The Lutheran Zephyr 2.0

So Help Us God (or Virtus)

I never imagined how "holy" an experience it would be to register at the courthouse for authorization to legally offiate at weddings.

• I provided papers proving that I am a called and ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (We call you to exercise among us the ministry of Word and Sacrament which God has established and which the Holy Spirit empowers, one of the documents reads).
• I provided $29 in cash, bearing the words In God We Trust, as payment of the courthouse's administrative fee.
• I took an oath which concluded with the words So Help Me God (and yes, in a strange feat of government orthography, the first letter of each word in that phrase was capitalized). 
• And to top it all off, as I walked into the Arlington County Courthouse I passed the seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which prominently features the Roman goddess Virtus. 

All this God-talk is required so that I can be authorized to declare a marriage legal.  I'd expect God-talk in the church and in preparation for my ordination, but to formalize a state-sanctioned, legal relationship?  I don't see how such language is necessary, to be honest.

One thing this experience has taught me is that when it comes to God's role (or the role of ancient Roman dieties, for that matter) in our state and society, I think we're a confused lot ...

(Click here for more of my admittedly radical perspectives on the separation of church and state.)

Tryin' Out a New 'Do

(This post first appeared in my congregation's June 2009 newsletter)

You have probably already noticed it, but you are too kind or polite to mention it.  Perhaps that’s because we’re still dancing the get-to-know-you dance, and you may not want to say anything so personal to the new pastor just yet.  Well, I’ll say it: I’m growing my hair long.  To be honest, I’m not sure if I like this new hairdo or if it suits me well at all.  We’ll see.

I have wanted to grow my hair long for years, but I’ve never had the guts to actually go through with it.  But not this time.  For the first time in my life I’m growing out my hair.  Why?  Back in January I was asked to participate in the leadership of our synod’s Confirmation Camp (held in late June at Mar-Lu-Ridge Camp near Frederick, MD).  My role?  To portray Jesus in the week-long teaching and re-enacting of the Holy Week/Passion story.  Since we commonly envision Jesus with long hair, and since for years I’ve wanted but been unwilling to grow my hair long, I have allowed my hair to grow for this role.  We’ll see if I keep the new ‘do after June.

Growing my hair long is just one of many firsts I’ve had in my first six months of ordained ministry (and not one that I would have anticipated!).  It is here with you that I first presided at the Lord’s Table and at the Baptismal Font.  It is here with you that I first said, “As a called and ordained minister of the church of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins.”  It is here with you that I first sat down with lay leaders to dream about education and outreach ministries for the coming year (and also for many years to come).  And after years of moving from place to place, it is here with you that I am finally laying down roots for my ministry and for my family.  For the first time in my life I am settling into patterns of life and work, and growing into the hopes and dreams that God has given me.

As I look ahead to September and the start of my first program year with you I am simultaneously anxious and excited.  For years I sat in classes at seminary, or worked as a youth director, or worked at the edges of parish ministry (as a church publishing sales representative, for example).  And in these roles I eagerly learned, hypothesized and developed convictions about ministry.  But this time is different.  No longer am I a temporary intern or a sales representative peeking into the parish.  Now I’m in a new role with new and greater responsibilities … this is where the rubber hits the road.  I admit to being a bit anxious.

But let me tell you how excited I am, too.  I see here at Resurrection great faith and great hopes, a strong desire to serve others and to be a caring community of love and mutual support.  There is already so much that we’re doing well, from our vibrant Sunday School ministry to our Confirmation Class bursting at the seams; from the Clothes Closet to the Christian Service group, both of which serve those in need; from the choir and worship assistants to the dedicated team of leaders on Council and committees, all of whom keep our congregation running; to … well, the list goes on.  

And so with ideas and convictions formed after years of church work, and with a faithful and firm foundation of ministry here at Resurrection, I am excited about what will come next year.  I’ve been meeting with our Christian Education, Evangelism, and Stewardship leaders, and I am excited about the new and renewed ministries that these committees are envisioning.  From new fellowship events to exciting tweaks to Sunday School, from digging deeper into the meaning of Christian stewardship to wrestling what it means to welcome newcomers to the faith and church, the conversations, hopes, and dreams shared by our ministry leaders are exciting and promising.

I’m not sure where all these conversations, hopes, and dreams about ministry will lead us.  Perhaps some of our plans for Sunday School or new fellowship events will work out … and perhaps some will not.  That’s ok, for just like my hair we can cut and change things afterwards and go in a different direction if we don’t like the look and feel of our new ministry ‘do.

And so as I prepare for my first full program year as a pastor I am anxious and excited, confident in God’s leading and hope-filled for what lies ahead … no matter how long my hair is.

Four Years of The Lutheran Zephyr

If my blog were a President, it would be finishing its first term.

On May 22, 2005 I started this blog ... I never thought it would last this long.  I began blogging in order to connect myself to conversations about ministry and faith while I wrestled with my own sense of call and worked at the fringes of parish ministry, looking in.  Now I'm ordained, doing the work about which I often opined on these pixels, and I'm loving life.

Thanks to all for reading, for commenting, for forming me through this wonderful and odd medium of blogging.

Decline of faith-based niche blogging?

I have noticed a decline in the number of blogposts appearing in my Google Reader in recent months.  The decline includes my blog, of course, as I've been blogging infrequently since December.  But I am not alone.  Many of the "churchy" blogs that I used to read regularly are posting less often.  With the exception of the rise of Facebook - and many of my church blog friends are on Facebook - I really cannot explain this phenomenon.

For my part, I'm finding that since throwing myself into the work of full-time parish ministry I have less time and energy to blog.  My life essentially has two parts - church and family, both of which are terribly time and attention consuming.  Blogging - which for some can be part of their work - would essentially take time from either my churchwork or my family, and that's nothing I'm willing to do right now.  If I decide to take time from either, it will be for exercise at the local gym to get rid of the excess 30-40 pounds I'm carrying around.

Furthermore, I'm finding that my inspiration to blog is similar to the challenges I've had recently with writing my bi-weekly sermons.  In my pastoral role - I'm an Associate Pastor - I deal with lots of programming.  I'm finding that managing programs uses a different part of my brain than does writing (blogposts or sermons or newsletter articles), and the writing has suffered as a consequence.  I hope to return to more and better writing, including on this blog.  But when I do get the energy, creativity, and ability to write, it's all I can do to just focus on the sermon and not get carried away with other writing projects right now.

I expect that this is part of my learning curve, my adjustment to full-time parish ministry.  Now in my fifth month, I notice that I am developing patterns and setting priorities in a better manner than I did when I first started.  Perhaps as I continue to grow into this ministry and calling I will find the time and creative ability to return to writing more frequently ... I certainly hope so.

Sermons Updated

I've posted sermons to this blog for the first time in months.  Sermons from the first few months of my life as a pastor, as well as a few sermons from the end of my internship, have now been posted to the Sermons page.

Now, don't all rush.  Walking, please.  One at a time.  No pushing.  Thank you.

It has served its purpose

This blog - as a host for my thoughts and feelings, reflections and rants, questions and quandaries - has served its purpose.  As a place for personal punditry and faithful reflection, this blog is done.  Over.  Kaput.  Finished.  Dead.

Well, almost.

For now I'll keep this blog up and running, and perhaps fashion it in the form of Clint's blog, who posts links and compelling quotes and other brief items, but who rarely opines online.  Eventually, perhaps I'll transform this blog into one such as Mark Daniel's, posting lectionary reflections, sermons, and thoughtful reflections on the news.  Perhaps.

But as I enter a new phase of my calling - that of a parish pastor - I'm quickly realizing that I'd do better to read more and write less, to pray more and play the pundit less, to be still and know that the Lord is God more, and busy myself with blogging less . . . I'll be reading fewer blogs much less frequently, too.

This blog has been a great blessing to me for more than three and a half years, a place for me to share ideas and learn much, to grow and be challenged, to express myself and to try something new.  I am thankful for the various people who have commented, who read, who are part of my online community.  You have been part of my formation as a pastor, as a person of faith, as a child of God.  Thank you.

A blessed Christmas season and New Year to all.

Peace to you.
Chris

Ordination, and First Time Presiding

 Last Saturday, December 20, I was ordained for the Ministry of Word and Sacrament.  On Christmas Eve at 11pm, I presided for the first time at the Eucharist.  Not to mention the move to the parsonage and Christmas celebrations, and it's been a wonderful two weeks.  A few thoughts.

The ordination was a profound moment, personally and spiritually, but especially personally (not that the two are distinct, but . . . the spiritual high came a few days later, to be honest.  More on that in a moment).  From the presence and participation of old friends (both pictured here; my best friend Josh - friends since 5th grade - read from Isaiah, and my dear friend Meredith - friends since 6th grade and an Episcopalian priest - offered the Prayers of the Church),to the surprise appearances of my (now retired) college pastor and his wife (who drove 3+ hours to get to the ordination) and also of a young man who was a youth in a church I served as a youth director 9 years ago,to being surrounded by the church in prayer, and by clergy colleagues in the laying on of hands . . . it was a special moment, one that I will not soon forget.

I got weepy twice in the evening - when I saw my college pastor walk through the church doors just moments before the service began, and when the Bishop declared, "Let it be acclaimed that Christopher Thomas Krey Duckworth is ordained a minister in the Church of Christ." 

An extra little special element in the service was the little Bible I held in my hands.  We recently learned that my grandfather's grandfather was a Methodist pastor in Philadelphia.  Upon my grandfather's death two years ago, my dad and step-mother found a small Bible among his possessions that had been given to his grandfather on the day of his ordination.  My step-mother had the Bible rebound and gave it to me for my ordination.  I held it with me during the entire service, connecting me with this man of faith whom I never met yet whose work I now share.

In the middle of the ordination rite itself I was on my knees for several prayers and for a hymn invoking the Holy Spirit, all the while surrounded by clergy.  The hymn, however, was not printed in the bulletin, and most the clergy standing around me had not brought their hymnals to the chancel.  So here I was in the chancel, kneeling before the Bishop and indeed the whole church, surrounded by clergy in red stoles . . . mumbling through the hymn!  It was both a high spiritual moment and a comfortingly down-to-earth moment, all wrapped up in one.  Perfect.

All this - from my great great grandfather's Bible to the clergy to the great outpouring of friends and clergy and church members - demonstrated to me that in this ministry I am not alone.  I am surrounded and supported by a broader body of God's people, a body of which I am part, and for that I give thanks to God.

-----

I presided at the Eucharist for the first time on Christmas Eve at the 11pm candlelight service.  I was just as nervous for this as I was for the ordination - actually, moreso.  As I processed during the entrance hymn, I could hardly sing . . . so nervous, so anxious, so overwhelmed by the ministry I was about to offer.

At my church the presiding minister wears a chausable throughout the entire service.  From the moment I put on this massive - almost suffocating - cloak-like vestment I felt as if I were carrying an extra burden, a new responsibility.  This extra layer of liturgical garb even further reinforced to me that I am a minister of the church, bound by and dedicated to a tradition much larger than me or my personality, gifts, or skills.  Wearing the chausable was incredibly humbling.

I had practiced the presider's prayers and gestures much during the two days leading up to Christmas Eve, and I'm glad I did.  Everything went smoothly.  Well, almost everything.  I forgot to do the fraction (breaking the bread after the Lord's Prayer at the Invitation to the Table), but overall it did seem to go well.  I'll preside again on Sunday.

-----

Much more to write, but that's it for now.  I am still in active contemplation about the future of this blog . . . discerning everything from the personal/professional divide and the wisdom of blogging about personal matters, to the do-I-have-time-to-blog? issue, to the thought of developing a blog intentionally focused on my ministry, an endeavor which would draw time and energy away from this blog . . .  We'll see.

Thanks for checking in.  A blessed Christmas season to all.

Ordination this Saturday

You are invited to a Service of Holy Communion and Ordination this Saturday, December 20, 4pm at Resurrection Lutheran Church, Arlington, VA (just a few blocks from the Metro!).  Bishop Richard H. Graham, Metropolitan DC Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, presiding. 

Ordained clergy are invited to vest.  The color is red.

And yes, I'm pretty darned excited . . .

Signing off for a little bit

My three readers will shout for joy and dance in the street at this announcement - I'm not going to blog for the next week or two.  Why not?  Next week is a little busy.

Monday, December 15: start new job as Associate Pastor
Tuesday, December 16: move to new house
Saturday, December 20: ordination
Sunday, December 21: preaching at my first service as an ordained pastor
Wednesday, December 24: first time presiding at the Lord's Table

So, it'll be busy in the Duckworth/Zephyr household in the coming days.  I'll post some thoughts and pictures from ordination when that happens, but probably not much else until then . . .

Peace to you.

Ordination Text Update

I ditched the first draft of Bible readings for my upcoming ordination after they were met with luke-warm responses . . . and truth be told, I wasn't in love with them as ordination texts.  But I've had a hard time choosing my ordination texts, recognizing that this isn't an occasion to simply choose my favorite bible texts (as if it were a great hits or a mix tape of sentimental favorites).  Indeed, some of my favorite texts - Romans 8, Luke 1, the stories in the Elijah cycle - are wonderful, but don't quite speak to unique setting of an ordination.

So I took another stab at it, and leaned on an old rule I try hard not to forget (but which I had forgotten in this case) - trust the tradition.  Our liturgical tradition has handed down to us a variety of texts that are customarily used for the ocassion of an ordination.  Why try to re-invent the wheel?  I read through each of the suggested texts - about ten texts are suggested for each reading - and pretty easily selected readings for the first three readings:

Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 103
Romans 10:13-17a

But still, none of the suggested Gospel texts spoke to me.  So I tried to think of stories from the Gospels that speak to the tasks of ministry but which wouldn't unduly elevate the ordinand.  I landed on Mark 9:33-41, which contains two quick anecdotes about ministry -

• first, Mark's version of the "let the children come to me" text where Jesus embraces and identifies himself with a child (ie, the low, weak, marginalized, unaccomplished);
• second, the story in which Jesus' disciples trying to stop someone else - who was not "one of them" - from casting out demons in Jesus' name.  Jesus rebukes the disciples, telling them that "whoever is not against us is for us."  I figure that it is good to begin ministry by being reminded to whom it is we're called to minister, and that no one person or group of people has a monopoly on the ministry.

Click here for all the texts.  Thanks!