Laughter

I love to laugh.  This is just one of the simple truths of life.  Laughing is good.  I cannot begin to tell you how many bad days I have had that have been saved by watching something funny on TV.  Laughter just has a way of lifting one's spirit.  So much so, it is even mentioned in the Bible:

"A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken." -Proverbs 15:13

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones." -Proverbs 17:22

In that vein, my girlfriend and I are going on a triple date tonight (only our second one) to a comedy club.  The comedy club date has become a pretty regular one.  As much as we both enjoy laughing, we have found that laughing is so much better when you can share it with someone else.  This Lent, I encourage you all to find something that makes you laugh (so long as it is not to the detriment of others) and find some way to share that laughter with others.  Maybe you'll be like my sexton, who likes to tell jokes in the office on a regular basis.  Perhaps there are some funny cat videos online that you end up sharing with others.  You might even find yourself out at a comedy club with a group of friends.  Whatever you find, be sure to share it with as many people as possible.  If you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know.  I'm always looking for new things to make me laugh.  Until then, I leave you with this comic from Cuyler Black's "Inherit the Mirth" collection:

Reading Wars

One of the things I dreaded most in seminary was all of the reading.  This may be surprising to some of the people who know me because reading is one of my favorite things to do.  My mom likes to remind me from time to time that, when I was very little, I hated the fact that my older brother could read before I did.  Then, one night after our regular reading time with Mom, I stayed in my parents’ room after my brother left and said (in the set and determined voice that can only come from a two-year-old), “One of these days, I’m going to be the best reader in this family!”  From there, I was on a mission.  By the time I entered first grade, I had already gotten myself to a fifth grade reading level.  Reading was my thing.

Another reason why dreading the reading in seminary may be surprising is that my usual escape from all of the seminary reading was to read just about anything.  Novels, web comics, random articles on internet comedy sites, as long as it wasn’t related to my classes, I would find some time in my day to read it.  

I really think that part of the reason reading for seminary was so dreadful is that some of the topics we were reading for my classes were not interesting enough for me.  I’d read through pages and pages of text only to realize that I’d zoned out and started thinking of other topics in my head.  Then it became flip back twenty pages and read it all over again.  Another possibility (and this ties largely into me not wanting to read for my systematic theology class) is that my brain works really well with logic and concrete ideas.  The more ethereal and abstract nature of the topics in the theology books just didn’t work with my thought process.

The most interesting thing to me about all of this is that I eventually found out that a lot of what I was reading helped me get a more concrete grasp on the more abstract ideas we were discussing in class.  I’ll never forget the day in class when I suddenly understood what was going on in the systematic theology lecture.  I was so excited to understand what was being said, I forgot to write down any notes.  To this day, all I remember is that I was reading a book that had something to do with a person being able to see multiple possible futures.  Somehow, that tied in with whatever theological doctrine we were discussing in class.

The regularity with which I find myself reading something that, from the outside, has nothing to do with my life, yet it still speaks directly to something I’m working through is amazing.  I am convinced that this is God’s way of speaking to me indirectly.  In what way has God indirectly spoken to you?

Spring

I don't know what the weather has been like where you live, but here in Ohio, we've sort of skipped over winter.  There have been a few days with cold weather and snow.  For the most part, though, it really feels like spring outside.  I'm certain that we are either going to get bombarded with snow for the entirety of March or discover that our world is a spherical oven that just got preheated. (I know that Earth is not technically a sphere, but who wants to use the adjectival form of oblate spheroid?)

Interestingly enough, the church season we are currently in is, for now, a direct correlation for the season we seem to be in temperature-wise. Admittedly, the seasons are based on the changes in sunlight and not by temperature, but the temperature we are experiencing in Ohio is very similar to what we would expect in spring.  What makes this so interesting is that the word "lent" means spring, or, lengthening of the daylight hours.  So, while we are experiencing spring-like weather where I live, we are also at the beginning of the spring of the church year.

While Lent is typically viewed as a season of darkness in the church (crosses veiled, more songs in minor keys, can't say allel***, etc.), I say we take some time to enjoy the light.  Find something fun to do and try to do it every day from now until Easter.  Maybe it will be a crossword or soduku puzzle.  Perhaps you'll try dancing while you cook.  Whatever you find, remember that this season is about preparing ourselves for the resurrection.  Allow time for penitence, but don't forget to find some way to celebrate the light.

Round 2

So, I may have forgotten for the past six months that I have a blog.  Turns out, maintaining this blog was much easier when I was updating everyday instead of once a week (which turned into once a month...then never).  For that reason I have decided to, once again, take up blogging for Lent.  My goal is to have a post published every day, except Sundays, from now until Easter.  Hopefully, this will turn into a habit and I will do a much better job of keeping up with the blog the rest of the year.  We'll see.

Tonight, I will be leading an Ash Wednesday service at St. Andrew's.  I always find myself pondering this interesting juxtaposition of a service wherein we hear a Gospel in which Jesus tells us, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven." (Matthew 6:1) and then have our foreheads marked with ashes.  How can we reconcile these two seemingly opposing messages?   

(If you are in the Dayton area, please stop reading now and come to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church on Salem Ave. for our Ash Wednesday service at 7:00pm to get the answer.  Yes...that was a plug.) 

I find an answer to that question in the prayer said immediately prior to the imposition of ashes:

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. -Book of Common Prayer, p. 265

As with many things in the church, the ashes are to be for us an outward sign that means nothing on its own.  If we just come to church to have ashes put on our forehead, we are missing the point.  Instead, there must be something going on in our hearts that correlates with this sign.  Today, the ashes should be a sign, not of our piety, but of our penitence.  They remind us that we will eventually die, and there is nothing we can do to prevent that from happening.  They remind us that eternal life is a gift that we can only receive by acknowledging that everything we have done to "earn" it has been wrong simply because we cannot "earn" it.

With that, I invite you all to join me in the observance of another holy Lent.

Still Alive

This summer has certainly been a long one.  My last post (back in the beginning of June) was as I was finishing a week long residency for the Second 3 Years program.  So much has happened in my life since then, but I will attempt to give you all a glimpse of what has been going on for me these past three months.

After the Second 3 Years residency in Virginia, I got back to Cincinnati just in time to go to the priesthood ordinations for two friends in my diocese and pack for another week long trip.  This time, it was to a small town in Tennessee with a group of youth for St. Timothy's annual trip for the Appalachian Service Project.  If you've never heard of ASP, the best way to describe it is as a relationship ministry that does home repair on the side.  While we did a lot of physical labor down there, the bigger labor was that of love.  We all grew close to the families we worked with and found that leaving them behind at the end of the week was a difficult task.  We also grew closer to each other.  During that week, new friendships were made, and old ones were strengthened.

We returned from that trip with just enough time for me to prepare for a week of Vacation Bible School with over 200 kids.  Along with three helpers, I led a group of 23 fifth graders on what was, essentially, a Christian themed field day that lasted for five.  I don't need to tell you how intense this week was (especially to all you teachers out there who deal with groups like this without additional help). As hectic and draining as this week was, it was still a wonderful week, ending in time for me to gather myself and prepare for my last Sunday at St. Timothy's.

Many of you already know that my two-year residency at St. Timothy's ended on June 30, with June 26 being my last Sunday.  Leaving a place that feels like home is always paired with at least a little sadness, but I was able to also leave with a great sense of happiness at time well spent with people who loved me and helped me grow into my ministry.  To all of you from St. Timothy's who are reading this, thank you so much for helping to prepare me for wherever I was to be called after leaving you.  To those of you not yet aware, I left St. Timothy's without knowing where my next step would be.

At the end of June, I packed up my apartment and moved almost everything into storage.  The next five weeks were spent as the "Super Sub" chaplain at Procter for our diocesan summer camps.  Again, while my time spent there was physically draining, I have nothing but fond memories of my summer spent at camp.  Three weeks in, I received a call to be the Priest-In-Charge of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Dayton, OH.  The hours following that were filled with rejoicing and celebrating with the staff and youth who were at camp that week.

After camp ended, I finally gave myself a chance to take a break.  With a couple weeks until I was to start at St. Andrew's, I took the opportunity go on an actual vacation: a four-day cruise to the Bahamas with my girlfriend!  Neither of us had been on a cruise before, but we'd both readily go again.  We got back from the cruise with enough time to catch our breath and relax before moving day arrived.

After a long and wonderful summer, moving day finally arrived a week and a half ago.  Today was day one at St. Andrew's.  I'm eagerly looking forward to many more days to come.

Second Three Years

After a bit of a hiatus from blogging, I'm back.  I simply could not let this week go by without a post.  After 2 years of ministry, I am back on the campus of Virginia Theological Seminary.  Why am I here?  2 years ago, (it's been 2 years already?) toward the end of my senior year in seminary, my class was offered the opportunity to participate in the Second 3 Years program.  This primary purpose of this program is to continue the formation that began in seminary (i.e. the first 3 years) through the early part of our ministry after graduation.  It seems like only a month or so has passed since I was last here, but there have been a few changes on campus since I graduated, though.

First, and I've written about this before, the seminary chapel burned down last October.  When I arrived on campus on Sunday, I saw the "ruins" for the first time with my own eyes.  This, of course, has led to other changes.  Since the formation of future leaders of the church is kind of a big deal here, the seminary needed some place to hold worship services.  What was once a sort of communal gathering space just outside the refectory has become the prayer hall.  Since the seminary will not have a usable chapel building for at least the next few years and having the usual gathering space is an important part of being a community, the auditorium in which I received my diploma is being leveled in order to become the new temporary worship place.  Perhaps the most startling change has been the conversion of the small dining room (a room I remember as a place where they stored extra chairs) has become the 1823 Café.  They are still waiting for their liquor license, but this is sure to become a favorite hangout spot on campus.

Some things, however, have not changed.  I am staying in one of the student dorms, and I have no idea how I managed to sleep on a twin bed all 3 years of seminary.

This week has been a long one.  Our days would start with Morning Prayer at 8:30 am, and we have had some form of continuing education workshop every day, sometimes not finishing our days until an 8:30 pm Compline service.  While I have certainly learned a lot this week, what I will take away the most is the opportunity that I have had to reconnect with friends and colleagues.  Sadly, I must once again leave this amazing group of people to rejoin the rest of the world.  I am so very happy to be a member of the VTS Class of 2009, and I look forward to keeping in touch with my class mates as we all continue to grow in our ministries.

PS - I am not the only one of my class with a blog.  Take some time to check out their blogs:

Rev. Mibi

Not Graceful but Grace Filled

Time Flies

This week I have been seeing a lot of status updates on Facebook about last papers turned in and receiving invitations to multiple ordinations.  Suddenly, I realized that this year's graduating class from Virginia Theological Seminar is the last class of students that I studied with.  It's amazing how fast the years have come and gone.  I can still remember showing up to campus and meeting this new class that had already formed such a strong bond with each other.

I must say that seeing all these Facebook events for ordination services has me so excited for the future of the church.  Sadly, I will not be able to attend most of them, but I will definitely be keeping the entire class in my prayers as they get ready for commencement and ordination.  This past year has been difficult for those of us with ties to VTS, and I can only imagine that difficulty being magnified for the current students.  

Back in October, the 200+ year-old chapel at VTS burned down.  A Google image search of VTS chapel fire will bring up sad results.  The chapel was more than just a worship space.  It was a place where future leaders of the church were formed.  It was a place where the entire community would gather together to celebrate our common life.  Looking at the pictures today, I still struggle with the loss, not of a physical space, but of a spiritual and sacred space.  The plans for what will be done with the ruins of the 1881 chapel have just been released.  If that were not enough, a member of this year's graduating class passed away less than 2 weeks ago.  It is sad to think of how much has been lost this past year.

With all of this sadness, my prayer is that this year's graduating class never lose sight of hope.  Though the chapel has been lost, the message over the stained glass window behind the altar is still in our hearts: Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.

VTS Class of 2011, God's blessing be on you all and guide your footsteps all the days of your life.