"Religious" Christmas Stamp

For the past several years, I have made it a point to ask for the "religious" Christmas stamp. I pick the Virgin and Child art rather than snow people or Christmas trees or antique toys or nutcrackers or whatever else is offered, even though those others can be cutely tempting. But I may have to be even more specific. For several years in the USA, postal customers wanting a "religious" holiday stamp in the Fall can/could select from Virgin and Child or EID or Hanukkah stamps. So, I think I will need to be even more vocal in my religious stamp preference and ask specifically for the Christian stamp! That could be a small witness to our special celebration.
Merry (almost) Christmas!

Advent, NOT Christmas

Here it is the second Wednesday in the Season of Advent. I am preparing for Evening Prayer and expect a small group to be present. I know I am supposed to focus on anticipation of Christ, the coming of the Lord. In other words, NO Christmas carols. Yet, it is the joy of Christmas I am looking forward to as well. What a great time to pull out all the Christian celebration and the secular world will even join in a little of it. So I wait -- but I want to get there -- part of that "proleptic eschatology" that my buddy Ryan Mills reminded me of. (Yes, he is a pastor, too.) Basically, it is the "already, but not yet" nature of the faith we have. All the promise is ours, but we we have not yet seen it all. That does not make it less true, just less realized. Ah, well, perhaps, I could at least put up this much Christmas decoration (my house would be on the right hand side -- that's where you want to be when it comes to God!).



(The red lights say "Ditto" in case it is not showing well.)

"The Blind Side"

"The Blind Side" : NOT a Thanksgiving turkey, but a Thanksgiving gift for the movie-going public.
What a warm, rich, challenging film for movie-goers this season -- and NO vampires!
I did not have great expectations of the film, but was deeply impressed by a tear-jerker film, which dealt with Southern racism, football frenzy, drug culture and its threat on poor families and young persons. What about those lost children that are "raised" in the middle of addicted parents and their pushers? How do they survive? Well, here is one story. Although a white family ultimately rescues the young man, he has independently developed skills that allow him to escape, to embrace the opportunity provided. One could only wish that situation for all children in such poverty and potential hopelessness.
Another noteworthy aspect of this film was the Christian faith that was just included as an obvious aspect of the family's life. No apologies; no creepiness; just a real faith lived out in the interaction with others. One hopes that good Christian folks would open the table of thanksgiving for even more unlikely characters -- not just in films but in everyday life.

Social Networking and the Church

Social Networking is what the church is all about -- from the time of Jesus calling the 12 Apostles as well as the numerous men, women, and children to his side during his earthly ministry, to the Pentecost celebration, to the work of Paul calling scattered races to believe. The church is in the social networking business. The challenge is how to make that happen in this time when so many other options abound. Sunday church, well done, is a great place to start.

Mighty Fortress LEGO-style

Yes, that great Lutheran festival of Reformation Day is approaching on October 31! And Luther has invaded even LEGO-world! (Check out his hammer as LEGO Luther is ready to post the 95 Theses again!)
Enjoy!

New York City Research

For the last of my Continuing Education this year, I visit Wagner College on Staten Island in New York City, in order to research Northern Lutheran observations on the South, slavery, and the Civil War. Wagner holds the Sutter Memorial Archives related to New York area Lutheranism. The collection proved to be more extensive than I anticipated. Do I have to go again? Soon? To New York City?
Thanks so much to Clint Daggan, the son of the Sutter Archivist, John Daggan. Clint also showed me some of his research into northern responses to the Civil War -- very helpful indeed.
When I researched the history of Texas Lutherans long ago, I interviewed a very senior pastor (Fred Kern) who actually left Texas in the 1920's to attend Wagner. I tried to imagine this tall Texas from the scrub of south central Texas in the big city of New York -- what a cultural shift, but he taught horseback riding in Central Park and met his wife, an accomplished musician, in the city. God leads folks all kinds of directions.
Do I have to go again? Soon?

"I am a seething mass of Lutheran Midwestern guilt."

"I am a seething mass of Lutheran Midwestern guilt," said David Letterman on national TV. Letterman may not be the poster child of the Lutheran faith with the subsequent confession of multiple partner sexual experiences.
I would have hoped that his Midwestern Lutheran experience would have limited his transgressions. Perhaps the guilt after one or two experiences could have stopped or slowed him. Is he feeling guilty only because he got caught?
We do not yet know the extent of his actions, but we can hope that his guilt will limit his future actions. And we could hope even more, that he might embrace his Christian roots and embrace personal reform: personal witness to sin, forgiveness, and new life.

From SIN to Texas!

I am back! The title though catchy also explains my blog absence. SIN is not, in this case, a statement on my spiritual status, though as a good Lutheran I affirm that I am simultaneously saint and sinner.
In this case though, SIN describes my physical status -- SIN is the international code for Changi Airport in Singapore. I was in Singapore and Malaysia for a vacation. Fascinating experience. I will share a few more reflections about the religious situations shortly. Right now, I am recovering from some 30 hours in transit and a 13 hour time change to be back in Texas. When I catch up with myself, I will have more about the transition from SIN to Texas!

Confirmation Class -- The Last Summer Friday

Collin and Robert joined me for a Summer Confirmation class session today. We squeezed in a bit more of the Old Testament before they get re-absorbed into the school routine on Monday morning. Our small class is a joy as we think about Scripture, ask about God, learn some tradition, and share life. May God bless our sessions as well after school starts! Thanks, guys.

Atomic Testing Museum -- Las Vegas, Nevada

At the Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada (several blocks East of Las Vegas' more famous attractions), one is introduced to the background and marvelous science of the hundreds of atomic tests performed in the Nevada desert North of Las Vegas from the 1950's until 1992. The quiet of the museum contrasted starkly with the noise and glitz of the Vegas Strip. I have visited the museums of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Alamogordo and Los Alamos in New Mexico, and Washington state's Tri-Cities previously to learn about the development of the American nuclear weapons ... and their use.
As a child of the nuclear era (yes, I learned to kneel in the school hall and cover my neck in case of a nuclear attack), I am enthralled by the spirit of the developers (scientists and others), the technological breakthroughs, and the scope of planning and development necessary. But I am also appalled by the threat in those gleaming products.
As a Christian, I wonder why God allowed humans to discover the secrets or even the prior question, why God allowed the possiblity of nuclear destruction even to exist?
As a human, I am hopeful, but confused, by the comment of one scientist's comments recorded at the Las Vegas museum, who stated that the nuclear testing proved that we could never use the weapons but he also recognized the value in having them -- Not to be used, but certainly to be possessed. Can we humans really handle that much power? Are recent efforts to reduce nuclear weapons really adequate? And, of course, what about the terrorists? Will we become the victims of our own weapons' development?