Death Penalty for Overdue Library Books
It used to be a cliche – sentencing someone to death for an overdue library book.
Now, Bay City, Michigan is moving in that direction. (CNN Story)
The Bay County library system director is asking the Library Board for permission to seek arrest warrants for patrons keeping books past due and ignoring repeated notices. He also wants to levy criminal fines and jail time up to 90 days.
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According to the article, a particularly heinous offender has $1,200 worth of books out (not the fine, the value of the books), most for over a year (and mostly sci-fi – could easily be me). One has to wonder how much it will cost the county to prosecute him and keep him in jail. Library fines currently run 5 to 10 cents per day.
This guy is nuts. I can see wanting to make a point, but there’s gotta be a better way than arresting patrons. Maybe embarass them in the newspaper?
Amazon and Books
Over on the right-hand side of the page, you will now see a list of books and an Amazon.com link.
Typepad allows it’s users to automatically link to Amazon.com when posting a list of books. They also allow us to use an Amazon.com Associates program ID to get credit when one of you clicks on the link and buys something.
As of yesterday, I am a participant in the Amazon.com Associates Program. I get a little commission when you click one of the links on this page and buy something from them (or in a few other circumstances).
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So, if you were planning to buy a book (or anything else) from Amazon.com and you want to help me pay for this site, please consider coming here first and then clicking the link on the right. No pressure, and I probably won’t mention the program again. Thank you if you choose to do so.
NOTE: This was on an older incarnation of this blog and no longer exists.
2010: My personal Year in Review
Filed under: Candidate Process, Job Search, Life, Religion, Seminary, Work
I haven’t done a Year in Review post for a few years because I didn’t have any good news then. The two New Years after the layoff were times that I survived rather than showing improvement. This year was different. Very up and down, but averaging to up.
I started the year still looking for a secular job and having little luck, depressed after just barely missing out on a job right before Christmas. (Irony: after I made my decision to change direction, the person that they picked left and they wanted to interview me again.) That all changed with two days close together in January. One day a good friend accompanied me to a job fair at Rutgers, which turned that day from a depressing trip to a job fair to a day with a friend and by-the-way time at a job fair. We also had lunch with the campus Protestant chaplain at Rutgers and I found myself asking her to have the local seminary contact me. Later I realized that I had no idea why I’d asked for that. A couple weeks later I had a rough Monday morning and the same friend met met for coffee. That conversation led me to make the decision that I had to do serious vocational discernment and seriously consider seminary. What followed that decision is a long story that gets told as the year follows.
February found me stretching in many ways. I started auditing a class at Princeton Seminary and meeting with folks from the seminary and my church about my sense of call. I started serving on my first presbytery committee. I started spiritual direction. And at this point in my journey I was on a dual track – religious vocational discernment and secular job search.
March found me working a part-time job for a local ecumenical group serving as the project manager for a June justice revival weekend. It also found me working full-time (to start) for the US Census counting noses at group living facilities and service-based locations (shelters, food banks). Regretfully the Census job didn’t pan out as advertised and the “full-time” work ended up being at best 15 hours a week and only lasted 3 weeks. But it did give me a technical break in unemployment that allowed me to form my own small business. That business continues to provide a small amount of income and will hopefully do so as I go forward in school. March also found me being approved by the Session of my church to apply to be an Inquirer in the PC(USA).
April found me making what was nearly the final turn to the new direction. The justice revival work got going in earnest. I started the Youth Ministry Certificate program at Princeton Seminary with a retreat before the annual Youth Forums. And I started some steps to take care of the space between my ears.
May was packed with growth for me. The work between my ears got going in earnest. My justice revival work was in high gear before the June weekend. I got to be in the audience of The Daily Show and spend a great evening with two friends. And I got to go to the Unconference (in Maryland in 2010) and make new friendships that I hope to have for years if not forever.
In June the justice revival happened and was an amazing and tiring weekend. And I began preparations for July. Also in June I began working on the family stresses that were created by my discernment process and change of career.
In July I got an opportunity that I’d been hoping for since I returned to the church and started working with youth – I got to go to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium. The youth director at my church wrote the Small Group Manual, and as a result I was able to attend as Small Group Staff, Small Group Leader Trainer, and as a Small Group Leader. My presbytery’s delegation was housed across the street from the dorm that I was in, so we got to spend a lot of time together. I had a blast, and attending Triennium cemented my sense of call. After that trip, the last obstacle between me and my new career path was resolved, and my new journey began. At the end of July, Carolyn and I got to take a short vacation that we desperately needed – giving us time to reconnect and re-explore each other.
August was a quiet month of preparation work. I spent the time getting ready for the new year at church (in my new role as President of the Deacons, and with new youth staff) and preparing to meet with CPM. The Committee on Preparation for Ministry of my presbytery approved me as an Inquirer at the end of the month, beginning the official process towards ordination as a PC(USA) minister. I also began my work on applications for Princeton Seminary.
They are either available as synthetic drugs ( cheap cialis) or herbal pills (Horny Goat Weed). The United States, for instance, has a food and drug administration that oversees prescriptions, among viagra uk sales other things. The drug is known by the name of a vegetable that is still in season in the winter and has been used official storefront levitra sales online for both culinary and medicinal purposes around the world? It is called “Fennel”. The feeling of making love or sex will definitely drives people viagra sale crazy. September was a very busy month with the beginning of the church year and with seminary application preparation. At the end of the month I submitted my Princeton Seminary application and kicked off the process of obtaining references.
October was a time of celebration. Carolyn and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. We also one week later spent 3 days visiting Princeton Seminary in the role of prospective student and wife. Both of us felt very comfortable with that visit and very much at home. And the big celebration happened a week later at the end of the month, when I received my acceptance for the MDiv program at Princeton!
November brought a chance to enjoy success and reorient myself to my new direction. I delivered my commitment letter to Princeton Seminary while attending the Emerging Adulthood seminar early in the month. The rest of the month was spent completing some work between my ears and preparing for the holiday season.
December has been a time of waiting and preparing. With the help of friends, I’m working on preparing for seminary. I’m building lists of books to read before I start. I’m trying to decide about whether to pursue Summer Language (an intensive 10 week program for Greek or Hebrew) or take one last summer trip with my church youth group. And I’m reorienting my thinking. One bright event of December was a chance to meet a Twitter friend from Atlanta, one of her friends and a local friend for lunch at Drew University. I also unfortunately spent the end of November and most of December fighting a sinus infection that took a lot of my energy.
Overarching the year were a few events that do not fit the chronology well. From late spring until today (and continuing) I’ve been doing a lot of work in my head to grow, and to process the changes that such a large career shift creates. That large shift has also produces some stresses – in family, in friendships, and in relation to my church. I’ve worked hard with those involved to try to navigate the emotions produced and the logistics involved. This in turn has created further growth and improvement in me, in my relationships, and hopefully in the others impacted. This work has been HARD, but well worth it. And the relationships that have been involved I believe to be stronger now. I won’t say that pain is necessary to growth, but I will say that getting through pain successfully often produces growth. Last, a note that a few serious illnesses of family members came in the fall and that was rough too. Those family members are on the mend.
Also not fitting the chronology well were the growth of a few new and old friendships through shared experiences. I can only hope that I have given to them as much as they have given to me.
All in all, this year was a very up and down year. I am thankful for my wife and friends who supported me through it, who listened to my ravings and pain, and who continue to stand by me. While it has been rough most of the roughness has taken place in the service of growth in the right direction. And there have been some glorious moments of celebration and happy-dances. I’d never have believed that I’d jump up and down in my kitchen past age 40 until the day I opened my seminary acceptance letter.
I end the year with a new direction when I had no direction. I end the year with strengthened relationships. And I end the year with new friends that I value greatly. And I end the year with a much, much stronger sense of the direction that God wants me to take, as well as many reminders that God is always with me.
I’ll take it.
Gifts for Seminarians
It’s Christmastime. I was looking for gift ideas for folks who wanted suggestions for gifts for me. I asked my crowd on Twitter what gifts made sense for someone who would be starting seminary in the near future.
They came up with these suggestions. I have linked the suggesters Twitter profiles. (NOTE: some of these folks are Protected on Twitter, and some of the protected folks are open to new follow requests. You may or may not be successful in following someone).
- Browse a pastor’s shelf and make a list of books you want (@revdlm)
- Cokesbury/Amazon gift certificates (many people suggested this)
- A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition
(@mayog)
- Concordance/Bible Dictionary (@pattigibbons)
- Basic school supplies (pens, pencils, highlighter) (@candivernon)
- Computer Paper (@candivernon)
- Feasting on the Word: Year A: Advent Through Transfiguration (Feasting on the Word)
subscription – a series of 12 books of which the first is linked here (@lauraviau, @megateer)
- Lap Desk (@lauraviau)
- Entertainment gift cards (@lauraviau)
- Scrivener computer program for writing (@grammercie) $35-40 at student discount
- Coffee gift card (@megateer)
- Bibleworks (Windows) or Accordance (Mac) computer programs for research and exegesis of the Bible in the original language (@megateer) $250+ at student discount (NOTE: Some seminaries used to install this on students’ laptops for free. Princeton no longer does.)
- iPad (@abbiewatters)
- Old hobbies supplies – keep up some outside activity other than doing seminary (@grammercie)
- Good study Bible (@barbvaughn)
- The Peoples’ Bible
(@barbvaughn)
- A Bible dictionary (@barbvaughn)
- A pocket NRSV Bible (@andyjames)
- Locker Organizer (Princeton Seminary issues lockers to commuter students) (@grammercie)
- 3-ring binders (@tericarol)
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Reframing Hope by Carol Howard Merritt – A Review
Rev. Carol Howard Merritt, currently of Western Presbyterian Church in Washington DC, has published a new book: Reframing Hope. I’ve recently finished reading it and here I present a review.
Disclaimer: I’m a friend of Carol. She sent me a free copy of the book to read and review. And I’m even mentioned in the book. So I’m a bit biased. And let me just say this – it’s really strange reading someone’s book and knowing the backstories behind the stories, having participated in some of the conversations that she mentions and discusses. That’s particularly true of Chapter 3 – Reexamining the Medium – where she discusses Twitter and other social media. OK, that’s out of the way. On with the review.
Merritt’s primary thesis is this – the modern world is ending, postmodernism is taking hold, and the Church needs to adapt in order to survive. While spelling that reality out, she documents different ways in which the adapting part of Christianity (though not necessarily the Church as institution) is succeeding in reimagining the faith for not just a new generation, but a whole new way of “doing church”. She uses the psychological term of “reframing” as a model for that reimagining. Merritt states that we are using outdated frames to measure church success: numbers, attendance, income. We need to reframe our idea of church success and particularly church methods and ideas in order to work within a world that is changing from modernism to postmodernism. And interestingly enough, that reframing often includes a return to ancient ideas and practices.
Merritt centers all of this study of the past and present and imagining of the future within the idea of Hope. She feels (and I agree) that younger generations – Generation X through the Millenials, particularly the latter – show a great deal of promise in their zeal to make the world a better place. She feels that spirituality and community-building are on the rise, and contrasts them to the modern ideas of power and structure and hierarchy. Merritt feels that there is a movement of the Holy Spirit happening and a vitality of the newer generations, and that it’s important for us to recognize that and welcome it.
Merritt begins the study in the area of Authority. The locus of authority in the church today is changing from books (as recently as 100 years ago only available in libraries at a distance, and before that only available to a learned few) and pastors in the pulpit to a new locus in the Internet, random conversations, and outside the church. Where once only the very well educated were seen as authorities on spirituality and theology, today individuals are able to “publish” their ideas on the Internet and share them without a need for a title like Reverend or a bunch of letters after their name. Even more notably, the Internet and social media have allowed people who are interested in these subjects to converse with experts in the field, and even to form friendships with them. Shoot – today a wannabe pastor like me gets to converse with published authors and Moderators. And it’s not just ideas that are discussed – we aren’t spending a lot of time on “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin” questions. Practical notions about how to express our spirituality in community, how churches are governed, and sermon ideas are exchanged between people who have never met. And in the midst of that, ancient spiritual practices are lifted up again and seen in practice today. Merritt ends the chapter with a study in contrasts. In today’s world, there are two competing ideas – the idea that centralization is king and “bigger is better” and the empowerment of people at the edges. These movements are contradictory and happening simultaneously and in my opinion reflect the practical struggle between modernism and postmodernism. And we are expected (particularly pastors) to live with feet in both movements simultaneously – ministering to those rooted in the modern world and those rooted in the postmodern world.
Merritt follows this study of authority with stories of Re-forming Community. The big question in the Mainline Protestant church today is “how can we keep the young people from leaving?” “How do we reach out to a younger demographic?” Today’s church is aging, and the average age of members is getting so high that even the Sunday Schools are starting to empty – because the parents of those missing children are missing themselves. Our churches are worried about closing (and some have closed). At the same time communities are springing up to deal with the questions of spirituality and faith. These communities are sometimes appearing within the traditional church structure, but more often than not are growing organically across denominational lines and even inter-faith. Even the idea of community has changed – from “whose are you?” (what group do you belong to OR what are your beliefs) to “who are your friends?” The traditional idea of belonging to a group that has chosen to accept us and which has sharply defined boundaries has shifted. Today’s new communities are marked more by their permeable boundaries and sharing of concepts across faith and practice lines. Traditions are not rejected and replaced as they were in the evangelical movement (with its move from hymns and organs to rock bands and light shows) but instead are combined and formed into a new creation. To me, it looks a bit like spiritual Legos or Play-Doh – the basics are the same but the shape and size and color of the new community are created by taking pieces from many communities, old and new.
Merritt also speaks about the importance of denominational structures in the new world. She highlights the good in denominations: continuity, shared support, and the weight of numbers that makes big things possible. She calls herself a “loyal radical” – one who embraces some of the ideas and innovation of the Emerging movement but is still a loyal member of her denomination – Presbyterian Church (USA). (And she points out the groups that Phyllis Tickle calls “hyphen-mergents” – the presbymergents, anglimergents, etc.) She lists three factors that distinguish the Loyal Radicals from the Emergent church:
- Loyal radicals have strong ties to their denominational histories, where Emergents sometimes reject that history
- Origins – the postevangelical emergent movement grew out of a meeting held by Doug Pagitt to raise up the next generation of evangelical leaders – and can be very antidenominational. The Loyal Radicals reached similar ideas and practices due to their loyal reactions to their denominations, which many of them still love.
- Social justice – Loyal radicals are much more open to women, ethnic minorities, and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) leaders; indeed their presence is demanded or the movement is seen as exclusionary. Postevangelical emergents have had their leadership develop organically and the net result has been that that leadership is dominated by primarily white, straight men while in some places women and LGBT folks are excluded from leadership.
From there Merritt moves on to discuss the effects that the Internet and social media in particular are having on faith. This is a balanced look by someone who lives in that world every day. (Indeed – she and I have tweeted at each other WHILE I’m writing this review about another matter.) She discusses the positives of the Internet and social media: communication and friendship between distance-separated people who would be fast friends in person if they lived near each other, the ability to carry on discussions simultaneously and asynchronously, the instantaneous access to information and opinions. (I have to echo those virtues. I’ve made very close friends through social media. It’s fun to meet someone in person for the first time who you’ve been friends with on the Internet – most of the “new friend” awkwardness is gone and you have that “known each other for years” feeling. And the base of knowledge in a community of hundreds who will answer questions randomly is hard to beat.) She also considers the downsides: the questionable community by those who are never together in person, the loss of communication in a text-based medium, the dehumanization that anonymity produces, the ability to claim more support for your ideas than may exist and to take potshots at others from behind your screen. In the end she concludes that the new medium is good and that communication has changed forever. She challenges us to both accept the new and the good and also to be aware of the risks.
From here, Merritt moves into a discussion of the effects of these changes on different areas of interest to the church:
- The Message – Merritt discusses the power of story. The narratives of our Scripture, the narratives of other faiths, the stories of our lives – they all have the power to change people and lives. There is power in the linking of the stories of God and the stories of the person sitting in the next pew. All of this reminded me very much of Donald Capps’s work on narrative, particularly his book Reframing – A New Method in Pastoral Care.
- Activism – She speaks of the power of these new ideas in bringing about the reign of God. She speaks of the power of the new mediums of communication on activism for social justice. At the same time, she speaks of problems that this shift causes. There is a subtle ageism in movements fighting sexism, racism and homophobia. There is a divide between the activists of the 60’s who gave their all of their causes and the younger leaders who have not been mentored, and who see an “us versus them” mentality in the battles of their elders. Merritt gives examples of how today’s communication methods are being used in activism with good results.
- Environmentalism – Merritt speaks of the current state of the environment and the ways that we have become insulated from the natural world. She speaks of practices that have the potential to make things worse if we aren’t careful – such as the effect of the use of bottled water on the quality of tap water. She includes ideas of how to prevent and counteract the separation from the land that we are experiencing.
- Spirituality – Here the author discusses the split between mind, spirit and body that was fostered by Modern ideas – the split between secular and sacred that has left us feeling that the two cannot coexist. She speaks of the importance of presence and the fears and realities of digital technology on physical presence (her conclusion – it can hurt but often helps build community). She lists different areas of spiritual practice that need our attention to reintegrate body and spirit, daily life and our faith. In the end she concludes that the evangelical concentration on individual faith and the liberal concentration on social justice are two streams that are starting to flow together – integrating our faith and correcting the errors of our past.
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In her conclusion, the author sees Hope in the future as people find new ways to organize and BE community in this world. She illustrates this with stories positive and uplifting and poignant and painful all at the same time. But she sees hope, and shows us a glimpse of how to foster it and reframe it for the rapidly changing world in which we live.
OK, Mark. That was 1800 words on WHAT the book says. How about the review?
I live in this intersection of modernism and postmodernism. I grew up with a father who was a school principal and later superintendent – a paragon of the Modern world and the old picture of authority. I’ve always been heavily involved in technology and the Internet – particularly during and after college. That has put me in contact with people (including Carol) who were and are at the bleeding edge of the “new way” of communication. That in turn has led me to be in contact with folks who are currently thinking and talking and praying and working around the new way of doing and being the Church. A number of people have told me that this “new way of doing church” is a part of my personal call. I’m in more or less the same place as the author, though we’ve taken very different routes.
The book rings true to me. As I said in the disclaimer, I have been a part of a number of the conversations and events that she relates. There is a big shift in the church coming – one that has also been alluded to by Phyllis Tickle in her book The Great Emergence. The church that exists today just does not speak to younger people and they are voting with their feet. It’s not so much anger with the church that is leading young people away – it’s apathy towards the church. We just don’t matter anymore. At the same time I know that for those youth who ARE in the church we matter very much and their lives are transformed. Our message just isn’t getting through and I believe it’s because the world changed around the church and the church failed to change its communication methods. Many people accuse the church (particularly accusing liberals and postmoderns) of changing the message itself in an effort to reach new people. In some areas it’s true that the message has changed – homosexuality being one of them. But those changes have always happened – with slavery and the place of women most recently. It’s really the methods of communicating the message that are failing today.
One thing that I struggle with is how to create a church that can speak simultaneously to ALL generations. I don’t feel that we’ve reached the point of abandoning that goal – I still think it can be done. But it WILL take a decision to recognize the failures today and to accept new ways of being the Gospel to the world.
This book does a lot to show the way to that future. Merritt shows us what new ideas and concepts and practices are being used today to bridge the gap between the Modern church and the postmodern world. But more importantly, she shows us how those new ideas and concepts and practices fit within our faith – that the new is not necessarily a compromise of faith.
Additionally, this book is written in a very accessible manner. Some other books that discuss the same ideas and subjects are written in a very academic manner. This book is one that can be read by anyone. No extensive knowledge of church history, theology, or philosophy is needed. This book is written for both those in the academy and those in the pews.
No review would be complete without some negative feedback (sorry, Carol!). My only issue is that the author in a few places speaks of her personal history – as someone who has roots in the evangelical church, as a woman entering the ministry – as if those experiences were generally applicable to a large part of a generation. Those stories sounded completely true to me as Carol’s experience, but I question how applicable they are to American Christianity. No doubt my background contributes to this reaction – at the same time that Carol was growing up in the South I was growing up in the Northeast in a New York City suburb, in a town where we had multiple faiths (1/3 of the town was Jewish) and evangelicalism was very limited. I grew up with a woman who was my neighbor AND the Associate Pastor and our church Session was at least 1/2 female. I saw a different force operating on young people – apathy towards the church and faith in general in an atmosphere of social and career climbing where the victims didn’t matter. The net effects are the same – the kids aren’t in the church – but the causes are very different.
If you are interested in understanding the forces at work in the reshaping of the church, and in particular are looking for some methods of communication and practices that can bridge the gap between how we have done church and how we will do church, buy this book. And read it. But more importantly talk to others about it. Kick the ideas around. That’s what it’s gonna take to get from here to there – from where we are today to the Kingdom of God.
Busy Week
This is gonna be a very busy week. I’m going to be out and about in several communities with lots of activities. Perhaps I’ll meet you at one of them.
Yesterday the ball started rolling with the God Complex radio show at noon EDT. That went very well. Later in the evening I had the Board of Deacons meeting at church which also went very well and very fast.
This morning I’m going to have to mow the lawn due to the impending days of rain (again).
This afternoon I’m going to the Presbytery of New Brunswick meeting, and assisting in the pre-presbytery event on “Working with Facebook”. Before the meeting I have a networking meeting with someone in New Brunswick.
Tomorrow is relatively quiet. A networking meeting in the morning, and the DVRA ham radio club meeting in the evening. I may go get my driver’s license renewed during the day – it’s time again.
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Thursday afternoon begins the Princeton Seminary Institute for Youth Ministry Conference on Emerging Adulthood. That runs Thursday afternoon and evening, all day Friday, and Saturday morning. Friday evening, I’ll miss dinner and the recreation to attend a fundraising dinner “Southern Hospitality on the Lawn” related to my church.
Saturday morning I’ll miss rehearsal for Deacon Sunday. Saturday evening my church youth group is holding a Cabaret and Silent Auction fundraiser for the summer trips.
Sunday morning is Deacon Sunday (I’m doing the Call to Worship), grocery delivery for Crisis Ministry in Trenton and the end of year party for our customers, and the Worship in a New Key service.
Monday I may get to see Carolyn again. This is really a nutty week.
Job Search – day 16
Today I’m working on finalizing my Marketing Plan, and coming up with a list of companies to target for networking-related job searching. I had a nibble from one company earlier in the week but my research revealed culture issues that would make me uncomfortable there, and they chose not to interview me. That’s either a win-win or lose-lose. My resume is now up on a few job sites.
As part of the survival plan my wife and I are cutting back on spending. We got a really great supportive gift last night. Her yoga teacher gave us a gift certificate to the local Cracker Barrel (we could also have chosen Chili’s).
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Thanks to all who have been praying or thinking good thoughts or helping. Emotionally I am still at a low point but feel it getting better for the first time.
I am 39 and 366/366ths
Yep, it’s that day.
This year my birthday is a day for reflection.
This is the first year that my body is starting to get creaky. In the last 2 years I’ve gotten reading glasses and I’ve learned how NOT to move my muscles suddenly when I’m just waking up. I’m aging, but generally healthy. It could be worse.
This is also the year that I realize that some doors have closed. There are just some things that I could have done, but which I can no longer do because I didn’t take that side of the fork in the road. There are things that I never could have done (I was never going to be an NBA star). There are things that I have done. This is the year that I realize that there are things that I didn’t do, and the opportunity is gone. I don’t regret the decisions but it’s sad to see the closed doors.
This past year has also been a rough but fruitful year. I spent a LOT of time outside of my comfort zone. In some ways that has paid off. In other ways I’ve bounced off some metaphorical walls at high speed. Some of this has produced personal growth and a lot hasn’t. Ironically, most of the “new” things in my life are actually a return to a part of my past.
I have made a number of new friends in the past year both locally and nationally. I cherish those friendships. I have been able to help a few of these new friends with their lives and goals and that is gratifying.
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Probably the most rewarding part of my life in the last year has been my work with the youth group at church. I love our kids, and watching them grow has been wonderful. Sunday evenings have been a very bright spot in my life.
Life with Carolyn continues to be wonderful. I think we’ve reached the beginning of the “growing old together” stage of life. It’s good. Every day I learn something new about her (or gain a new story – there are LOTS of those) and yet we know each other so well that we’ve reached the point one or two words speak volumes. (“Do you know where …” – “Here you go” – and it’s exactly what she was looking for.)
And our cats are still as snuggly as ever.
It could have been better, and it could have been worse. One more year in the books.
p.s. – Happy Birthday, Harry!
Start of Summer Meme
I’ve been tagged by Toby Brown of Classical Presbyterian for a meme.
Start of Summer Meme
Whether it’s the smell of the grill, the taste of fresh lemonade, the glow of fireflies or the pull of your fishing line, many of us have distinctive senses about what makes for the sign of summer.
Let’s dive in!
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Two things: First, the need for air conditioning. Second, the First Sunburn of Summer. The latter generally happens in late April on a gray cloudy day when I’m out at a festival of some sort and forget that I need a hat on my sparsely-populated head.
2.) Name your five of your favorite distinctively Summer habits or customs.
- The Summer Afternoon Nap
- Cooking on the Grill
- Mowing the Lawn
- Volunteering for check-in on Sundays at church camp
- My Birthday
3.) What is your favorite smell of Summer?
The odor of the first few big, fat raindrops that fall before the full thunderstorm hits. This is the smell that signals a reduction in humidity and temperature in the near future.
4.) What is your favorite taste of Summer?
Grilled cheeseburgers.
5.) Favorite Summer memory?
Sitting around the campfire in the evening at Work Camp at Camp Johnsonburg, circa 1984. Work Camp was special. The 50-70 campers were spread across all age groups from entering 3rd grade to graduating from high school. The cost was half of a regular unit because the work camp spent mornings doing work on the camp. I remember painting buildings and one year even re-shingling a roof. The younger kids did things like cleaning campfire cooking equipment and lanterns.
Every evening the entire work camp would have a campfire together. We had our own leaders (the same every year) and our own set of regular songs. The evening campfire was a cross between the traditional campfire, a bible study, and a worship service. The work campers were a close-knit group – many came from two churches that founded the work camp and they and others repeated work camp every year – but they readily accepted new people. It felt like a giant family even more than regular camp.
I’ll pick one specific memory. In 1985 I was a CIT (Counselor in Training) and for work camp I got to co-counsel with the Associate Pastor of my church (my youth pastor). He was also the chaplain for the week. The last night of work camp was always a communion service. At the time I was already a deacon, and the Book of Order limited service of communion to elders or “deacons, if sufficient elders are not available”. The communion service that he and I served at was my first chance to serve communion – something that was only ever repeated the following summer at Triennium.
Alas – Work Camp is no more in that form. The closest thing today is that some churches will send a group (youth or adult) up to live in a cabin for a week and do a project. Those folks don’t interact with the camp program much.
6.) Extreme heat or extreme cold? Which would you choose and why?
Extreme cold.
For one thing it’s easier for humans to “fix” extreme cold. Heating is generally easier than air conditioning. I dislike temperature extremes at either end. Secondly, I’m a real homebody and love the snuggly “stay inside” call of a cold snap.
7.) What books do you plan to read for the season?
Because of the economy (national and personal), I’m re-reading things from my shelf. Most of that is science-fiction. Right now I’m reading The Tower and the Hive (Rowan)
One book that I have ordered is: Fearless Fourteen (Stephanie Plum, No. 14)
8.) How does the Summer affect your faith? Is it a hindrance or an ally?
An ally.
I’ll preface my remarks with a reminder that I’m a strong introvert.
During the rest of the year, church alternates between hard work, painful interaction with some (including some nasty fights on the web … ahem), and high moments. I love working with the youth group, see the value of my work on committees (though they are a form of stress for me sometimes), and experience the difficulty of an introvert functioning in a large community. We are called to be in community, but our current structures aren’t really designed to make introverts comfortable.
In the summer, all of the “large group” aspects of faith get less intense. Our church has no air conditioning, and as a result attendance on Sunday drops WAY off. Committee work slows down or stops completely. The youth group doesn’t meet regularly which is both a bad thing (I miss them) and a good thing (I can get to sleep earlier on Sunday evening).
There are a few summer-only things too:
Church Camp – Carolyn and I will go up to help with check-in a few Sundays this summer. We generally spend about 3-4 hours in the afternoon doing medical checks or doing the complicated and crazy job of managing the medical paperwork. For that work, we get the privilege of spending the whole day there. We generally arrive in time for Staff Worship in the morning and then have a leisurely lunch with our camp friends. Sometimes we stay for dinner (if it’s not too hot) with 100-200 excited kids and staff.
Montreat – for the first time, I’m going with my church’s youth group to the Montreat summer youth conference (week VI, in case you’re going). I’m doing this with some trepidation – the last time I did something like this was Youth Triennium in 1986 when I WAS a youth, but it should be fun. We have something like 10 youth and 4 adults going for the program plus another adult in a support role.
Last, let’s not forget that my return to the church was sparked by a conversation at camp at lunch on a Sunday that I did check-in. Summer is generally pretty good to my faith.
Let’s see. I tag:
Cheesehead in Paradise
Alan of Some Amusing Blog Pun
Gannet Girl of Search the Sea
Adam Walker-Cleaveland of Pomomusings
Little Miss Sew and Sow
GA PJC tries to please everybody but pleases nobody
The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission issued a ruling in the case Jane Adams Spahr vs. Presbytery of Redwoods (218-12) this week. I have an IQ well north of 100 and have read the entire Book of Order (and the annotated version), and I find the ruling confusing.
In 2004, the Rev. Jane Spahr conducted two “weddings” between two pairs of women. All parties in the case admit that she called these ceremonies “marriages”. She was charged with a violation of W-4.9001, which states:
Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage is a civil contract between a woman and a man. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship. In a service of Christian marriage a lifelong commitment is made by a woman and a man to each other, publicly witnessed and acknowledged by the community of faith.
The Presbytery Permanent Judicial Commission dismissed the case, stating that there was nothing in the Book of Order or Authoritative Interpretations of it that prohibited a marriage between two people of the same gender. This was appealed to the Synod Permanent Judicial Commission, which ruled that she had violated the Book of Order and a 1991 Authoritative Interpretation that stated that sessions should not allow same-sex unions to be held in their church if the ceremony is not clearly stated that it is NOT the same as a marriage. She was given censure, the lowest possible punishment and what amounts to a slap on the wrist.
The General Assembly PJC used a curious bit of logic in reversing the Synod decision:
In summary, Specification of Error No. 1 is not sustained because by definition, “marriage is . . . between a man and a woman.” (W-4.9001) Specification of Error No. 1 and Specification of Error No. 2 are sustained because W-4.9001 does not state a mandatory prohibition on performing a same sex ceremony. The charge was for performing a marriage ceremony, which by definition cannot be performed.
Now, understand that I am an unabashed supporter of gay marriage and gay ordination. I find this ruling to be curious. This seems to me to be a bit of double-speak. “X happened, but since the rules say that X can’t happen then X didn’t happen.” This ruling completely ignores the fact that our rules are stated in the affirmative “X is Y” in order to draw boundaries around allowed behavior. My conservative fellow bloggers are right in that this ruling calls into question the Book of Order’s ability to mandate any specifications of practice or definition for our worship. One conservative blogger asks “What if I baptized my dog?” Would the dog be listed on the rolls? The Book of Order states that baptism is for “children of believers” or “adults” – it never states human.
I would personally prefer that the rules be changed in this case explicitly. Let’s broaden the rules for marriage, or narrow them, but let’s not say “anything not ruled out by the Book of Order is acceptable”. That’s simply not true. Shoot – we don’t even define sin (except for sex outside of marriage, of course) but we have Rules of Discipline that assume we’ll know it when we see it.
I like our polity’s requirements for consensus and for making decisions face to face. This is important – it’s really easy to throw stones at someone from afar (particularly over the Internet) but it’s another thing entirely to do it in someone’s presence. Something happens when we are together than can change the equation.
I also like our polity’s flexibility. I don’t want to see a day when the Book of Order is published in volumes like law books – covering an entire bookcase. However, the role of the GA PJC (actually, the Presbytery PJC or Session, with backup from the GA PJC) is precisely to make decisions on where the boundaries are. The General Assembly and presbyteries can’t do that in every circumstance without reducing our faith to a list of rules and regulations. This ruling ducks the decision on semantic grounds.
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I’m also particularly concerned with a new rule made here. The new rule is:
We further hold that officers of the PCUSA authorized to perform marriages shall not state, imply, or represent that a same sex ceremony is a marriage. Under W-4.9001, a same sex ceremony is not and cannot be a marriage.
This is the PJC legislating from the bench. It gets worse in the first concurring opinion:
We join in the foregoing Decision and Order (Decision). We understand the Decision to be an authoritative interpretation of W-4.9001, to mean that officers of the PCUSA who are authorized to perform marriages shall not hereafter perform a same sex union ceremony in which or with respect to which such officer states, implies or represents to be a marriage or the equivalent thereof. While the Commission did not find Spahr guilty as charged herein, in part because her conduct occurred under prior authoritative interpretations, we understand that future noncompliance with the authoritative interpretation of the Decision will be considered to be a disciplinable offense.
This is an example of a decision made by a rule-bound vice-principal in a cartoon that I remember watching once. Kids were out skateboarding on school property, and when the vice-principal tried to give them a detention they pulled out the rules and showed him that there was no rule against it. The rule was changed immediately. Then the kids were playing roller hockey, the vice-principal got mad, the kids pulled out the book … and it continued for the rest of the episode until the rule book looked like a phone book. This is a few PJC members saying, “You got away with it this time, but I’ll get you next time.” Can they do it? Yes. Is it good for the church? No. If the church wants to prohibit ministers from performing same-sex marriages, it should do so with an amendment. After all, this ruling already states that a same-sex marriage isn’t a marriage under the Book of Order!
Is this good for the church?
This ruling is clearly an attempt by the GA PJC to make an issue go away before a General Assembly meeting that will clearly be contentious. This year we have the complete Form of Government rewrite to consider (a change that if anything makes the rules even blurrier), the fallout of the PUP report, and lots of difficult overtures. We have the election of a new Stated Clerk which could substantially change the way the national office operates. Also, the PJC in their G-6.0108 rulings in February and in this ruling are clearly showing a frustration with segments of the church using the judicial process to force consensus or at least obedience within the denomination.
Unfortunately, this ruling is really a lose-lose ruling. The conservative side loses because one of of their primary targets “gets off on a technicality”, and because the practice of same-sex civil unions is not banned outright. The progressive side loses because the practice of same-sex marriages is banned outright. The center loses because this ruling is confusing and only serves to anger the folks at the extremes. This ruling solves nothing.
I’m not sure that the GA PJC could solve the root cause. The root cause here is a very deep split over theology. It’s not about homosexuality. It’s not about marriage. It’s really about the split between legalistic Christianity and wide-open fully-accepting Christianity. The two sides aren’t pro-gay and anti-gay – they’re pro-big-tent and pro-rules. The PJC can’t fix that problem. The General Assembly has only a tiny chance of fixing that problem. It’ll take a decision by everybody to either learn to live with each other and support each other’s strengths, OR to split.
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