Bixby Letter

And by the way...

So my sermon series through the end of my time at Jefferson is going to use the motif of "letters." So this week one of the things I've been researching is famous letters. Of course one of the best know is Abraham Lincoln's Bixby letter. If you're not a history buff, you may remember it being quoted in Saving Private Ryan. Interestingly (and perhaps sadly) my research led me to find out that not everything is as simple as it seems with the letter (isn't that how things usually turn out...!).

Check out any write up on this to see what I mean...of course there's always Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_to_Mrs._Bixby

That Which Is New

So I just logged on to Blogger and realized I could set up to SMS text to this blog. Fun. Which I think makes it essentially like Twitter (in theory, if you wanted) at least for my page. I'm all about technology, but now that all the different sites are learning from each other what works, some of the elements of Blogger, Twitter and Facebook are becoming increasingly similar...perhaps someday I'll have to choose...

I'm catching back up after (1) Holy Week and (2) being away on vacation in Minnesota with my husband Chris. That post-Easter week is a really great time, I've learned for a break for a pastor, and also comes at a good time for Chris, being before the summer gets into full swing and all.

It was a lot of fun to visit with Chris' parents, to meet lots of his friends for the first time as well, and to see the sights of his youth. Chris got to grow up in one house nearly his whole life (I can't even imagine!) so it was fun to see that, to see his church, to visit the camp he attended and worked at, etc. I could post a ton more about the trip...perhaps I'll get around to downloading pictures, and will post those, which will help illustrate better at any rate.

As soon as I got back into things, though, I discovered what most people re-learn after returning from each vacation--the mound of work you return to makes you, for a moment at least, wonder whether it was even worth it. Well, the trip was totally worth it for me, but I find myself now, on top of playing catch-up, really digging into the plans for the coming months and preparing for the pastoral transition at Jefferson/Doubs. That in itself is a beast. And that on top of the regular duties of the pastorate, my work with the annual conference worship committee, using spare time to help Chris with camp prep...it just stays busy. But the up side of having a lot to do, is that it also means you will have accomplished A LOT when it's done (I like checking things of lists...)

My final Sunday at Jefferson will be June 21. As I looked at worship planning this week, tried to get a handle on my calendar, and tried to get a firm idea on pacing everything out, I know that these (less than) two months will fly by.

All that said, however, I'm very excited for this transition. It will be a good one for the Jefferson/Doubs charge, and a great new opportunity for Chris and I. We're looking forward to getting to know the folks at Calvary, though in all that I have on my plate, thinking too much about my new appointment is taking back seat at the moment. There will be some of that in the coming months, but July 1 will be here before I know it.

I sat down this week and started making progress on the "check list" of items to prepare for the new pastor. And as long as that is (three pages) I also realized there are things I need to pass on that aren't listed! I worry I'll have a novel or something by the time I'm done. That's better, though, I figure, than not. The more information to pass on the better. For example, it took me MONTHS to figure out there were two locations of switches for the sanctuary. Who knew?!! Well, apparently everyone but me! They all though I knew! I plan to show Paul, the new pastor, BOTH! Of, and also that the island in the kitchen at Jefferson is one wheels and moves. That one surprised me too...

This weekend my brother Jordan and sister Liz are at our house. Chris has a BIG weekend at Manidokan, and today was full of ropes so he needed the extra help. It's nice to be able to see them, and I can't wait to my brother Daniel graduates from Drew (with his MDiv) in a couple weeks and moves to camp (he's the chaplain for the summer)!

There are so many other things I want to post, but I'll have to dive into those next week. For now, I've got to polish things off for Sunday, hang out with the fam., and try not to melt in this 90+ weather (in April?!!)

Today's Random Thought

So I actually really want to blog about a motion coming to Annual Conference this year about setting some guidelines and minimums for congregations as they look at what type of pastoral appointment (full, 3/4 time, half time, etc.) to seek. And I will. But not tonight. After all, today is my day off, and at any rate, my brain has largely shut down. So perhaps I'll post tomorrow. It being Holy Week and all, things are busy for me, but blogging always seems to be a nice way to take a break from the craziness of a week or day and still be (somewhat peripherally at least) working.

But I didn't want to just dork out on blogging today...especially since it's been a few days. So...for now...

My husband came across this hilarious site that teases people for mistakes, or just downright trying silly things. Check it out (for a few laughs) at www.failblog.org

Praise

This week's sermon theme, as it is Palm Sunday, is PRAISE. As we've done throughout Lent on each week's theme, we'll be looking at how Jesus' faces it, and how we can face it. What we've ended up really seeing in all of these is that in and of themselves theses (expectations, resistance, praise) are actually quite healthy. What turns them into dangers are when they are extreme or expressed in unhealthy ways. Really, it's much the same as what C.S. Lewis explained about sin in The Great Divorce.

Here are some quotes and stories about pride and praise I've come across as I prepare. They come from www.sermonillustrations.com and www.thinkexist.com, both sites I use, or at least look over, somewhat regularly:

Academy Award-winning actor Charlton Heston has not always had rave reviews. He says he learned "The most valuable single truth about criticism" from Laurence Olivier: We'd done a blank-verse play on Broadway...and the blank verse was not Shakespeare. The critics slaughtered us--before the opening-night party we were doomed. Forty minutes later I found myself alone in a restaurant with Olivier and a bottle of brandy. I was young, green and striving for mature detachment. "Well," I said philosophically, I suppose you learn how to forget the bad notices." Olivier gripped my elbow.. "Laddie!" he said. "What's much harder, and far more important...you have to learn to forget the good ones." He was right. (American Film, January 1992.)

My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there.
-Indira Gandhi, Bits and Pieces, April 1990, p. 11.

“There is not one wise man in twenty that will praise himself.”
-William Shakespeare

“I praise loudly, I blame softly”
-Catherine the Great

“We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess”
-Mark Twain

“The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”
-Norman Vincent Peale

When Eyes Deceive

So I was sitting down at my laptop here in the camp office (the place I come when I really need to buckle down and get stuff done...esp. since I started today early with a meeting at Panera).

At any rate, as I was trying to figure out what to write about today, I looked out the window across the field to the dining hall. What I saw looked like smoke creeping along the slope of the roof. I immediately told myself, "No, it couldn't be smoke." And I remembered that just minutes earlier, just before the sun came out, fog had covered the area. But my eyes just couldn't believe it wasn't smoke. I walked out and stood there...for a few minutes, I think, just staring, trying to let me mind adjust to the reality that my eyes were not seeing what they thought they were. Finally, my mind finished processing and understood the fog thing (what can I say, it's early). I did step inside the dining hall for a moment though, on my way back to the office, just to be 100% sure...

I think this kind of summarizes, actually, some of the things I've been facing lately. The challenge of seeing what is really there, and not being mislead or confused by our own perceptions. For pastors this is quite difficult, because you're dealing not just with people with a whole range of perceptions about what is happening, but because of the nature of the issue involved, these perceptions are quite sacred to them.

The thing is, though, it's not enough to just let perceptions be perceptions and give up any idea that there is truth. Or reality. The fact is, what I saw on the roof was NOT smoke. It was the remnants of fog. Just because my initial perception was that it was smoke doesn't make that any more true.

It's a difficult distinction to make. Sometimes the issues we face really are just about different opinions. And in those cases, we do well to appreciate that we all come with different views of a situation. Sometimes we don't do well (well, I'll speak for myself at least)...at the whole think and let think thing.

At the same time though, sometimes we fail to stand up for what it true, what is real, in the face of that which is not. For the sake of "peace", we sacrifice our vision and create even greater confusion around us. As much as people are looking for pastors who have open minds and open hearts, many are also looking for pastors who can confront the painful realities in our lives.

I'm still quite enamored with the book Leading Through Change which comes out of the work of the Harvard Business Review folks. The book makes the distinction between facing "technical problems" and "adaptive challenges." The former are problems we basically have the solutions or skills for. They can be resolved by a small group, even just one person. But then there are adaptive challenges. These require the entire group to adopt new ways of thinking. Everyone has to give up something. Too often, the authors explain, leaders concede to the fears around them and approach adaptive challenges as if they are technical problems. You can imagine the far-reaching effects of this.

I think this touch on this challenge of seeing things clearly. Both leaders and followers are invested in the hope for easy solutions. But so often, in our very earnest hope for that, we fail to see what is right in front of us. We miss the forest for the trees.

I think I'll be looking a bit more carefully today...trying not to let my eyes deceive, but really looking to see what is happening...what is out there...because sometimes, you don't really see a thing on first glance...

Letters

I'm spending today trying to get a handle on the next few months. July 1, my life will change a lot--as I start my new appointment at Calvary UMC. Between today and July 1, however, is a still busy ministry at Jefferson and the charge, and I don't want to let anything get overlooked--both that ongoing ministry happenings and the preparations for transition.

This morning I managed to at least get through the Sundays through June--deciding which text to preach, and beginning to think of an overarching theme (I like themes...they keep me from falling too severely in my natural tendency to diverge a million difference ways). Things are already planned through Easter, and I'll be away the Sunday after Easter, so that leaves 9 Sundays. And other than Pentecost (when I definitely preach the Acts reading), I've decided to preach the lectionary's epistle lessons.

This seems quite appropriate to me, I think, since Paul wrote his letters to a variety of different churches, all of whom capture something about the church still today. And I think even today, in this world of blogging, YouTube, Twitter, etc., letters still have this powerful impact that little other things do.

Paul's letters, like any good letter, are generally written (with perhaps the exception of Romans) to people he knows...and knows pretty well. They are people he has a relationship with, people for whom the letters are a continuation of a conversation already ongoing.

Also, there's something remarkable about the power of the written word--even when we lament our general lack of good spelling and grammar. To put something on paper is to make it real. Spoken words are powerful, but can only be remembered with some generalities. We can argue over he said-she said all day. But letters give us the opportunity not just to be clear, but to be concise. And to re-read (if we are wise enoguh to do so) out words to make sure we are saying what we mean to. If we want, we can even ask others to edit as well. A little editing and proofing could do us all a lot of good these days.

Of course, there are always exceptions. Some of the most powerful moments in history happened through spoken word, and further, when the speaker came off-script. But As I prepare to leave, this focus on letters, and Paul's letters at that, I think is a very fitting way to draw my time in this appointment to a close.

One of my recurring topics of thought (those little things you keep in the back of your mind for the right moment, or even just when you're looking for something to ponder) is what I would title an autobiography. Titles that have appealed to me at various times in my life include, "My Life as a Designated Driver," "Blue Blazes," etc. One of my latest is, "Letters I Never Sent." I like that last one, because for all the letters I have sent, there are some whose sole purpose was to give me a safe way to vent, to dream, or to reflect. For all the letters I've ever sent, some of my most meaningful ones are those that only I have seen. And I have heard of others who have done the same.

What is the different between the letters that get sent and those that do not? I think the way each of us answers that says a lot about how we look at life. So I guess my task in the coming months is to ponder why Paul sent the letters he did...why these didn't remain ones he held onto, and what it is that he (and maybe even I) have to say that shouldn't be kept hidden. And to discern the difference.

Going about the business of this past week, the serenity prayer came to my mind...though I know it, I often keep it filed in the back of my mind. But today its words speak to me:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Inevitable

The theme for this week's sermon is: INEVITABLE

Check out the quotes below...the first is one that Chris actually uses during summer camp as a way to encourage the kids to approach the new week of camp with excitement and an open mind:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
-Charles R. Swindoll

“I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.”
-Walter Anderson

“Change is inevitable. Change for the better is a full-time job.”
-Adlai E. Stevenson

“Have the courage to live. Anyone can die.”
-Robert Cody

“I am convinced that it is not the fear of death, of our lives ending that haunts our sleep so much as the fear... that as far as the world is concerned, we might as well never have lived.”
-Harold Kushner