Shocked to learn

Blogosphere brace yourself...
I didn't get named to Columbus Monthly's "List of Titans" that run Columbus. I am as shocked as you are. Apparently you have to be either crazy powerful or filthy rich to make the list and, as my accountant reminds me, I am neither one of those things. But I am not going to give up. I hear that Columbus Monthly is doing a Clergy Swimsuit Calendar. I like my chances there.

Power, Money, Media Attention, other things I can Capitalize, we all want for something, we all want to make our mark. There is something validating about being "something" that few, if any are. I remember one summer in California I was attending camp at Mount Hermon in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There, before God and a video camera, I did a belly-flop off the high dive and landed with an incredible clap. It hurt for sure but for the rest of the week I was "The Belly Flop Guy" which sounded a whole lot cooler then than it does today as I type this. Title aside, I was well known, liked, and my celebrity gained me access to all those places the non-belly flopping proletariat were excluded. All this to say, being well-known, popular and powerful gave me an outlook that was intoxicating but stepping back produced in me a "me & them" mentality.

I don't know any of Columbus' Titans of the City personally. They could all be wonderful, humble, awesome people but then again they might be jerks. I don't know. What I do know is that no matter if they are Titans or Tinkertoys they fall under the same category just as the starving children all the world around, the prisoners locked away in a dank cell, and those uppity brats on reality TV: humanity. Powerful, Uppity, Incarcerated, Near Death, we are all the same in the way that matters, and for me, that is the love that God has for all of us.

So here is to you Columbus Titans: you are rich and powerful but what you and I share money can't buy.

Pentecost 2010

Here is the view from the sanctuary entrance on Pentecost 2010. Thanks to Merri Bame, Jeremy Roberts, Grace Parks, Phyllis Miller, & Mary Ann Stephens for decorating the pews and giving us the "on fire" look.

Pentecost is something of a mystery to many folks & as such it is often regulated to the minor leagues of church events. Lumped in there with Ascension Sunday or Reformation Sunday, Pentecost tends to get the brush off despite being the birthday of the church and the day dedicated to remembering the gift of the Holy Spirit. This short-changing (in my opinion) has to do with our understanding of the Holy Spirit as something intangible, free-form, & "not really our thing" as Reformed folks. We jettison the Spirit for something more tangible, something more cerebral, something measurable, testable, & definable. We jettison the Spirit for "understanding" rather cultivating a sense of the presence of Christ in our lives which is the classic understanding of the Spirit's presence. In other words, we would rather learn about Christ than feel his presence.

It has been a while...

I am back from an awesome conference in Nashville & back at Boulevard just in time for Pentecost. The whole world here is decked out in Red and soon enough we will be having our 1st combined Pentecost event with one worship service, breakfast and, from what I have been told, balloons. Should be a good time.

I will be back blogging this week which will feature my work on my upcoming Trinity Sunday (May 30th) sermon. Should be fun to weave in Trinity Sunday & Graduate Sunday.

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Rapid Fire Thoughts on 3 Things

Like many Blogs, I have nothing to say today.
There is a lot going on, and there is a lot to do but unless you are interested in stories of me making the May Adult Education Poster or my travels visiting members I don't have anything for you. James is preparing for a busy weekend with 2 funerals & preaching at both services. I have a wedding on Saturday which, as always, I am looking forward to. So rather than fall back to my usual baseball-christian faith analogies I present...

Rapid Fire Thoughts on 3 Things

1. Ohio Weather is crazy. Today in the 80s, tomorrow in the 70s, Friday in the 80s, & Saturday? Mid 50s
2. I am attending a Preaching conference in Nashville in a few weeks. We will be smack-dab in the center of an area devastated by flooding. Rather than ignoring the damage and pretending that it isn't there the conference is organizing an afternoon work day to help with clean water distribution.
3. A friend of mine is catching all sorts of grief on Facebook for an update that read something to the effect of being tired of all the people whining about their vacations being canceled due to the BP Oil Disaster. People are coming out of the woodwork decrying his post because they lost money on the effects of the spill. I have been good at holding back my comments but some are painfully short-sighted.

Back in the Office

Last week was wonderfully crazy.

Immediately after preaching & getting the Home-bound Communion servers all set I threw off my robe and headed home. Less than an hour after saying my goodbyes here at Boulevard I was heading down I-71 South on my way to Louisville, Kentucky for Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary's Festival of Theology and Reunion. Every year for the past 3 years I join some of my very best friends from all over the nation for 3 days of lecture, fellowship & hitting some of our favorite Louisville restaurants. Like every year we stay at the same hotel and often have surprisingly deep and theological conversations while sitting in the hot-tub or hanging out in one of our rooms. This year's festival theme was the Global Church and the Belhar Confession & conversations ranged from the merits of interfaith dialog, famous people named William, and the theology of Howard Thurman. When we pulled up the stakes and parted ways on Wednesday we all had a great time & were sad it was over.

Since getting back things have been very productive yet sad news keeps rolling in. Friday & Saturday the Christian Education Committee had our annual end of the year planning retreat. We shared a wonderful meal together and then planned out the 2010-2011 "Academic" year for Boulevard's Rotation Sunday School as well as the Adult Education program. When we departed our retreat on Saturday late afternoon we had a theme and direction for the year ahead. Yet the excitement was short lived as word spread that in just a short 24 hours two of our beloved members had died.

Such is the seasons of life. Rest gives way to production. Happiness gives way to sadness. But they work the other way too. Production gives way to rest and sadness gives way to happiness. Life is full of seasons.