In the mean time I have bought a microphone adapter for my ipod and will record sermons that way. And I will post at least the outlines I have for the past few weeks of sermons.

Come back digital voice recorder!

Introductions seemed to be somewhat awkward. People wore name tags so I at least knew names and which church someone was from, but how do you introduce yourself at these church events? “So, where is First Congregationalist UCC?” “Are you here as a clergy or lay delegate?” “How far of a trip was it for you?” “Boy, the weather is nice, huh?” All were quite inadequate.

Then, the last day of the conference at breakfast, almost as if by inspiration I asked someone at the table “What’s your ministry?” They hesitated slightly and said “Oh, I’m not the pastor there or anything if that’s what you mean.” So I persisted “Everyone is a minister.” And so she went into how she was quite passionate about immigration reform and organizing marches with her church.

“What’s your ministry?” is the Christian equivalent of the secular world’s “What’s your business?” or “What do you do for a living?” Or, if you were at a Justice League meeting, “What’s your super-power?” It reaffirms the truth that all baptized Christians are called to ministry (some even with super powers). It is an invitation to hear about how God is working in another’s life and church. It is an opportunity to go into deeper conversation than the weather.

I think that will be my standard intro the next time I have the opportunity to meet new people at a Christian gathering. Or maybe it is just the next silly Facebook quiz app.

What’s your ministry?

The Conference inspired a few blog post ideas I hope to explore in the coming weeks. Overall, it was a wonderful experience.

The Sabbath is rooted in history and the wisdom of God. It is given to us for our own good so that we might embrace that rest. I hope to approach my ministry with a Sabbath attitude: “Be. Not do.” In sermon preparation to focus on the text and let it speak rather than run on the hamster wheel of selecting the perfect words and illustrations. In visitations to focus on being present rather than again finding the right words or prayers.

I made a significant connection with a retiring pastor from whom I attempted to absorb 40 years of ministry experience. I met another new pastor who shares a passion for Catholic spirituality and the power of well-thought worship. I am quite thankful for that retreat opportunity.

5) “The ministry position is filled, I just forgot to remove it from the job board.” This one is more of a timing issue. It’s not so much that I am not called there, God just didn’t call me soon enough.

4) “Your prior military service may be a problem” (from a traditionally nonviolent denomination). A catch-22 if ever I heard one: God called me to ministry within the military, and yet that same military service prevents my call to the ministry. On the other hand maybe I am called to put the “fist” back in pacifist. Maybe the denomination should have a “don’t ask; don’t tell” policy concerning military service.

3) “While we recognize and appreciate your willingness to serve wherever and however God calls you, we do not believe your experience matches the qualifications we are seeking at this time.” I forgot all about that part in the Bible where it says, in Hezekiah 3:16 “Then the Lord commandeth Moses to produce a resume listing his qualifications. Upon determining that he was well qualified and experienced at freeing other enslaved peoples, The Lord called Moses to Egypt to set his people free.”

You latte sippin-lefty!

2)  (a VERY loose paraphrase) “We know all about that latte-sippin, tree-huggin, sushi-eatin, bleeding-heart, liberal Disciples of Christ denomination. We won’t have you coming in our church jeopardizing our immortal souls!” Oh the tragedy – we may have been made for each other. If only they knew me better, perhaps by reading my blog? I need to put more effort in advertising.

1) “The search committee…regrets to inform you that the call the Lord has placed in your heart is not for our church at this time.” Man-up, search committee! Take some responsibility. Do I have to remind you that you are congregationalist, that means you have the final say. You can’t have it both ways.

What about you? What’s the most memorable way you have been turned down?

The pastor called us today! I wasn’t there for the call, but my wife spoke to him for a few minutes. He expressed his sincere apologies, reassuring us that this visiting priest did not express his views nor that of the Church. He also welcomed us to the parish saying “you absolutely have a home here!”

So, some good news comes out of a uncomfortable situation.

The visiting priest begin his homily saying “There was a new phenomenon which began in the 1960s called theological dissent, when it became common to disagree with the church. If this were the 1600s they would be called Protestants but now they are called theological progressives.”

He went on to say “this dissent is evil. To stray even the least little bit from the teachings of the church is explicit evil!” He then went on to explain the specific form of evil/dissent which is abortion. This was the entirety of his message for the next 15 minutes: “abortion is evil, dissent from the Catholic church is evil.”

He continued with the rhetoric about how Notre Dame is no longer a Catholic institution because they invited President Obama to speak at commencement. This is August 30, is this all this priest has been preaching about for the past three months? I can’t believe people are still harping on this!

Today is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary time and the readings were:

Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8
Psalm 15
James 1:17-18,21-22,27
Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

What do these scriptures have to do with dissent and abortion? The homily ought to be a continuation of the word of God, not our own political soapbox. I do not believe the word of God was preached in this church on this day.

Being a Protestant Christian, I couldn’t help but focus on his opening when he called dissent and Protestants evil. I was so profoundly hurt by this homily. My wife (who is Catholic) expressed her apologies for the priest’s homily. She told me “I do not belong to the church which preaches these things; this is not the Catholic Church I know!” Never have I heard such an active destruction of the unity of the Body of Christ. Not to mention his own dissent of Catholic doctrine which teaches that Protestants have a real, however incomplete, union with the Catholic church by virtue of our baptism. Consider a Protestant who might be thinking about entering the Catholic church. Would this homily help or hinder someone’s decision to enter the church? Or perhaps someone who has been affected by abortion. What hope can be provided to that suffering soul if you bash them with just how evil they are? Would this homily help or hinder someone recovering from the destructive powers of abortion?

As I left the church I shook the preacher’s hand. I looked him right in the eye and said, quite calmly, “Father, I am a Protestant Christian and you called me evil today.” A brief second went by, and a few eye-blinks. He was clearly taken aback. He stuttered for a moment and began to back pedal. “Well,” he said “I wasn’t saying Protestants were evil, I was talking to people within the Catholic church, those who should know better.” I responded “Please be aware of what you are saying and how it might harm the unity we all hope for.” He came back with a weak apology “That’s certainly not what I meant. I’ve been a priest for 23 years and have never called Protestants evil.”

He patted me on my shoulder as I left and a woman behind me in line shook the priest’s hand. I overheard her say “bravo on such a wonderful homily.”

Be sure to read the followup!

I recently completed an application for employment at Liberty University and was surprised to discover that it included a statement of faith. I wasn’t aware that my theological perspectives had anything to do with my ability to push paper.

Officially the document was called “The Statement of Doctrine of Liberty University.” It is published at their website, and you can read it for yourself here. I thought Baptists were anti-creedal. I guess if you start with “We affirm” instead of “We believe” then it’s not a creed.

There are certainly some points of Liberty’s affirmation which I have trouble with (The literal fall of Satan, six literal days of creation, the inerrancy of scripture, that the church is only the local assembly of belivers, and a seven year tribulation followed by Christ’s millenial rule – just to name a few of my points of departure).

How should that affect my employ-ability? The relevant question on the application is “Please tell us in what way you share our statement of purpose and doctrine.” A page is left blank where you can leave a response. I gave a politically correct response on my application stating “I share your statement of purpose and find no major points of disagreement with the statement of doctrine.” I guess it doesn’t come right out and say “believe this or don’t bother.”

But what about someone who disagrees with even the basic stuff, an atheist for example. Would Liberty University refuse to hire an atheist? Or to avoid the obvious legal trouble, scare atheists and non-Christians away by inserting a statement of belief in job application? Why?

Instead of only employing those of like mind, could employement be an evangelistic tool, or an aid to fellow human beings? What a great testamony that would be. A non-Christian gets a job at Liberty University and thinks to himself or herself “Wow, even though I disagree with these Christian folk, they gave me a job – the very source of my wellbeing. There might be something to this Christian thing after all.”

What do you think? Should Christian institutions hire non-believers? Should they include statements of belief in job applications?

So, I wont be posting (except for a post or two I have scheduled). This also means I wont be able to moderate comments. If you already have an approved comment you will be able to make new ones. But if you are new here, please be patient for your comments to appear.

If I open comments to the world, this blog will be nothing more than a glorified spam farm.

Thanks for your understanding, and see you in a few.

Easter Sunday. The sanctuary was already packed so we heading to the “overflow mass” in the social hall. This was monsignor’s first mass since he had had surgery. He preached on the Gospel text, John 20, when Mary and the disciples discover the empty tomb.

He said that Peter is a symbol of authority in this Gospel and The Beloved Disciple is a symbol of love. He recognizes that The Beloved Disciple gets to the tomb before Peter. The main idea of his homily was “love always trumps authority.”

Later, during the Eucharistic prayers, the priest broke from the liturgy and said a word about the church’s Eucharistic practice. I cannot give a perfect quote here, but I will try to remember. He said “I invite everyone here to come forward. If Eucharist is not part of your tradition I encourage you to come forward for a blessing so that we can welcome, accept and bless you.” And then he quoted Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.” We are all one in Christ.

There is more he said, and he said it quite beautifully. Eucharist is part of my tradition (even as a Protestant), and I understood it has an invitation. It was the first time at a Catholic church that I felt welcome and invited to commune. I heard a radical message of Christ’s love and welcoming.