The Lutheran Zephyr

Fasting from Blogging During Lent

10 years ago (during my junior year in college) I fasted from "music with a beat" during Lent.  I rarely spent a moment alone in silence, turning on my stereo each time I returned to my dorm room or got into my car.  I wondered if I weren't clouding out the voice of God or ruining moments ripe for reflection by blaring my techno-pop and 80s/90s alternative music at every opportunity.  So, during Lent that year I refrained from all my favorite music - New Order, The Cure, U2, Erasure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, etc. - and any music rock, pop, techno or alternative music.  I essentially limited myself to chant and classical (of which I owned only about three CDs).  To my surprise, the experience was marvellous and reoriented me towards God, vocation and faith in daily life.

And so, 10 years later, I will be fasting from blogging.  I find myself turning on my computer at odd hours of the evening or early morning to blog, rather than tend to prayer, house chores, work, or simple relaxation (vocations which rank higher than blogging).  I wonder if my blogging hasn't become something like my music of 10 years ago, a way to distract myself from God's presence or from intentional reflection on faith, vocation or life.

Yet, Sundays during the season of Lent are Sundays in Lent (not of Lent).  Even in Lent, we catch a glimpse of the resurrection each Sunday as we gather around the table and celebrate the liturgy.  And so in the tradition of Lenten disciplines, I will break my Lenten fast on Sundays and probably get online for a little bit of blogging.  But for the rest of the Lenten season, I will be practicing a Blog Silence.

I love Lucy (and Fred)

Fred and Lucy are two outstanding channels on XM Satellite Radio. From their websites: Fred likes the Violent Femmes, Simple Minds, Dead Milkmen, U2, New Order, Ministry, XTC, The Buzzcocks, R.E.M., Love & Rockets, The Damned, Bauhaus, The Ramones, Jesus & Mary Chain, Joy Division, X, Social Distortion, Talking Heads, Iggy Pop, The Replacements, Erasure and tons more can be heard on Fred. Lucy is all about the most important and well known songs in the history of Alternative Music. While Fred, Ethel, Squizz and other XM Alt channels go deep, Lucy is about the encores...the giants...the defining songs of the generation. Non Stop. Just music. Just the killers. 24/7. And these are the only channels on radio where you can hear the amazing song "Feel Every Beat" from Electronic - that band which was one part New Order, one part The Smiths, and a pinch Pet Shop Boys. Their first (and best) album was called Electronic, released in 1991.

2000 miles in 2 weeks

I've driven over 2000 miles in 2 weeks from my home base just north of Philadelphia. Some of the destinations: Rochester and Buffalo, NY; Harrisburg, PA; Fairfax, VA; York, PA; Hanover, PA.

Highlights?

• The New York State Thruway has the best rest areas in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast United States (with wonderfullly quaint historic markers that are themselves historic - dating from the early days of the Thruway in 1950's).
• York, PA has some of the worst traffic for a small city.
• Hanover, PA is a snack food Mecca (Utz potato chips and Synders of Hanover snacks are based there - and the Synder's factory store is awesome!).
• During rush hour in Northern Virginia it can take you 100 minutes to drive 20 miles.
• XM Satellite Radio, my trusty companion, keeps me sane on these long drives! (How about a fascinating symposium on the state of black america on a Saturday in central Pennsylvania? Or bouncing between retro alternative hits and ESPN Radio and C-SPAN Radio between Syracuse, NY and Allentown, PA?)

In two years on this job I'm over 71,000 miles. The good news is that I love what I do, and I enjoy driving . . . (But it is somewhat sad when you've come to recognize nightshift workers at the Maryland House rest area on I-95 . . . ).

7 Things Meme

Thanks to LutherPunk . . .

7 Things to Do Before I Die
1. Catch a foul ball at a baseball game (not picking it up off the ground)
2. Hear my name followed by, "Come on down!  You're the next contestant on The Price is Right!"
3. (something I'll keep to myself for now)
4. Run for office (dog catcher, school board, clerk of elections - something)
5. Have a regular column in a newspaper or magazine - be it a local or national, denominational or news publication
6. Make an impact
7. Fade away gracefully

7 Things I Cannot Do
1. Hide my Lutheran passion
2. "Talk church" with Lutherans who don't get Luther or think his only impact was in translating the Bible into the language of the people
3. Give birth
4. Support the Designated Hitter, artificial turf on baseball fields, or other abominations
5. Be an avid supporter of any particular political party (I'm strongly considering changing my party affiliation to "Independent")
6. Ride a unicycle
7. Watch local news

7 Things that attract me to my mate
1. Her beauty
2. Her love
3. Her brain
4. Her faith
5. Her love of baseball
6. Her love of others
7. Her amazing way of being a consensus-building church leader without being the authoritarian or "heir pastor" type

7 Things I Say
Do I say seven things?

7 Movies I have loved
I'm not sure if I've seen 7 movies in the past 7 years, so I'll skip this one.

7 People to Tag
Do 7 people even read this blog?  Well, if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged!

Spirit Room, in retrospect

I put together the Spirit Room at a youth event attended by about 200 youth this weekend.  The Spirit Room was never a scheduled part of the programming, but simply a Free Time option for the kids.  (I also served as the chaplain for the event).

Overall, I think the Spirit Room was a success.  We had a good number of youth and adults visit the Spirit Room, and several people spent upwards of 20 minutes in prayer and reflection in the room (some as long as an hour).

I may have offered too many reflection stations in the Spirit Room (which wasn't a huge space), and I'm not sure if my instructions were always very clear.  Here's a brief summary of each station and how it worked:

Baptism Station: Take a seat on a comfy pillow, grab a dry erase board and hold it on your lap.  Write your sins on a dry erase board, offer a prayer of confession to God, dip fingers in water and make sign of the cross to recall forgiveness of sins we receive in baptism, wipe away sins.  Baptism Station Grade: B.  (The idea is an A or A-, but my execution wasn't as clear as could be).

Small Catechism Stations: These each involved reading the respective sections of Martin Luther's Small Catechism followed by a reflection activity.  The activities were great, but I think that many people skipped these stations because they involved a modest level of reading.  Here are the activities:
10 Commandments: Since the 10 Commandments serve to reflect our sinful nature, youth were invited to write or draw a picture depicting one or more sins on a 20' by 10" sheet of aluminum flashing (approx. $9 at Lowes).  It was really neat to see the variety of sins the kids named and placed on the metal sheet.  These sins became part of our prayers of confession at Sunday worship.  10 Commandments Station Grade: A-
The Apostles' Creed: In the creed we confess our connectedness to God and to each other (yes, there's much more in the creed than that, but I had to pick something!).  Youth were invited to tie a 2-3 foot piece of yarn to the arms of a 5' cross, symbolizing their connectedness to God.  After a while, these pieces of yarn were braided together, symbolizing our connectedness to each other.  This was my favorite station.  Apostles' Creed Station Grade: A
Lord's Prayer: The Lord's Prayer contains all that we could ever need.  Youth were invited to write one or more things for which they are thankful to God.  This station's activity lacked the creativity of the other stations, but kids wrote prayers on several dozen post-it notes which they stuck to the wall at this station.  Lord's Prayer Station Grade: B
Overall Small Catechism Grade: B+  In retrospect, I would have offered summaries of the Small Catechism teaching and reduced the level of reading (providing catechisms for those who would want to read it, however).  I really think that many of the kids sped through the reading so that they could get to the activity.

Daily Life Meditation Station: A PowerPoint slide show of about 70 pictures from ordinary, daily life interspersed with about 10-15 scripture, Luther and other quotes highlighting the presence of God in our daily life.  People were invited to reflect on God's presence in their daily life.  Enigma, Moby, One Dove, and The Mission soundtrack variously provided the musical tone for this station and the whole room.  Daily Life Station Grade: A-

Bible Station: Free Bibles and a list of 60 essential Bible stories (borrowed from The Lutheran Handbook).  Youth were invited to simply spend some time reading the Bible.  No real "activity" here, and many youth did sit and read.  Some took a Bible home with them.  (Reading was the activity at this station.  In the Small Catechism stations, I  think that kids wanted to speed through the reading to get to the activity.  In this station, kids were more content to simply sit and look up some passages of scripture).  Bible Station Grade: A-

Liturgical Prayer Station: Several copies of The Lutheran Book of Worship with one post-it note marking a rite of Responsive Prayer and another marking a section prayers for various needs, occassions and situations.  This station was designed to get kids into their worship book and get in touch with some wonderfully rich - and often very old - prayers.  Liturgical Prayer Station: B+

Overall, this was a good experience and a nice environment for young people to reflect and pray.  I especially liked the idea of using the structure of the Small Catechism to shape part of the Spirit Room.  I had some problems with execution, but the concept is solid and I would use this again with only a few modifications.  I would love to hear from anyone who borrows these ideas and uses them in another setting!

It's a Miracle!

I've been part of a youth event this weekend - my role was to put together the "Spirit Room" - a room dedicated to prayer, reflection, and meditation, with several stations or activities to guide participants.

One of the stations was a Baptismal Station, in which young people were invited to write their sins on a dry erase board.  Then they were to offer a prayer of confession, dip their fingers in a bowl of water and make the sign of the cross to recall their baptism.  Then, they were to "erase" their sins from the dry erase board.  In baptism our sins are forgiven!

Well, one young woman ran out of the room to me and said, "It's a miracle!  Really, the brand of eraser is "miracle."  How perfect is that?!?!  It's a miracle that we are forgiven!"

Yes.  What a wonderful miracle.

My Blog as a Word Cloud

Poor folks over at www.snapshirts.com.  They make this cool little program that takes your blog and turns it into this mind-grabbing word ensemble.  It's not just for fun or charity.  They make this graphic and for $18 they'll print it on a t-shirt.  Problem is, I wonder if anyone is buying the t-shirts.  More likely they are just grabbing the image from their preview webpage.

Well, here's to hoping that they're selling some t-shirts, cause it's a pretty cool little thing they got going over there.

Proof of God's Existence

"Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training."

I'm a huge baseball fan, and a somewhat active football fan. The few weeks between the Super Bowl and Spring Training is about as depressing as nuclear winter or the re-election of George Bush.  So, needless to say, I'm pretty happy right now.

Even though the Philadelphia Phillies will be fighting for third place most of the season, right now they're tied for first (with everyone else, of course), and hope springs eternal.

Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.  There is a God!

I hate babysitters

Actually, I love babysitters, but I hate needing them.  This week is especially difficult - my work schedule takes me to Buffalo, NY, and my volunteer schedule sends me to a youth event this weekend.  My wife's schedule sends her to church for several evening meetings (she's a pastor) and a Valentine's Day service and dinner.  Our daughter, a beautiful 2 1/2 year old, will have two babysitters this week, and not spend an evening with BOTH parents until Sunday night.  Next week is similar, as I head off to Virginia for work . . .

Argh.  I love babysitters.  But I hate needing them.

Youth Spirit Room (in progress - feedback needed!)

I'm putting together the "Spirit Room" at a youth event this weekend. This is a quasi-chapel place where kids will come for reflection and prayer. In past years, adapted prayer labyrinths have been used. This year's Spirit Room will not be a labyrinth, but will be filled with various experiential activities. It will feature five stations inviting youth to various faith practices and reflections. A brief preview follows, and I would appreciate your feedback and ideas.

Baptism Station - A reflection on the forgiveness of sins we receive in baptism.
Materials: Bowl of water; dry erase board, markers, eraser
What they do: Read brief introduction to baptism; write/confess sins on white board; recall baptism; "erase" sins; go in peace.

Small Catechism Station - A reflection on Luther's Small Catechism.
Materials: Copies of the Small Catechism (up to 50 copies free for kids to take)
What they do: Read each of the primary sections of the Small Catechism (10 Commandments, Apostles' Creed, Lord's Prayer) followed by a brief reflection activity related to that section. Reflection summaries and activities are below:

10 Commandments: The 10 Commandments serve like a mirror, showing us our sin, our brokenness, our need for God. Youth will be invited to write a word or draw a picture of our sin and brokenness on a large mirror (or several cheap dorm room mirrors).

Apostles' Creed: After seeing our sin and inability to exist without God in the 10 Commandments, we profess our faith in God and recall all that God does for us and the world. Youth will be invited to contribute to some sort of communally constructed object that demonstrates our connectedness to God and to each other (any ideas?).

Lord's Prayer: All that we need comes from God, and is contained in the Lord's Prayer. Youth will be invited to pray the Lord's Prayer (out loud or silently) and then write things for which they are thankful to God on a large sheet of paper.

Daily Life Station - A reflection on God's presence in daily life
Materials: PowerPoint slide presentation (that I have yet to create!) featuring images of the ordinary stuff of life, interspersed with scripture passages, Luther quotes about daily life, and 'religious' images
What they do: Watch the PowerPoint loop and reflect on God's presence in their daily life

Bible Station - A reflection on the Bible as God's Word
Materials: Bibles (50 free Bibles for kids to take, and several other Spirit Room Bibles for kids to read), "essential Bible passages" hand-out
What they do: Look up and read various passages, and alone or with friends ask how God might be speaking in this text.

Suffrages Station - A structured prayer from our Lutheran Book of Worship
Materials: Copies of the Lutheran Book of Worship
What they do: Pray Responsive Prayer 2: Suffrages alone or with a friend.
(Why: I think kids can and do get into tradition, ritual, and prayer, and should be exposed to the prayer rites from our primary worship book).

Well, let me know what you think. 4 days and counting, and I have lots of work to do yet!

(*Please note that the Baptismal Station activity is adapted from an activity originally appearing in Here We Stand, Augsburg Fortress' new confirmation ministry curriculum. The 10 Commandments activity is vaguely inspired by a mirror-related activity on the same subject in Here We Stand.)