Coincidences?

I actually do believe in coincidences.  I believe that God is still active in the world, and probably even (since my theology says so) that He knows what's going to happen to us...  But by virtue of the fact that He gave us free will, I also believe in real, genuine, true coincidences.

Shortly after I posted my first sermon here (Why Can't We All Be So Lucky), a "coincidence" happened.  My dad works with a man who's currently in the army, but is considering going back to school - seminary.  They're office-mates at work, so my dad overheard this man talking to his mentor on the phone about "How do you know you've been called to ministry?"

If you've read the sermon, you know it was all about finding your call, and having the faith to deal with it.  I have to add here something I didn't put into the sermon.  Not everyone has just one call - sometimes God has many roads for you, depending on where you are in life.  But the main point is, I wrote the sermon the same week as this man was struggling with his calling, and my dad was able to overhear the phone call (and [sorry dad] my father doesn't have the best hearing).  Apparently, my sermong did mean something to the guy.  I don't know if it helped him reconcile what he was feeling at all, but if it provided even the least bit of comfort, well?  You've got to think this is one of those coincidences God might have had a hand in.

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A Sermon: Christian Love

I took a class at the end of August on "Race and American Christianity."  For my final project, I decided to write a sermon.  On September 12, I preached a majorly slimmed down version at a contemporary service; now that I've actually e-mailed the thing in (today) I'm posting the sermon here pretty much in full.

I'm not the most PC person around - in fact, I often delight in not being PC.  I'm not an ultra-liberal, but nor am I ultra-conservative.  Mostly, I just believe in basic human rights, and in the God of the New Covenant - the God of Love.  This sermon isn't supposed to say how to behave politically, or even socially.  It's just supposed to be a reminder to love everyone.

Scripture for this sermon: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 and Ephesians 4:1-6

Par for course, it appears to be a full manuscript, but I doubt I'd ever preach it exactly as written.

Click here to read!

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I Remember

I've never before posted any kind of blog or remembrance for September 11.  Over the last 8 years, the date mostly just irritates me, because it's SO political.  I have my opinions, yes, but I usually would rather not get in the middle.  Next year makes ten years though...  I'm posting this now just as my statement that I hope there's a little less hate in the world by this time next year.

I took the pictures in this post in January of 2004.

September 11 was no longer so fresh, but it was my first time at "Ground Zero" after the attacks.  I was in New York with Emory students from the Wesley Fellowship; we were on a mission trip, working primarilly in soup kitchens.

On our day off, we decided to visit the site, where "construction" was already underway, before heading down to Battery Park and Ellis Island.  The last time I'd been in viewing distance of the World Trade Center was when I was in middle school; there's a photo of me, stashed away somewhere in my parents' house, standing on the Empire State Building's observation deck with the Twin Towers in the background.

Do you remember where you were on September 11, 2001?  I was sitting in Mr. McCarthy's class, at the very beginning of my senior year of high school.  There's no way to not know something like that will shape your future, when you're just getting ready to head out into the world.  A month later, I was visiting NYU for a prospective students' day...  During an assembly, they announced to us that we had just begun bombing Afghanistan.

I love the above picture of Battery Park.  It's a horrible photo, technically speaking, but the brightness of it, and the rebuilding of the globe, shows the hope that I *wish* were associated with 9/11.  Instead, we have possible Qu'ran burnings as the primary headline this anniversary.

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Growth

I have ALWAYS loved this picture.  I took it in Bosnia, and it just makes me smile.  Granted, this isn't the orginal; the original was picture-like, and the point-and-shoot camera focused on grass rather than flower, but I LIKE IT.  So I GIMP-ified it.
Anyway, I'm posting it BECAUSE it makes me smile.

And that's the kind of mood I'm in.  Smily.  They changed my meds, you see.  No, kidding, I'm not crazy.  Though they did change my meds.  What?

Seriously, this post is kind of a follow on to the sermon I preached a few weeks ago.  I talked about my past, and how hard it was for me to find a calling, and you know?  I still don't totally know where I'm going.  Maybe I never will.  Maybe each place I wind up will be the place I'm meant to be at that moment in time, and then I'll move on.  I'll "itinerate," if you will, for you Methodists out there.

But what I can say, 100% for sure, is that coming to the Boston University School of Theology is absolutely, positively the best decision I've ever made.  (If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you saw that update earlier tonight).  I haven't loved every class, or every professor, but I DO want to be there every day (usually...) and I DO want to really engage, mentally, with what I'm learning.  I'm developing whole new theologies and philosophies for myself, and there is NOTHING better.  The people, the conversations, the learning...  They're leading me somewhere, and it IS right.

For those of you in discernment, I don't profess to have all the answers.  I'll be doing my Field Ed in a United Methodist Church this year, and I don't even know that I definitely want to wind up in parish ministry, so clearly I'm still struggling myself, but I received an important message this week.  And you know, this is a message I've "heard" before, but I've never "received" it.  The journey is as important - if not more so - as the destination.  For once, I'm not looking to the end, I'm looking to the present, and I'm LIVING in the present, and loving these people and these lessons, and really growing from it all.

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A Glance...

1. I kinda like Farscape, and Star Trek:TOS, and StarGate Atlantis. Those are my current guilty pleasures, thanks to Netflix and CBS online TV.

2. Two weeks ago, I had a week long intensive class on Race and American Christianity. I'm writing a sermon for my final project. I'll post it here, even though I didn't get to preach it (would've been tonight if not for a schedule change).

3. Said schedule change was vaguely related to where I was LAST week. My grandfather, who had been deteriorating since November, passed away in Tallahassee. Prayers for my grandmother, if you would. They'd been married 69 years.

4. Labor Day wraps up my Grove obligations. Nice cookout at the ball field, then I'll finish moving back out of that apartment and doing some cleaning in the Rec Hall.

5. Tuesday starts the regular school year, with a discussion group at 8:00 (or 8:30?)... That's gonna suck. Sunday starts my Field Ed at Union United Methodist Church in downtown Boston.

6. Next Saturday there's a potluck and photo review at the Grove. So I've kinda gotta go back.

7 , 8, 9, and 10. I'd kinda like a day off. If someone could make that happen for me.

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