Keeping Alert

Not only are we to keep alert for the coming of the Lord, but we need to keep alert to hold up and walk with our brothers and sisters in need. I want to thank Proclaiming Softly for her apt reminder. She issued an urgent prayer request for some missionaries in Nigeria.

Having been on the other side of the ocean in Palestine, I learned that just because we don't hear of problems in our news doesn't mean they aren't happening. Please read Mary Beth's blog and pray for this family as well as others that put their lives on the line in service of our God. Lord in your mercy...hear our prayer.

Safe for Me to Pray

I was moved by this prayer on the ELCA prayer website:

Thank you, Lord, for always answering prayer, but not indulging my every petty, private give me. Thank you winnowing and refining, vetoing and delaying, refusing and revising. Thank you for being God and never less, for freeing me for wide horizons, for protecting me from my limited vision and wayward will. Thank you for foiling my every effort to unseat you and make myself king. Thank you for keeping it safe for me to pray.

--Gerhard E. Frost
From Seasons of a Lifetime: A Treasury of Meditations (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1989, p. 118)

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Thanking God for You

Thanks to Singing Owl for this Friday Five.

Ours was spent on campus with the rest of the "remnant" that didn't go away. We gathered in the seminary refectory for a traditional Thanksgiving pot luck dinner. The fellowship and food were wonderful.

1. How do I limit the number to 5???? Anyway, I am first of all thankful for my husband, Ray, and for his supportive patience as I go to seminary. His love and encouragement have enabled me to make this change in our lives.

2. These are of course not in order as far as the amount of thankfulness I have. But my adult children Sarah and Christian are next. They have both grown into wonderful people whom I love with all my heart. For them I give thanks.

3. My granddaughter, Grace, a precocious nearly 5 year old. I am grateful for her and her unabashed love for Jesus. She is precious.

4. I'm very thankful for Marisa, my son's fiancee, who has turned his world upside down. He's a different man.

5. And finally, I am thankful for friends--so many in my life--too many to name--new and old, and of classmates and others here in PA.

To God be the glory for all those that surround and support us in this journey through life!

Remnant Thanksgiving

Have a blessed Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. Our Thanksgiving will be spent with others on campus for a "Remnant Thanksgiving."

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Ragdoll

Though on the mend, I feel a bit like my friend here. It is sheer grace that is keeping me going. This song says it all.



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Ordos from Rene Vilatte Press

Don't know what to get as a Christmas present for that liturgy geek in your life?

Rene Vilatte Press now offers two traditional ordos for 2009 -- guides to reciting the office for a given year -- the Monastic Diurnal edition and the Oratory of St. Michael & St. Timothy, which mostly follows the Anglican Breviary.

You can check them out here: http://stores.lulu.com/vilatte. The Independent Catholic Christian Church canons are also there, and more items will be added.

It's Official...I'm a Sicko or

Do you think the seminary choir could use another bass? I am dying to talk to the choir director and see if he needs a new bass. He has a great sense of humor. That's what I sound like. If I see him at chapel or lunch tomorrow, I will definitely make the offer.

Meanwhile, today I was still feeling awful, but now there's a cough in addition to the pain around my sinuses. I saw the doctor tonight (I love that they have night hours). I do have a sinus infection and I was wheezing, which I've never done before. So, I'm on Zpac, Advair, a steroid, and Coriciden. Hopefully this will knock it all out of me. I'm not having fun.











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Creeping Crud

It's that time of year when everyone is sick. Last week Rural Pastor was sick and actually tried to chant part of the service, but that didn't work out too well. My classmates have been sick as well. Now it's my turn. A student who is a parish nurse referred to it as the "creeping crud." Wednesday night I started having a voice change. Let's put it this way, if I was in the choir, I'd be a bass. That is still the case voice-wise, but now I feel like I've been run over by a truck as well.

I talked to Rural Pastor yesterday and assured him that though I could not chant the kyrie, hymn of praise, or do the prayers, I would nonetheless be in attendance today--or so I thought...until I I woke up this morning, feeling every bit as bad as yesterday. So, I'm home and not having fun.
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It's a Small World After All

Rural Pastor had mentioned in an email that we were having a baptism this morning. That's always exciting and I made the assumption that the family was from the area. When I went to put on my alb, I saw a woman changing a baby and then realized they were the baptismal family. I greeted them and mentioned I was away last weekend at my granddaughter's baptism in Rochester, NY. The mother exclaimed, "We're from Rochester!" I was amazed. I then inquired where they live in the Rochester area. She said, "Penfield." I told her I graduated from Penfield High School--as did she. She mentioned she had attended St. Joseph's Church in Penfield. That is where I was confirmed. We even went to the same elementary school, though she's much younger than I.

It gets even more amazing. I mentioned that my daughter lives in Greece, NY. That's where one of the godparents lives! This is in a small, rural, MD church!! They had family here though and that's why the baptism was being done here. I had a few minutes to visit with the rest of the family after the service. We were all amazed. I could not help but think of the song, "It's a Small World After All." It keeps getting smaller. Then too, I see God's handiwork in the small details of our lives and relationships and this is my father's world.

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Here in This Place.

It's just Abby and myself home this wet, rainy Saturday morning. Ray and Amity are at S. O. S., Seminary on Saturday.

This is a program for the community that's held twice a year. The first session on Nov. 1 was "Holy Time-Holy Space-Holy People," taught by a couple of my profs. Ray missed last week's session because of our being in Rochester. Today's is "Luther and the Jews," taught by my adviser and her husband.

One of the tremendous blessings of being at this place is the learning opportunities for both of us and the community. We are grateful to be here in this place, gathered with God's people.

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Rest, Who Me?

Please take a look at Clint's post on sabbath rest, particularly as we approach Advent. It's a challenging read. What do you do to add sabbath to your busy days? For myself, night prayer, or compline, nicely closes the day and helps me to remember why I'm here at seminary.

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Dad's Gone Home

I received a call a short time ago from my daughter that her grandfather has gone home to be with the Lord. The chorus from an old Gaither song kept going through my mind:

It is finished, the battle is over
It is finished, there'll be no more war
It is finished, the end of the conflict
It is finished and Jesus is Lord

It seems very fitting that today, Veterans Day, should be the time of his homecoming as a World War II veteran.

Thank God for the hope we have in Christ. As Paul wrote, "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied" (1 Cor 15:19). It is good to know that he is in God's loving care and has no more pain or sorrow. Thanks be to God for this amazing gift.

Defining Moments

Birth, baptism, marriage, and many other times of our lives are defining moments. Yesterday, I participated in several of these, culminating in one profound one.

At the left is my granddaughter, Grace, who was baptized yesterday. After Greek class, which ends at 5:45 Friday afternoon, we packed and started the trip to Rochester, NY for Grace's baptism. We rejoiced as we witnessed this momentous event in her life. Hearing, "Grace, child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever" (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 231), was an answer to prayer. For Grace, this was a defining moment. This was the capstone of our visit and why we were here, or so we thought. That was only part of the reason as far as God was concerned however.

We found out that Grace's great-grandfather was in a hospice and was not expected to live much longer. His name is Fred and he has been like a father to me from the time I met him. I felt closer to him than my own father. After church and lunch, we went to the hospice to see the rest of the family and him. Dad (as I've always called him) was unconscious and is not expected to regain consciousness.

Though unconscious I talked to him. The rest of the family was in the lounge and just Ray, my daughter Sarah, and I remained. When I ran out of things to say, instinct kicked in and I asked Sarah to get the Gideon Bible out of the nightstand drawer and I read aloud several New Testament passages and Psalms. Repeatedly the verse from Psalms included in evening prayer kept running through my head, "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." And I just prayed as I read that God's would surround Dad with his angels and would carry him into God's presence. I had such a sense of God's presence, knowing that I was doing what God wanted me to do. I came to a greater understanding of what a day in a pastor's life can look like: baptism in the morning, sitting with family, and with the dying in the evening. And I suspect I will experience more of the latter in CPE in the summer. This was a defining moment for me--when I realized, "This is what ministry is."

We are brought into God's family by water and the Word, comforted and sustained by that same Word, nourished in the Lord's supper, and ushered into God's very presence.

It was a weekend of mixed emotions. We were thrilled to see Sarah and Grace. We hadn't seen each other since last Christmas. Seeing other family members, friends, and others was good. I would have felt awful if I didn't have the chance to say good-bye to that wonderful, good man, Fred, whom I have called "Dad" for many years. Any day I expect to hear from one of my children that their beloved grandfather has gone home to be with the Lord. After all, he is 100!

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Baptismal Ruminations...Coming Full Circle

My thoughts on the meaning and importance of baptism as well as the mode and timing of one's baptism have changed significantly over the years. I was baptized as an infant into a family that did not participate in the life of the church.

As a teenager I had a religious experience that some would refer to as being "born again." After some time, I was baptized again, as a believer by immersion. I then, saw no validity in my infant baptism.

I have now been a Lutheran since the late 1980s. Lutherans primarily baptize infants. This is something I have struggled with for a long time. Was it really valid if the recipient was not exercising faith? What if the parents of the child did not believe? What if it was being done simply for "fire insurance," just in case there might be something to this God thing? Or, what if the baby is baptized because the parents have caved into pressure from other family members?

My appreciation of infant baptism, including my own, began with studying church history in undergrad. I was amazed at how far back in the history of the Christian faith this practice goes! In studying Luther's Large Catechism with Rural Pastor, I have come to a better understanding of why we do the things we do as Lutherans. Luther's wrote this concerning baptism:

...We do not put the main emphasis on whether the person baptized believes or not, for in the latter case baptism does not become invalid. Everything depends upon the Word and commandment of God...baptism is simply water and God's Word in and with each other...when the Word accompanies the water, baptism is valid, even though faith is lacking. For my faith does not make baptism; rather, it receives baptism...for it is not bound to our faith but to the Word.

"Misuse does not destroy the substance, but confirms its existence." Gold remains no less gold if a harlot wears it in sin and shame. (pp 463-464, "The Large Catechism," The Book of Concord)

At the time of baptism, God comes and works and does what God wants to do in spite of us. It is all about God, not about us. As Carl Jung wrote, "Bidden or not, God is present."

So, the questions for me really end up being, "How do I walk in my baptism? How do I live this out to the glory of God? How do I in my daily life incarnate God's presence?" May God gives us all the ears to listen for that still small voice of direction and guidance as we seek to live in service to God and neighbor.




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