Vicar Goes To Staff Meeting

Thursday is always a day of great anticipation. Exciting things seem to happen on Thursdays; Morning gym time, seniors meeting, Mens' Bible study, class preparation, The Office and Scrubs with a glass of red wine...

But today brought a different Thursday flavor. Pastor Jerry decided to introduce "Staff To Go Over Impending Sermon Thursdays." This has been the highlight of the week. We met and had a discussion that went analogously like this:

Person A: Do you like butterflies?
Person B: No, red sweaters frighten me.
Person C: My Auntie Bertha hated turkey.
Person D: It's true - I heard Denzel Washington said so.
Person B: So what is the problem with global warming?
Person C: I've used Crest toothpaste since I was a child!
Person A: Why do you disdain Harry Wendt so much?
Person B: I don't disdain Wendt. I disdain ice cream - lactose intolerance.
Person D: Oh look! There goes Ms. Olson.

And every time you *think* it is time to stand up and say your goodbyes... nope! Just kidding! Yes, yes, yes, yes... ahhhh... no.

This small clip, after whom the blog is named, is a tribute to my staff meeting experience. I won't tell you who is who... but you can make guesses as to the characters involved. In addition, focus only on the times when the entire council/staff meets... the in between times parallel nothing happening in Valpo presently.

I must say, however, this beautiful Thursday morning ended well with an extended discussion with Ms. Olson regarding her extensive and colorful bowel troubles.
Apropos indeed.

Turkey Time

Thanksgiving 2007 was best I can remember!
Hanging out with the family was so much fun! Here are a few fun pictures:

Cousin Jack #12, taking names with the Compuware Team

Birthday Cake!
Mom always picks the pretty ones with flowers.
Cake is never worth eating without the frosting...


My brother Jonathan and I - he's 6'6" now!

Dad and I


Group Photo!
Mom and Dad had a great time!


Surprised at how amazing the frosting is?
Not me! Mom is the BEST!


Mom and Dad gave me a WHOLE JAR of capers!
(and some pretty earrings!)


Jonathan and cousin Ellen out for a night on the town


Cousin Julia was a mouse in the Nutcracker!
She was wonderful and even had a solo!


Grandma and I post-tuck in at the Sidetrack in Ypsi.
Ypsi makes us Tipsy!
(we weren't actually tipsy - its just fun to say!)

Not pictured:

- The most tender and delicious turkey cooked by one Mrs. Carol Strom
- Side dishes, including mashed sweet potatoes, bacon-topped stuffing (because everything is better with bacon), broccoli, rolls, squash bisque, shrimp cocktail, fruit platters, baked root veggies, and GRANDMA'S MASHED POTATOES!
- All of the times my brother and I were tackled, whacked, tickled, thumped, wrestled, twisted, hugged, and dragged by our little cousins!
- Sitting with the head coach of the Detroit Redwings during cousin Jack's hockey game! Go Wings!
- Sleeping arrangements at Grandma - poor Mom and Dad sleeping on a mattress that looks something like this: \_/
- All of the other yummy food and great conversation we enjoyed all weekend long!
- All of the really sweet hugs, laughs, and kind words exchanged among everyone

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A Word from the Picket

The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since early November, causing major disruptions in the daily diet of popular late night comedy, soon to level the pre-recorded sitcom phenomenon. As you might have guessed, this strike has caused those of menial authority and local notoriety to overestimate their personal talents taken for granted by the fickle public, resulting in Miss Natalie Gessert, Vicar of Valpo, to strike from the blogosphere until her royalties are duly paid in full.

Unfortunately, for Miss Gessert, we at the Democratic National Offices have caught her on camera far from passionate picketing and engaging in suspicious activities which may interest the House Committee on Un-Republican Activities, or HCURA. As you might now, Mr. Cheney is not the only one who has advance Intelligence and Risk Assessment technologies. We have the environment on our side and the whole animal kingdom has been bugged accordingly.

The following photographic record documents the covert environmental activities of Miss Gessert:

Assessing the premises for onlookers and cameras


Finding none, she proceeds in a most un-Republican display of arborial affection


A kiss-and-run, as it were


She believes she has been spotted and makes a run for it


Yet again, with a false sense of security.
The dogwood is the next sufferer of this covert environmentalist rampage


Warned about the Democratic paparazzi combing the region.
Eying with concern...

Not even the dogwoods can save you now, sweetheart...

Such activities will not go without documentation.
You know, Miss Gessert, we are certain the Republican party has Pat Robertson-sponsored church programs to de-environmentalize you. They are always there to help in the de-greening process.

Just note that Hillary will always be there with open arms...
waiting...
waiting...

Update

I'm so sorry about the lapse in blogging! I will be posting later on tonight. The past two weeks have been absolutely packed. It has nothing to do with my grief regarding the Colbert candidacy...

Thanks for your patience!

A Day After A Day of Mourning

To my dear readers:

It is with great sadness and regret that I inform you Stephen Colbert has been forced to drop his run for the U.S. Presidency in 2008. He was pushed out by Democratic party officials in a bid to appear on the primary ballot by a vote of 13-3.

And here I thought I could actually vote for a Democrat...

However, in a diplomat effort to revamp the Colbert Campaign and encourage its continuing strength, I hereby name myself the 1,000,001st in the "1,000,000 Strong for Stephen Colbert."
You should too. For the sake of America.

So, if you want Natalie to vote Democrat for the first time in her life, join the campaign. 1,000,000 Strong for Stephen Colbert. I'll do it if you will.

Signed,

Jeni's Favorite Republican

Faith Around the Hearth

As the year presses on I'm finding that church life is less about attachment to a church building, but more about meeting others in the middle of life. Faith in Chris happens more at the supper table, at work, and in school than a few hours on Sunday. I, myself, feel more able to call on hands above to lean on in my little apartment late at night than during Sunday worship.

One notable frustration I have about church life here in Valparaiso (and certainly not limited geographically) is that the faith is negligible in the most important places life is found: at Work and in the Home. I believe that the work of ministry is to flood others with the Gospel - News so Good that is must be taken back into the intersections of life where goodness is most often experienced. My hope is that the little ones of the church are given homes reflective of what I hope they find at church: responsible, loving care offered by adults who model this behavior towards one another. The hope of most people for our little ones is that they are provided with all of the good things they need in life - food, clothes, home, family, daily work, and all they need from day to day. Interestingly enough, Jesus commands us - even adults - to have faith like a child, so that it becomes the joy of the church to also ensure that these same needs are being met for "grown-ups."

As far as I can see, the best word I can think of for this sort of saturation with care and concern in the name of our common faith is verbal in nature (Lutherans have always been into Verbs... comes with the territory). I see the role of the church as: To Invade

Now, I cannot quite think of another English word that conveys the relationship between church and the home. While the word is so unfortunately often associated with military tactics and hostility, what about rejoining it with images of yeast in bread. Or the pervasive joy a newborn brings to her home. Or the way snow comes to gently blanket our communities a few times a year. Those, to me, are "good" and welcomed invasions. They are gifts dropped upon us without us asking or even knowing quite how it happens. So I look to our role as the church to find good and healthy ways to invade the home, saturating every corner of the faith life with goodness, love, and hope. A tall order, yes. Impossible - well, God doesn't seem to think so. And He says its His job anyway to take care of it, so I guess its not out of the realm of possibility.

Anyhow. Part of the reason why I was thinking about the church and its need to saturate the whole home and life has to do with the Catechism. In Luther's day he had large posterboards made up with the commandments, Apostles Creed, and Lord's prayer on it so that the Mom's and Dad's could teach one another and their children all about the promises of God in matters of life, death, and relationships. Maybe its not the norm for modern living, but I can't help but think it is a pretty good idea. Instead of simply sending the kiddoes off to Sunday School to "get them some morals," it is helpful to have those lessons and gifts invade the whole of life - life at the crossroads of the supper table. I was reminded of this because a friend of mine, Edith Gage, has come up with a really beautiful way of bringing the Apostles Creed into the home:

She did this with her own hands! I had the good pleasure of seeing this process unfold over a few months. This piece is the Apostles Creed surrounded by Luther's explanations to the articles. This is not lofty, heady theological discourse, but rather the sort of dinner table discussion to bring into your kitchen. This is meant to be graspable by all and enjoyed as a centerpiece in discussion about the clarity of God's gifts and promises available at all times and in all places.

I'm not really into using this space as advertising (Blogs should give us some relief from that world, shouldn't they?), but Edith's work is really wonderful and I would encourage you to think about bringing one of her pieces home. Her work is very price-manageable and high quality. If you are interested, contact her at:

Edith Gage
Engaging Faith
Exploring the intersection of faith and art
egage001@luthersem.edu
(651) 645-7007

Green and White, My Hearts' Delight

It's okay, Michigan State.
We both know you are the real winners.



On the banks of the Red Cedar
Is a school that's known to all;
Its specialty is winning,
And those Spartans play good ball;
Spartan teams are never beaten,
All through the games they fight;
Fight for the only colors,
Green and White.
Go right thru' for MSU,
Watch the points keep growing.
Spartan teams are bound to win,
They're fighting with a vim.
RAH! RAH! RAH!
See their team is weakening,
We're going to win this game.
Fight! Fight! Rah! Team, Fight!
Victory for MSU.

It's Not What You Think, Ocifer...

I was pulled over at 3:01 a.m., 31. October, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Hard to believe, I know, but occasionally it happens. This is lucky #3 for me and my diverse driving career and its currently one for three in terms of getting an actual ticket. TPR Officer K. Devries is the name on my traffic warning and I'd just like to take this moment to share with you, dear reader, what a fine police officer this man is.

While of course being pulled over is one of those life events we might like to avoid (and indeed, my heart was beating into my throat at the time), this officer made a beeline for me with a smile and a helpful concern regarding my front right headlight. It seems Officer Devries has not yet become so disillusioned by matters of the law that he has booked a cell at his local seminary for more Gospel-related citations...

During preschool the police officers usually make a visit in their subdued blues with shiny badges, sounding the siren for excited little ones who clamp their hands firmly over their ears. Each receive a little plastic sheriffs badge and the little boys begin to dream about their future in the squad, anxious to rid the world of crime with the other superheroes in blue. They will, of course, feel the same urgency when the men in red show up to put out fires, but there is something romantic and death-defying about doing the grunt work of public protection. Policemen and women are the ones we all want to trust to keep us safe and free from the dangers our neighbor or strangers might seek to inflict upon us. Officer K. Devries reminded me of that the other night - that old sense of trust and confidence I felt in preschool: that there is indeed someone strong and kind who has the wherewithal to keep common folks like me safe in day to day matters.

So if you are out late one night, driving in an unfortunate state of padiddlement, just hope its Officer K. Devries at your service.
He's one of the good guys.

Joined at the...

If:
Jennifer + Benjamin = Bennifer
and
Barry + Marney = Barney
does
Jim + Pamela = Jamela?