A theme song . . . for today at least

Recently, I've found myself at the gym again. Sadly, in the stress of life over the past several months, working out has been at the bottom of my list. I've tried several activities type classes to motivate me to move, but have found something wrong with all of them. Thus, I've done nothing athletic besides an occasional walk with my husband.

Healthy, of course not! And my body started to feel the difference, so I knew I had to get back to the gym. And, I'm already feeling better and hoping that my motivation trend continues.

At least one thing I find to be positive about the gym is the fact that I have an IPOD. Working out to music, for me, seems to make the time go much faster. I can bear it all the better if I have something entertaining to listen to.

I was enjoying my IPOD time today while on the treadmill only to find that the song: "Too Legit To Quit" came on suddenly during the shuffling session I had on. At first, I was weirded out a little, thinking how did this get on my IPOD?? But the more I listened to it, the more I felt inspired.

Ok, you can laugh here, but stay with me a moment before you write me off as a weird child of the 80s who listens to McHammer still, but . . .

As a young woman in ministry, there are often times a lot of reasons to want to quit. You aren't respected for what you know, instead you are judged by how you look (young or pretty or not pretty). People often discredit your ideas because of what they perceive to be your lack of experience. People often make comments to you after church at the door telling you how nice you are dressed today, instead of what they thought of your sermon.

But, these are no reasons to quit. I am too legit as I reminded myself today. My voice is important. It is a valuable part of conversations within my work setting. I am teaching my congregation a lot about what it means to have a woman as their pastor (as they are teaching me too). I'm helping the change the paradigm of what has always been.

And, this is exciting! And for these reasons and may more, today I say, I'm too legit-- I can't quit! There is a calling to do what I do that keeps me going. I'm staying the game.

On the Eve of Easter

It is 10 pm on the Saturday before Easter. What do you think your preacher is doing?

Going to bed, I hope. But most likely putting the finishing touches on the sermon or laying out their clothes or thinking about how crazy the day will be tomorrow if they aren't already asleep.

While I am not preaching tomorrow (do associate pastors ever get asked to preach on Easter?), I do have a full plate of responsibilities including an early morning Sunrise Service, preparing for the extra people in our Sunday classes and the roles I will play in our 10:30 worship service tomorrow. It will be a non-stop morning from 6 am on.

However, as much as I don't like getting up early and as much as I like manageable leadership situations (not the kind of craziness that could be possible tomorrow), there is a part of me that is really excited about what the pastoral experience of Easter will be like this year. Why?

The expectation of worship experience will be heightened those who attend.

The size of the crowds will be larger, creating a sort of energy that comes from the sheer number of worshipers present.

And, I know from experience in my particular setting that the music will be amazing! I can't wait to hear the brass group play: "Christ the Lord is Risen Today."

Easter is such a special day in the Christian calendar. It is our holiest of high holy days. The event we remember on Easter is how we frame our teaching and preaching throughout the year. If we don't have Easter in the Christian faith, we loose the distinctive that makes us uniquely Christian.

I am excited to share in the joy of all that this means and to see the faces of the congregation-- people who also "get" why this day is so special too.

And, I'm also thrilled about having Monday off to recover.

So, Happy Easter 2008! Christ is Risen. Christ is Risen Indeed!

The Mess of Success

This past Sunday I was charged with the task of preaching one of the final messages of our Lenten sermon series: Breaking the Chains. I found the task to challenging, especially considering the title that was chosen for me: Breaking the Chains of Attachment to Success. The text came from Matthew's gospel account of Jesus' entry to Jerusalem.

This theme caused me to do more introspection than I normally do. I would not be in the position that I'm in at my age if I didn't know how to lead things with measures of success. Our society encourages success. Our churches do too. People like to see things going well, programs that work, and outcomes to measure so that in the end of the year they can say: "We've been successful!"

So, in many ways the sermon spoke to me as I wrote it as much as I hoped it would the congregation. The challenge I gave focused on seeking Jesus' Triumphal Entry not as the moment of judgment about this life, but as the beginning of a week which would end at the cross- a symbol of self-sacrificing love.

When I'm writing a sermon, I'm always grateful for any insight or feedback I receive from colleagues or anyone who will listen to what on my mind during the process. I find that my interaction with the text in conversation with other people allows a sermon to find life. Without talking to other people about what I'm thinking while writing, I fear my thoughts just wouldn't make any sense.

For this reason, I was happy to receive some thoughts to chew on from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book: Ethics this week. My co-worker brought this book to my attention with a bookmark in the chapter about "The Successful Man." I found Bonhoeffer's words on the topic of success to be quite insightful, even for this modern time.

Because the exact quotes didn't make it into my sermon, I'd thought I'd share some of them with you. Disclaimer: while I don't really like the idea that of either you are successful or unsuccessful (because I think at any given time most of us have areas in our life when we feel both ways), I think Bonhoeffer makes an interesting claim in the passage below about how the cross speaks to our desire for sucess.

"Christ confronts all thinking in terms of success and failure with the man who is under God's sentence, no matter whether he be successful or unsuccessful. . . . In the cross of Christ, God confronts the successful man with the sancification of pain, sorrow, humility, failure, poverty, loneliness and despair. God's acceptance of the the cross is his judgment on the successful man. But the unsuccessful man must recognize that what enables him to stand before God is not his lack of success and such, but solely the willing acceptance of the sentence passed on him by divine love. It was precisely the cross of Christ, the failure of Christ in the world, which led to His success in history" (79)

Happy Holy Week my blog friends!

Eating the Children's Candy

My office this week smells like chocolate. You can almost feel as though you can taste it in the air, so rich and creamy. The air seems to speak to you: "Eat me, eat me!" Don't you wish you were here already?

Over 200 plastic eggs sit in my office stuffed with chocolate. One of the many hats of my job this week has included making preparations for the preschool and children's Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday. It is going to be a festive event on the lawn for our families that has everyone excited. All the kids can wait to get the candy!

And I have to confess that this week, I've had one of those weeks, when the temptation to eat chocolate has gotten to me, especially with it so close to my desk! All sorts of out of the ordinary situations have occurred. Pastoral needs have abounded. Holy week is coming soon which means lot of extra worship planning and preparations. Because chocolate has been my ever constant friend during time of this week's trouble, I've almost eaten now an entire bag of by myself. Of course I can replace it (and probably should), I've told myself while eating.

All the while, I've sent prayers of thanksgiving to the person who send chocolate to my office during such a week of need. And, currently, I'm thankful that the egg hunt is on Sunday morning, so that by Monday the candy will be gone and in the Easter baskets of what will be some very hyper kids!

I know that Easter's true message has nothing to do with chocolate, Easter baskets, or eggs, but there are times when the simplest of life's pleasures can help us have the energy to move on to the more important stuff. This is what I must keep working on right now . . .

Palm Sunday sermon needs to be written today! Could you pass the chocolate?

A New Way of Love

One thing that really bothers me about religion in American is how we view and treat one another. Even though our country is called the "melting pot" cultural diversity- it makes sad to think of how we relate to one another's differences. The basic stereotypes we have in our mind about one another often keep us separate. We call each other names and give each other labels. We often do not see that many of us want similar things in our lives and in our faith journey. We think we can't be friends with a person of another religious group without trying to convert them instantly to our own.

Yet there is a movement of religious folks these days to make statements of acceptance and partnership. There are many who are tired of "religion" in America getting a bad reputation for being segregating, judgmental and ignorant of history. There are many who are courageously embracing what it means to live in a multi-faith area. I am proud to say that there are many Christians that I know who are showing God's love through their willingness to live outside the paradigm of what has always been. Minds are being opened to truly engaging another's faith.

For these reasons and more, this is why I love being a part of my city's Interfaith Alliance Group. We meet for lunch every other month and share a table of conversation together. Often times, I am the only Baptist there, but I am treated with utmost respect for the faith community that I represent. Not only are there ministers from my own Protestant tradition in attendance, but friends in Catholic, Jewish, Islamic and Hindu and Baha’i faiths as well. Social workers and city officials who work in human services are present in our gatherings too.

We often talk about the pressing spiritual needs in our community. We hear a prayer from a different faith each meeting, and we talk about events going on in our area that need our support.

I didn't know how fascinating my own city was until I met lay leader in the Mormon church who told me all how her church organizes the Sunday sermon with youth speaking each week! I didn't know that we have an Islamic congregation worshiping alongside an evangelical mega church which seeks to send a message of reconciliation and love to any who would listen. I didn't know that we had such a great human resources department in our county that loves to provide information to churches so that we can make the best decisions of care to any who are in need.

Thanks be to God for my new friends in this city and all they are doing to further peace, reconciliation and love in our community! I'm proud to stand alongside them.