So the past couple of weeks have been like no other. It all started with a car accident...mine. On may way home Wednesday night two weeks ago, the combination of an ambulance behind me and deer suddenly appearing in front of me ended with my car pointing the wrong way on teh highway and the driver's side flush against the guard rail. The whole story is more detailed, but after two weeks of telling the story, I've gotten better at summarizing in.
In the following week, between the details involved in having totaled a car (and buying a new one), my mother being hospitalized for a kidney stone (she's doing well), church tasks (like a day at a hospital in DC and the general sermon-writing, planning and pastoral stuff), visit from my future in-laws (a nice respite in the midst of it all) and Annual Conference (where I was, by the way, ordained)...it was just, well, packed.
Annual Conference this year was a different experience for me since I was on the worship committee. I must say that despite the huge amount of work it all took, there was something nice about being able to watch all the happenings of AC from our worship room, on closed-circuit TV. Every once in a while, an important vote would happen, and out of our little side room would come rushing a few of us, hurrying to get in a seat to vote.
The issues that seemed the most interesting this year involved the selection of our conference's candidate for the episcopacy (we chose Peggy Johnson, who happens to be the wife of a past pastor at Jefferson) and a spat between the bishop and the Board of Ordained ministry that cause a stir over the nominations report. The long and short of that one is that sometimes trying to replace a bunch of longtime members of a committee (especially when they've asked to stay on) even at best looks a little suspicious. Some late night negotiations were held Friday night and Saturday a revised proposal was submitted to the AC (adding a few more long-time BOOM members to the new group). But for those who heard a bit of what happened behind the scenes, it's a bit disappointing. Dynamics even in church leadership are not always as mature and loving as we might like.
But, after some late nights at AC setting up for worship services, and after three years of seminary, three years of porbationary period as a commissioned minister in the UMC, I was finally ordained this past Saturday! And what a treat to have been able to have both my father and grandfather stand with me as my clergy sponsors! Just awesome!
And of course things continue with no break...this week I've got to finally nail down some details about summer programming, updates to our summer worship, and finally getting our website back on line. I had this grand idea of finding a better website program than I had, but I don't know I can at this point...so...I'll have to suck it up and just use what works for now!
Off for the night...and up again for an early morning and busy week! Well, what's left of it!
Sarah
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Proper Use of "Awesome"
So in the midst of the rush of the spring to summer transition, I've been trying to get back to a good routine with visitation...the Christmas to Easter rush seems to have hit all clergy in some way, and for me, it was getting behind visiting with folks. But catching up has been a treat. Here of late I've been to see several people, including Ginny Stamper and Ellen Lowery.
Yesterday, while visiting with Ellen, we got to talking about travel, and then onto airplanes. We both shared the thought that planes just do not seem like they should be able to fly. I mean, have you ever really thought of it? If you happened upon a plane, not knowing anything about planes, would you think something like that could stay in the air? In the course of that conversation, Ellen remarked that air planes truly are awesome. She said people use that word in many different ways, but in the most basic sense, planes are awesome. And I must say, after all the time I've spent with youth and kids, and my own use of that word, it just tickled me to hear it so appropriately used!
Annual Conference is next week, so I'm busy this week trying to get things set for all my non-AC responsibilities. Since I'm on the worship committee, the entire week I will be occupied with related stuff, it seems, especially since my fiance Chris' parents will be in town the first part of the week (yea!).
But I'm excited the sun is out today, especially since I'm out and about today with office hours, a funeral, a late lunch meeting, and you know, everything else! But a cup of coffee and a sunny morning are a great way to start the day!! Awesome!
:-) Sarah
Yesterday, while visiting with Ellen, we got to talking about travel, and then onto airplanes. We both shared the thought that planes just do not seem like they should be able to fly. I mean, have you ever really thought of it? If you happened upon a plane, not knowing anything about planes, would you think something like that could stay in the air? In the course of that conversation, Ellen remarked that air planes truly are awesome. She said people use that word in many different ways, but in the most basic sense, planes are awesome. And I must say, after all the time I've spent with youth and kids, and my own use of that word, it just tickled me to hear it so appropriately used!
Annual Conference is next week, so I'm busy this week trying to get things set for all my non-AC responsibilities. Since I'm on the worship committee, the entire week I will be occupied with related stuff, it seems, especially since my fiance Chris' parents will be in town the first part of the week (yea!).
But I'm excited the sun is out today, especially since I'm out and about today with office hours, a funeral, a late lunch meeting, and you know, everything else! But a cup of coffee and a sunny morning are a great way to start the day!! Awesome!
:-) Sarah
Sunday, May 11, 2008
When Trees Fall
So the weather in the Frederick/Washington County area (well, and all the way in Baltimore) just plain stinks this evening! It's cold, rainy and windy. My fiance Chris and were driving back to his house from Baltimore---where we'd had a Mother's Day dinner with my mom---and ran into (well nearly) a tree that completely blocked the windy mountain road to camp and his house! Chris was about to jump out and move it when he noticed it was resting on power/phone lines, so we headed for the long way to camp and called 911 to report it. So we're back at his house, just waiting for the phone or power to cut off (Chris is on the land line with his mom, so both losses would be annoying!). But it's just an interesting, subtle paranoia.
Church was great this morning--packed house at 9 am thanks in large part to the confirmation of 3 of our youth. This was my first group of confirmands at Jefferson, since a huge proportion of the youth (10) went through confirmation with the interim pastor a few months before I arrived. Jake, Josh and Connar are all cool kids, all different, and it was definitely a learning experience to lead confirmation. Chris had suggested we lead together, as opposed to using the mentor-based program by Willimon, and we ended up using Belton Joyner's Unofficial Handbook for United Methodists...which was a great pick, and had a great mix of humor and good info. And since he'd been one of my professors at Duke, it was an added treat.
We're approaching yet another morph to our Sunday worship schedule. Our contemporary worship service has taken many shapes and leadership during my time here, and low numbers have plagued us. And when my charge associate pastor, Michael, told me the current band would be stopping at the end of May, I wasn't sure what to do, and figured we'd have to finally cancel it. But Ad Council had the idea of making both services similar to each other, with a more "traditional" structure, and maybe bringing some more contemporary elements into the 9 a.m. So I'm actually really excited about it, and anxious to move beyond the "traditional" and "contemporary" distinctions. I'm looking forward to including even more creative elements in worship.
I tried my hand at an altar call of sorts in the 9 a.m. worship service this morning. Didn't go over well, but partly due to it not being really a part of this congregation's culture at the moment, my own inexperience in intro-ing something like that, and a difficult closing hymn that was the time people were to come forward. FYI everyone, Georgia Harkness' hymn Hope of the World may look good on paper but it's a beast for a congregation to sing for the first time! Poor Jefferson struggles under my sorry attempts to work through the current hymnal, since I've heard a new one may be coming. Of course it's years away, but there are a lot of strange and different (and unknown to my congregation) hymns to work through.
Meanwhile, I've been busying visiting shut-ins, and still needed to stop by and visit with more. A funeral Tuesday and various other little meetings, and Annual Conference is nearly upon us. So now being on the AC worship committee is really going to catch up with me! Next Monday, meeting Jenny Smith, pastor of Mt. Carmel UMC, we'll head to the conference center to pack all the stuff for worship...including (hopefully) a large waterfall that Trinity UMC in Frederick is loaning us. The whole water fountain thing was a big deal that I'm glad is settled, and the long and short of it is that some decisions just take longer than needed when decided by committee!
Well, the wind is howling, and electricity is still working, so I'll post now before I lost connection!
:-) Sarah
Church was great this morning--packed house at 9 am thanks in large part to the confirmation of 3 of our youth. This was my first group of confirmands at Jefferson, since a huge proportion of the youth (10) went through confirmation with the interim pastor a few months before I arrived. Jake, Josh and Connar are all cool kids, all different, and it was definitely a learning experience to lead confirmation. Chris had suggested we lead together, as opposed to using the mentor-based program by Willimon, and we ended up using Belton Joyner's Unofficial Handbook for United Methodists...which was a great pick, and had a great mix of humor and good info. And since he'd been one of my professors at Duke, it was an added treat.
We're approaching yet another morph to our Sunday worship schedule. Our contemporary worship service has taken many shapes and leadership during my time here, and low numbers have plagued us. And when my charge associate pastor, Michael, told me the current band would be stopping at the end of May, I wasn't sure what to do, and figured we'd have to finally cancel it. But Ad Council had the idea of making both services similar to each other, with a more "traditional" structure, and maybe bringing some more contemporary elements into the 9 a.m. So I'm actually really excited about it, and anxious to move beyond the "traditional" and "contemporary" distinctions. I'm looking forward to including even more creative elements in worship.
I tried my hand at an altar call of sorts in the 9 a.m. worship service this morning. Didn't go over well, but partly due to it not being really a part of this congregation's culture at the moment, my own inexperience in intro-ing something like that, and a difficult closing hymn that was the time people were to come forward. FYI everyone, Georgia Harkness' hymn Hope of the World may look good on paper but it's a beast for a congregation to sing for the first time! Poor Jefferson struggles under my sorry attempts to work through the current hymnal, since I've heard a new one may be coming. Of course it's years away, but there are a lot of strange and different (and unknown to my congregation) hymns to work through.
Meanwhile, I've been busying visiting shut-ins, and still needed to stop by and visit with more. A funeral Tuesday and various other little meetings, and Annual Conference is nearly upon us. So now being on the AC worship committee is really going to catch up with me! Next Monday, meeting Jenny Smith, pastor of Mt. Carmel UMC, we'll head to the conference center to pack all the stuff for worship...including (hopefully) a large waterfall that Trinity UMC in Frederick is loaning us. The whole water fountain thing was a big deal that I'm glad is settled, and the long and short of it is that some decisions just take longer than needed when decided by committee!
Well, the wind is howling, and electricity is still working, so I'll post now before I lost connection!
:-) Sarah
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Worship and Other Mysteries
So I've been reading up lately on worship. Not just the same old, not the newest, flashy stuff. More creative than that...like what happens when we get beyond the worship wars and why perhaps there isn't much that's all that significantly different between traditional and contemporary worship. Lately I've been rereading Ronald Byars' book The Future of Protestant Worship: Beyond the Worship Wars. It was a book I had to read for a seminary class, but it's been a treat to reread it now, with a few years of local church ministry under my belt. I haven't finished it yet (well, for ny post-seminary reading at least) but it's raised lots of interesting points.
For example, "The agenda of worship is to lay aside any agendas of our own, including the need to prove that our faith is useful in the world."
He's also included some thought provoking quotes from others:
Lesslie Newbigin, on the temptation of Jesus: "One could sum up the substance of the suggestions of the Evil One in the phrase...'Begin by attending to the aspirations of the people.'"
Stanley Hauerwas: "Outisde Christ and the church, you don't have the slightest idea what you're looking for. That's why you need us to reshape you and your desires."
Howard Hagerman: "A church that loses the Word must finally lose the Sacrament. But is it not equally true that a church which loses the Sacrament must finally lose the Word?"
What do you think? Out of the context of Byars' writing, these quotes may be more or less thought-provoking than he intends, but taking that into consideration, what do you think? And a very basic question...what do you think worship ought to be? I don't mean what music, exactly, but generally, as a broad definition, what ought we be doing when we gather for worship?
On an unrelated note, another mystery...what makes people feel entitled to walk up to someone with whom they have no particular or direct connection, and tell them how or what they ought to be doing? Unfortunately, I suppose this is often masked under some distortion of the community between Christians...I'm just saying...! I had a recent occasion to run into a retired pastor with whom I have had some familiarity, but no particular personal connection. I happened to have been at Manidokan, where my fiance is director, helping out on a morning (while I was simultaneously filling down time with phone calls and e-mails to church people). The aforementioned pastor had noticed that my church's last newsletter had a good amount of information about Manidokan (which others had also pointed out, and which owed to the fact that it is more difficult than people imagine to get people to submit things for the newsletter). His first comment to me (no hello) was concern that I was short-changing my congregation.
Now I will be the first to admit that I cannot do all I would like to. And many of the things I do for one group of people may not always be apparent to others. And I really do need systems, lists and schedules to help me accomplish things I need to. And at times I cannot keep up. And I cannot work 80 hours weeks (though when I first started I often did, because I literally had nothing else going on in my life). So I can accept people in my church asking me to do anything...and as far as I am able I will. And I know that in balancing the needs of youth, the women's Bible study, etc., there will be people who feel like I have not done other things. I keep trying, and the balance of my time changes constantly. But if I am still putting in 60+ hours for church, and if I keep trying to do better, and at least to address anything I've left undone when it is shared by those with whom I exercise my ministry (and who will always have broader needs and desires than any one person can meet) then I find it astounding, mysterious, saddening and just plain frustrating when another pastor takes it upon themselves to reduce all that I do and all that I do with my free time to help another ministry and my fiance.
I am not perfect. I have done better with some tasks at times than at others. There is not a single thing I am doing right now that I don't think I could do better. But gosh it sure knocks the wind out of a person's sails when their failures and perceived short-comings (some of which may not be entirely accurate) are the sole gauge of them.
This sort of thing is why I feel guilty when I sit down to read something like Byars' book. I need to read. A pastor that is not continuing to grow will become stagnant. But in order to take the time to grow, to learn things that will improve one's quality of ministry and reach new people, other things cannot be done, or at least as often as otherwise. I love reading, but I cannot remember the last time I finished a book. I find that saddening and even frightening. But I do not know how to easily shake off the pressures of what a pastor is expected to do. I suspect it takes time to grow into one's role as a pastor...to learn one's strength's and weaknesses, and while trying to balance both, to be able to be oneself and not be run over or deflated by careless (not constructive) criticism. Criticism is a good and healthy, and needful thing. But boy it would be nice if it came with a bit of grace more often than not.
Off to read...and do everything else I've got on my list...
:-) Sarah
For example, "The agenda of worship is to lay aside any agendas of our own, including the need to prove that our faith is useful in the world."
He's also included some thought provoking quotes from others:
Lesslie Newbigin, on the temptation of Jesus: "One could sum up the substance of the suggestions of the Evil One in the phrase...'Begin by attending to the aspirations of the people.'"
Stanley Hauerwas: "Outisde Christ and the church, you don't have the slightest idea what you're looking for. That's why you need us to reshape you and your desires."
Howard Hagerman: "A church that loses the Word must finally lose the Sacrament. But is it not equally true that a church which loses the Sacrament must finally lose the Word?"
What do you think? Out of the context of Byars' writing, these quotes may be more or less thought-provoking than he intends, but taking that into consideration, what do you think? And a very basic question...what do you think worship ought to be? I don't mean what music, exactly, but generally, as a broad definition, what ought we be doing when we gather for worship?
On an unrelated note, another mystery...what makes people feel entitled to walk up to someone with whom they have no particular or direct connection, and tell them how or what they ought to be doing? Unfortunately, I suppose this is often masked under some distortion of the community between Christians...I'm just saying...! I had a recent occasion to run into a retired pastor with whom I have had some familiarity, but no particular personal connection. I happened to have been at Manidokan, where my fiance is director, helping out on a morning (while I was simultaneously filling down time with phone calls and e-mails to church people). The aforementioned pastor had noticed that my church's last newsletter had a good amount of information about Manidokan (which others had also pointed out, and which owed to the fact that it is more difficult than people imagine to get people to submit things for the newsletter). His first comment to me (no hello) was concern that I was short-changing my congregation.
Now I will be the first to admit that I cannot do all I would like to. And many of the things I do for one group of people may not always be apparent to others. And I really do need systems, lists and schedules to help me accomplish things I need to. And at times I cannot keep up. And I cannot work 80 hours weeks (though when I first started I often did, because I literally had nothing else going on in my life). So I can accept people in my church asking me to do anything...and as far as I am able I will. And I know that in balancing the needs of youth, the women's Bible study, etc., there will be people who feel like I have not done other things. I keep trying, and the balance of my time changes constantly. But if I am still putting in 60+ hours for church, and if I keep trying to do better, and at least to address anything I've left undone when it is shared by those with whom I exercise my ministry (and who will always have broader needs and desires than any one person can meet) then I find it astounding, mysterious, saddening and just plain frustrating when another pastor takes it upon themselves to reduce all that I do and all that I do with my free time to help another ministry and my fiance.
I am not perfect. I have done better with some tasks at times than at others. There is not a single thing I am doing right now that I don't think I could do better. But gosh it sure knocks the wind out of a person's sails when their failures and perceived short-comings (some of which may not be entirely accurate) are the sole gauge of them.
This sort of thing is why I feel guilty when I sit down to read something like Byars' book. I need to read. A pastor that is not continuing to grow will become stagnant. But in order to take the time to grow, to learn things that will improve one's quality of ministry and reach new people, other things cannot be done, or at least as often as otherwise. I love reading, but I cannot remember the last time I finished a book. I find that saddening and even frightening. But I do not know how to easily shake off the pressures of what a pastor is expected to do. I suspect it takes time to grow into one's role as a pastor...to learn one's strength's and weaknesses, and while trying to balance both, to be able to be oneself and not be run over or deflated by careless (not constructive) criticism. Criticism is a good and healthy, and needful thing. But boy it would be nice if it came with a bit of grace more often than not.
Off to read...and do everything else I've got on my list...
:-) Sarah
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Pace of Change
As I write this, sitting in the office at church (well, converted Sunday School space used as our office) the sun is shining, and through the window I can see a blooming pink-flowered tree. What it stuck in my mind, though, is how much rain we've had lately...the very same thing that brings life also threatens it.
For example, Sunday, as my fiance Chris and I drove to church from his house for confirmation and youth group, right in front of us, on the 340 bridge over Catoctin Creek, a black Mustang hydroplaned...into the side of the bridge. We stopped, and the 17-year-old guy was okay, but there it was...a split second, and everything stopped...and I was struck by how one thing could've changed it all...for better or worse. If the kid hadn't been wearing a seat belt.... If we'd been closer behind him and not able to avoid his car... If he'd been going a bit slower (though even at that, he wasn't speeding)... We all know it...life can change in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, some things change at the pace of a snail...or worse! This week, delegates from United Methodist churches around the world will gather in Texas for General Conference. GC is held every 4 years (on leap years, in fact) and is where policies and practices for the denomination are set.
All of this is well-suited as well to the beginning of my sermon series this next Sunday on denominations. All sorts of groups, some claiming to be the "true" Christians, some other Christians are sure are not Christian, and the rest of us in the middle...have been in the news. From the Mormon-fringe sect in Texas who of late have once again made the news...this time as the government took over 400 of the children of the polygamous sect into state custody. Pope Benedict visited the US this week for his first trip as Pontiff.
All of this, and it is difficult to understand what separates, unites, and defines Christians. This week will be an intro to the series...talking about why all these things even matter. What do you think? What have been your experiences with different denominations?
for all that life can change in the blink of an eye, even getting some of these denominations to just TALK together can seem an endless process...but recent steps towards Christian unity have been exciting...but change at times can be very...s...l...o...w...
:-) Sarah
For example, Sunday, as my fiance Chris and I drove to church from his house for confirmation and youth group, right in front of us, on the 340 bridge over Catoctin Creek, a black Mustang hydroplaned...into the side of the bridge. We stopped, and the 17-year-old guy was okay, but there it was...a split second, and everything stopped...and I was struck by how one thing could've changed it all...for better or worse. If the kid hadn't been wearing a seat belt.... If we'd been closer behind him and not able to avoid his car... If he'd been going a bit slower (though even at that, he wasn't speeding)... We all know it...life can change in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, some things change at the pace of a snail...or worse! This week, delegates from United Methodist churches around the world will gather in Texas for General Conference. GC is held every 4 years (on leap years, in fact) and is where policies and practices for the denomination are set.
All of this is well-suited as well to the beginning of my sermon series this next Sunday on denominations. All sorts of groups, some claiming to be the "true" Christians, some other Christians are sure are not Christian, and the rest of us in the middle...have been in the news. From the Mormon-fringe sect in Texas who of late have once again made the news...this time as the government took over 400 of the children of the polygamous sect into state custody. Pope Benedict visited the US this week for his first trip as Pontiff.
All of this, and it is difficult to understand what separates, unites, and defines Christians. This week will be an intro to the series...talking about why all these things even matter. What do you think? What have been your experiences with different denominations?
for all that life can change in the blink of an eye, even getting some of these denominations to just TALK together can seem an endless process...but recent steps towards Christian unity have been exciting...but change at times can be very...s...l...o...w...
:-) Sarah
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Something Going Around
So I'm not sure what it is, or whether it's always this way but we're only aware of it a times, but it seems like a number of pastors and church leaders have some challenges right now. Maybe it's because everyone is still a bit tired from the Christmas to Easter dash we had this year. Maybe the general tension that seems to pervade out nation these days between campaign accusations and economic fears. People just seem grumpier. And, yeah, it just seems like it's going around. I was talking to a pastor serving right now on a leadership role outside of a local church, and she sais she's hearing lots of pastors with some problem or other that just seems frustrating. Maybe it all just goes in cycles.
Meanwhile, it's exciting to see all the amazing things that are happening in our church and conference...we get really good at obsessing when things aren't going perfectly and we sometimes forget to celebrate the successes, like people growing as a result of Bible studies, or people being drawn into the congregation through authentic relationships and programs that reach them where they are.
In our conference, new initiatives related to ministries with young adults, the Hispanic population of Frederick, and our continued relationship with United Methodists in places like South Korea (from where our congregation hosted a pastor and his wife last year) and the support our apportionments give to work in Liberia all remind us of our role in a much larger mission.
So it's cool to see that, to be reminded that growth--which is always a mark of life, and the absence of which is a mark of death--may include some "growing pains," but always draws us into exciting opportunities and new places to serve Jesus Christ.
Where have you seen God this day? I saw God while taking a brief lunch-time walk with my fiance Chris, near Harpers Ferry, WV. On the Maryland side of the Potomac River, we saw rocks which are normally dry and which form an otherwise rather dangerous-looking ravine down the side of Maryland Heights. Today, after recent rains, and with the sun shining warmly upon us, there was water flowing down the rocks in a series of waterfalls. Chris said, "Well, I guess God did alright with this." Indeed. Of course we talk about God's creation all the time, but sometimes we need to be reminded of it more explicitly. Yep, God did alright for sure.
:-) Sarah
Meanwhile, it's exciting to see all the amazing things that are happening in our church and conference...we get really good at obsessing when things aren't going perfectly and we sometimes forget to celebrate the successes, like people growing as a result of Bible studies, or people being drawn into the congregation through authentic relationships and programs that reach them where they are.
In our conference, new initiatives related to ministries with young adults, the Hispanic population of Frederick, and our continued relationship with United Methodists in places like South Korea (from where our congregation hosted a pastor and his wife last year) and the support our apportionments give to work in Liberia all remind us of our role in a much larger mission.
So it's cool to see that, to be reminded that growth--which is always a mark of life, and the absence of which is a mark of death--may include some "growing pains," but always draws us into exciting opportunities and new places to serve Jesus Christ.
Where have you seen God this day? I saw God while taking a brief lunch-time walk with my fiance Chris, near Harpers Ferry, WV. On the Maryland side of the Potomac River, we saw rocks which are normally dry and which form an otherwise rather dangerous-looking ravine down the side of Maryland Heights. Today, after recent rains, and with the sun shining warmly upon us, there was water flowing down the rocks in a series of waterfalls. Chris said, "Well, I guess God did alright with this." Indeed. Of course we talk about God's creation all the time, but sometimes we need to be reminded of it more explicitly. Yep, God did alright for sure.
:-) Sarah
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Hymns and Such
So I'm right in the middle of getting together my worship stuff for a new sermon series I'm doing on Christian denominations...my current task is getting hymns chosen. It seemed appropriate to choose hymns from each denomination's history and tradition to use on that Sunday. That's an easy enough task for some denominations, but others (like Quakers) have been a bit more challenging. Even the Quakers have a hymnal, but since I don't own a copy, I've had to rely thus far on Google to find information. And as you know, that can be a bottomless pit of random information which is difficult to sift through.
One of our shut-ins, Helen Seek, who is one of the most internet-travelled people I know, has been suggesting to me for a while that I check out the website for a series she follows called Speaking of Faith. She has lately recommended their latest on the subject of parenting. Indeed, if you haven't heard of this series, you really should take the time to check it out. And I say that as one who kept putting off checking it out...
To learn more, visit http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/
I haven't listened to any of the broadcasts yet, but looking over the site, you quickly learn what a great balanced and comprehesive examination of religion this is. The topics range across religious traditions, and also delve more deeply into specific trends of each.
For example, in the show on the spirituality of parenting, host Krista Tippett interviews Rabbi Sandy Sasso. Rabbi Sasso shares about how children raise some important theological questions--like why there are here, and what happens when people die. And that there is often a lack of resources for parents and teachers to answer these questions.
You should check it out now. You're already online, reading this blog, right?
I find it one of the dichotimies of ministry, that people expect pastors to be the source of all manner of good recommendations for books, sites, etc., but it's often pastors who have very little time to just explore those things. My father, himself a pastor, is a good resource for me, and he is a voracious reader. But I really value people like Helen, my father, and those others who are able to pass along a good find...even if it takes me a bit to follow up on it.
Off to go hymn searching...
Sarah
One of our shut-ins, Helen Seek, who is one of the most internet-travelled people I know, has been suggesting to me for a while that I check out the website for a series she follows called Speaking of Faith. She has lately recommended their latest on the subject of parenting. Indeed, if you haven't heard of this series, you really should take the time to check it out. And I say that as one who kept putting off checking it out...
To learn more, visit http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/
I haven't listened to any of the broadcasts yet, but looking over the site, you quickly learn what a great balanced and comprehesive examination of religion this is. The topics range across religious traditions, and also delve more deeply into specific trends of each.
For example, in the show on the spirituality of parenting, host Krista Tippett interviews Rabbi Sandy Sasso. Rabbi Sasso shares about how children raise some important theological questions--like why there are here, and what happens when people die. And that there is often a lack of resources for parents and teachers to answer these questions.
You should check it out now. You're already online, reading this blog, right?
I find it one of the dichotimies of ministry, that people expect pastors to be the source of all manner of good recommendations for books, sites, etc., but it's often pastors who have very little time to just explore those things. My father, himself a pastor, is a good resource for me, and he is a voracious reader. But I really value people like Helen, my father, and those others who are able to pass along a good find...even if it takes me a bit to follow up on it.
Off to go hymn searching...
Sarah
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