Sign Me Up

The summer before I left for seminary I played guitar for vacation bible school at my friend’s church. I remember sitting barefoot in the sticky church basement with a felt hat shaped like a crab on my head, beating out a rhythm for “Jesus’ Love is Bubblin’ Over” on the body of the guitar, thinking if this is what ministry is like, sign me up.

I had a similar moment last weekend at our spring lock-in. We took the kids cosmic bowling (I am an atrocious bowler), and around midnight, we discovered the bowling alley clocked mileage on the balls. One of our youth decided to see how fast he could bowl. Turns out a brawny 16-year-old can throw a bowling ball down the lane at over 21 mph. There I stood, in too large bowling shoes, utterly exhausted in the middle of the night, high-fiving a kid whose bowling technique leaves you afraid that at any moment he might lose control and send a bowling ball at you at 21 mph, but who is totally delighted at his accomplishment. Being pastor in that role, in that place, is pretty great. I could make a career out of this.

Final Intern Cluster

Just got back from two days in beautiful western Massachusetts for my last ever intern cluster meeting. One of the requirements of internship is to meet occasionally with other interns from the area. As there are only a couple of interns in upstate New York we are lucky enough to join the cluster from the New England Synod, which is a fantastic group of people. We meet quarterly, and our gatherings always include a program of some sort as well as excellent worship and great conversation. The best part of cluster is peer groups, where interns and supervisors meet separately to allow space for open conversation. We share concerns, lift up joys, ask one another hard questions, pray together, and genuinely try and support one another. I am the only intern in my conference and while I have great pastor colleagues, as an intern my joys and struggles are by nature different than theirs. So it is such a blessing to be around people who are in the same space I am. Who are also living the tension of the role, share my anxiety around transitions, and are even familiar with the mounds of paperwork. Who can challenge my understandings because they first understand my challenges. Thank God for colleagues!

Daniel and the Lion Peeps

Best part of my job: You never know what you will get to do on any given day.

Holy Humor

How do we know that God has a sense of humor?
Because he can take a rib.

Last Wednesday we celebrated Holy Humor night at Atonement. Holy Humor night is a modern version of the ancient tradition of “Bright Sunday,” a day of parties and laughter to celebrate the resurrection as “God’s supreme joke on death.” At Atonement, we celebrated with terrible puns, upbeat music, and Peep dioramas. It was great fun.

Seems weird to be writing about something as trivial as peeps and bad jokes, given the events of the last few weeks. Tornadoes in the south, flooding in the northeast and Midwest, revolutions and military states and whether or not to celebrate death, even the death of one who caused so much pain and suffering and death. But as I reflect back on this odd juxtaposition, I find I am even more grateful for the opportunity to find joy in the midst of confusion.

Christ died, and when the women showed up at the tomb it must have seemed like the end, must have felt like all hope was lost. And then, unexpectedly, but with perfect comedic timing, he arrives again, and is mistaken for the gardener. I can’t always see through the complicated mess we make of this world. But I know that no matter how dark things get, silly things like Peep dioramas and bad jokes always make me smile. And smiling always seems to bring light. And I believe that in the midst of it all, God’s final word is resurrection.