legos and then write instructions so that others could make the same creation. It was never easy … | Continue reading
Once again, I am failing at National Poetry Month. Once again, it barely registers. Occasionally I see that someone is hosting a reading or actually doing a reading--or just reading extra poetry. Or any poetry. People weigh in with their wonderful news of books being published or … | Continue reading
I am not sure what my writing morning looks like--but there are hard deadlines ahead, like needing to be on the road by 7:30 to drive across the mountains to preach and preside at Faith Lutheran in Bristol, TN this morning (the service starts at 10, and all are welcome). Let me r … | Continue reading
Last week at the Create in Me retreat, we did some worship planning. In a way, it's a familiar aspect of the retreat. But this year was different: we had one person who had done the prep work in advance (choosing texts and music, thinking about the order of worship, recruiting so … | Continue reading
Before we get too far away from the Create in Me retreat, I want to make sure I record our experience with Bible Study, which was different from any we had ever done. We had as our text Luke 5: 18-25, the story about a paralyzed man lowered through the roof where Jesus was teachi … | Continue reading
We had hoped the work crew would have made significant progress on the bathroom install, but rain has interrupted the plan. You might wonder why rain interrupts the plan--the tile cutting is done outside. Happily the person in charge stays in touch with us. And even more happily, … | Continue reading
I now have eclipse regret. Perhaps I should have gone on a quest for totality. I knew we were going to be at 85% totality, and I thought that would be enough. But now, seeing other people's pictures and reading about their experiences, I'm wondering if I should have made more of … | Continue reading
Instead of doing a big post looking back at the Create in Me retreat, I am much more likely this week to write a series of smaller posts. This morning, we are hoping that our bathroom remodel gets underway, and I still have to go to campus this week. In short, it's not going to b … | Continue reading
I will write more about the Create in Me retreat when I have more time tomorrow. Soon I will need to put on my presentable clothes and drive across the mountain to preach and preside at Faith Lutheran in Bristol, Tennessee. One of the blessings of the retreat: yesterday, it gave … | Continue reading
A few weeks ago, I was at Quilt Camp at Lutheridge. This week I'm at a different retreat at Lutheridge, the Create in Me retreat. Both of them make me happy, but in different ways. Create in Me has a variety of activities, with workshops and Bible Study and much more involved wor … | Continue reading
I thought about crafting a sermon for the adults around the ideas of Easter and the eclipse. But I decided to use the ideas for my children's sermon--in the church where I am Synod Appointed Minister, the adults listen to both the children's sermon and the one for the adults. I o … | Continue reading
Another fragmented morning. Let me collect some fragments and see what mosaic might emerge: --I sit here in the middle of drywall dust, trying to stay out of the way. Those of you who have never seen a wall installed likely have no idea of the process. A wall that is put together … | Continue reading
Before we get too far away from Easter Sunday, I want to record some memories. It was a whirlwind day, in many ways. But compared to other church folk, my day was laid back: no sunrise service, no Easter egg hunt, only one service. In some ways it was like any other Sunday. We go … | Continue reading
Easter Sunday: soon we will go to the car and head over the mountains to Bristol, Tennessee, where I will preach and preside at Faith Lutheran. I've preached many sermons before, but never the Easter sermon. We are doing the passage from Mark, the last part of Mark, without the v … | Continue reading
I spent the better part of Good Friday morning at the Mission Breast Imaging in Asheville; it sounds like a pornography company, doesn't it? On February 28, I had what I assumed would be a routine mammogram, and a few weeks later, I was told that I needed follow up, plus they had … | Continue reading
There was a moment last night, looking out across the congregation of Faith Lutheran in Bristol, Tennessee, when I was a tad overwhelmed by all that has happened in the past two years. Two years ago on Maundy Thursday (which was in mid-April in 2022), I had been severed from my f … | Continue reading
Another Maundy Thursday, and I am writing later than I usually would. I was finishing both my Maundy Thursday and Good Friday sermons, trying to connect the printer, getting ready to drive down the mountain to teach at Spartanburg Methodist College. After I am done teaching, I wi … | Continue reading
It is one of those mornings where I'll record some thoughts and see if I observe any connections. Even if I don't, random thoughts are interesting too. --This morning in an article in The Washington Post I saw a picture of the four Supreme Court justices who are female. They are … | Continue reading
I had thought about various blog posts to write--and then I heard about the collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore. The video is dramatic, as are the pictures of the bridge in the water. I suppose it could have been much worse. The collapse happened at 1:30 in the morning, so th … | Continue reading
Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, the feast day which celebrates the appearance of the angel Gabriel, who tells Mary of her opportunity to be part of God's mission of redemption. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and says, in the older wording that I still like best, "Hail, … | Continue reading
Here's a curious thing I noticed this year: even though I live at camp, even though I live on the mountain, I still have a coming down from the mountain kind of experience. For those of you wondering what on earth I'm talking about, it's the coming back from a retreat experience, … | Continue reading
This morning, a line came to me: The sound of scissors slicing through fabric. Is it something different than the beginnings of a poem about needles? Perhaps. Maybe it's a poem about how we think that sewing is about putting pieces together, but it's really a skill that requires … | Continue reading
On Wednesday morning, I had 15 squares that needed finishing. This morning, I have 8. In some ways, I thought I was making more progress. I thought I might be able to sew the whole top together, but I don't think that will happen this week. I am fine with that. I've gotten a chan … | Continue reading
I had begun to wonder if I could still call myself a poet. I haven't written much in the way of poetry lately. Not only that, I haven't even gotten many glimmers of potential poems, which is always a state that worries me. But this week, the poetry muse has come to visit. On Tues … | Continue reading
Yesterday, I wrote this Facebook post in the morning before heading to work: "In olden days, I'd have already been on the road for several hours, driving to get to Quilt Camp at Lutheridge. What a blessing that I can drive an hour down the mountain to teach at Spartanburg Methodi … | Continue reading
I only have time for a quick blog post this morning. But there's more time than a week ago, when I would be heading down to Spartanburg early, to interview for the job that I got. When I left the house on Thursday to go to campus, I was an adjunct. When I returned to the house, I … | Continue reading
When we get to reading week, I start to check to see if the schedule of classes for the following term has been released yet. Even in the week or two before reading week, I check, although I know that the schedule isn't likely to be released. Yesterday, I checked to see if the Fa … | Continue reading
I have never done much celebrating of St. Patrick's Day. I don't drink green beer, and if someone else served me corned beef, I'd eat it, but I don't love it enough to make it for my own homestead. Occasionally I make Irish soda bread, and I wonder why it isn't tastier. I've made … | Continue reading
Today I am feeling a bit frazzled. It's a combination of things: a jam-packed week, a realization that seminary writing is due at noon today not 5 p.m. like I originally thought, feeling annoyed that I've spent more of my adult life in houses that are under construction than fini … | Continue reading
So, now I can be more straight forward than I was yesterday, with my discussion of "dressy" shoes. This week, I interviewed for a one year full-time teaching lectureship at Spartanburg Methodist College, hence the need for "dressy" shoes (which, again, I stress that most people w … | Continue reading
It has been a week of disrupted schedules, with more Zoom calls than usual, more trips to Spartanburg than usual, a morning of uncomfortable "dressy" shoes (even my dress shoes are flats, which would be seen as more frumpy than dressy by many people), a week of midterm projects d … | Continue reading
I don't have much writing time this morning. I need to leave even earlier than usual for a morning of meetings in Spartanburg. Let me return to the idea of infographics, which I first wrote about in this blog post. Now that my baptism infographic has been graded, I can share it: … | Continue reading
My spouse said that our kitchen smelled earthy this morning, and he thought it was the rice pudding that I had in the oven. I think it's the small pot of lentils and barley that I also had cooking. I think of the spices that we dumped when we moved, and then once we got settled, … | Continue reading
Between travel and the time change, I am off schedule today, and this is a week where my schedule will be disrupted in different ways. Let me collect some reflections before turning my attention to seminary work. --I have several interviews this week, which led me to wonder if wo … | Continue reading
A quick note before I pack up the car and head back across the mountains, back down to my part of the Appalachian chain. I got away for a few days to see my mom, dad, and sister. We met up in Charlottesville, a town where once we lived as a nuclear family. Actually, we lived here … | Continue reading
A quick note before I pack up the car and head back across the mountains, back down to my part of the Appalachian chain. I got away for a few days to see my mom, dad, and sister. We met up in Charlottesville, a town where once we lived as a nuclear family. Actually, we lived h … | Continue reading
March is the month designated to celebrate women's history; March 8 is International Women's Day. We might ask ourselves why we still need to set time apart to pay attention to women. Haven't we enacted laws so that women are equal and now we can just go on with our lives? Sadly, … | Continue reading
I sit here in the drywall dust, perched on a barstool, with my computer on a different writing surface this morning, the teak table that used to be on our front porch in Florida. Is this a metaphor? Perhaps, but it's also my situation. I mention the drywall dust because I thought … | Continue reading
While my spouse stays home to supervise the installation of drywall, I am traveling this week, with a brief stop back home tonight. What have I done so far? --Visited grad school friends--always a treat. --Got a rough draft of my Systematic Theology midterm written. That's a reli … | Continue reading
It has been a strange week-end, a week-end where I've tried to work ahead on the writing that I do for my minister job at Faith Lutheran in Bristol, Tennessee, while also trying to help my spouse with plumbing and the other tasks that need to happen before the dry wall installing … | Continue reading
Yesterday was a mix: a wintry mix that turned to rain which lasted all day, lots of cooking (chicken stock and pumpkin bread), sermon research, never as much writing as I hope to do but some. And then, in the late afternoon, news that the Lutheran seminary in Columbia (LTSS) wi … | Continue reading
Yesterday was a mix: a wintry mix that turned to rain which lasted all day, lots of cooking (chicken stock and pumpkin bread), sermon research, never as much writing as I hope to do but some. And then, in the late afternoon, news that the Lutheran seminary in Columbia (LTSS) will … | Continue reading
A new month--is March coming in like a lion or a lamb? It depends. We have a wintry mix forecast for this morning, but tomorrow, the high is supposed to be in the 60's. Of course, in month we expect this meteorological whiplash. It is the first day of Spring--meteorological sprin … | Continue reading
Yesterday I went for my mammogram. In some ways, it's no big deal; women go for mammograms everyday, and I have hopes that mine will be just as routine (in other words, it wasn't a follow up mammogram). But yesterday, I reflected on how much has changed since my first mammogram, … | Continue reading
On Sunday, I went to bed at 7:15 p.m. and slept until 3 a.m., which I figured was kind of strange, but I thought I was likely up for the day. At 6 a.m. yesterday morning, I thought that I was still tired and decided to see what would happen if I laid back down. I watched the moon … | Continue reading