Julie’s News from Maryland

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Well, sort of.  Yesterday, on the airplane to Florida, I finished my last homework assignment for the semester.  In two of my classes this semester, Ascetical Theology and Pastoral Theology, my instructors have asked us to write one page reflection papers each week. For AT, the papers are to begin with a question that we ask of the text or the author from that week’s reading, and then a reflection upon the reading and our questions. In PT, the papers are a response to a question posed by the instructor that usually relates the the reading.  I have really liked the rhythm of this weekly discipline, as opposed to writing two or three large papers per class or cramming for a mid-term and a final exam.  Writing these reflections has forced me to keep up with the reading each week and really pay attention to each reading assignment. As a result, I am more prepared for the class discussion and have retained more of what I’ve read for these classes.  I have found it to be quite useful to me.

Today I finished the last of these assignments.  Yippee.  The semester is almost complete.  When I return from Florida at the end of the week, all I have left to do is a group project for one of my classes and a final exam for another.  Not too bad.  I’m delighted that I finally have a semester that will end without 3 or 4 large papers due all at once.

Today is Ella’s birthday - she is 5 today.  Such a big girl. Such a sassy girl!  She had a party on Friday after school - 10 squealing girls.  They had a ball!  You’ll notice that the girl in the photo behind her is wearing the same shirt - they coordinated several days in advance so that they would match.  I’ve added a new album with a few more pictures from the party - see Ella’s Bday 2007.

I only have 6 months left in seminary.  I meant to post this on Nov. 14, which is the actual date from which I only have 6 months left, but I got busy that day and didn’t get around to it.  In any case, I graduate on May 14 at 11:00am (not that I’m counting or anything), so that is only 6 months.  Can you believe it?!  Here I am, in the final stretch.  Only a few more weeks and this semester will end, leaving just one semester to go.  Unbelievable to me.

I’m doing my field education this year at Big Manhattan Church. It has been a great experience and I really love it. I’m doing some research about church growth and development and it has been really informative and interesting. However, at Big Manhattan Church there are lots of clergy, which means that there are virtually no opportunities for the seminarian to preach. I knew that this was the case and it really isn’t a big deal. I like to preach and I’m pretty good at it (if I do say so myself) so I don’t really feel like it is a huge issue if I don’t get preaching opportunities during field ed. Heck, I have a lifetime of preaching ahead of me, I’m sort of glad that I won’t be using all my good ideas now. =)

I work at Big Manhattan Church on Thursdays and my “office” is in the Vesting Room. The Vesting Room is a big room behind the altar where all the priests’ vestments hang. I have a desk and a phone and a network connection. I thought I might be lonely so far away from all the staff offices, but it turns out that it’s a busy place. Lots of different people wander in and out of that room all day and I’ve met some really cool and fun people. Today I got a tour of the choir rooms and the community outreach ministry from one of the choirmasters.

Anyway, I was sitting in my big “closet” (as I affectionately call it), when one of the clergy came in to vest for noontime Eucharist. This particular clergy is a friend of mine from seminary (he is a recent graduate). He asked if I wanted to preach at the noontime Eucharist that was starting in 10 minutes. Being a little chicken, I asked to read the gospel first. It was Luke 17:20-26, which has one of my favorite quotes in it, “For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” When I saw that, I knew I could preach pretty easily, so I agreed.

I put on an alb and followed my friend to the small chapel. Only one person was there as we walked in, but then 4 or 5 more came in right away. It was a great little service and I got to preach a tiny little sermon with almost no preparation. It was really fun and I’m so grateful to my friend for giving me the opportunity.

It’s official! I have a bishop. She was ordained yesterday. I really wanted to be there, but seeing as how I was there for convention two weeks ago, it just didn’t make sense (financially or from a time management perspective) for me to go all the way back. I wish I had been able too, I bet it was a great party!

You can see a short video clip of it here.

As it was, I spent the day in the library writing a paper about Ignatius of Loyola and the Catholic Counter Reformation. It was an interesting experience to sit in the library all day and watch the clock. I thought of the ordination at various times - 1:15EST/10:15PST when everyone had to be seated in the church. Then 2:00/11:00 when the ordination was beginning. I held the diocese and the new bishop in my prayers all day as I worked. It was kinda cool.

I did it. I can’t believe it’s already happened. I preached my senior sermon. It’s so hard for me to believe that I am this close to the end. Almost the end of my second to last semester here. Unbelievable. Didn’t we just move here like last week?!

I was really nervous this morning. I started out ok, but by 11:00 I could hardly sit still in class. I decided to come home to relax a bit. Instead, I cleaned. Just had to do something with my nervous energy, so I wandered around in the house picking up and putting things in order. Organizing always calms me. By the time I got to chapel at 11:30 I really didn’t feel well. I was sick to my stomach. My throat was dry. My hands were clammy. My heart was racing. And that’s pretty much how I stayed until it was time to preach at noon. I walked up to the pulpit feeling winded. It is so hard to preach to my peers. I respect them all so much - and I know that they know so much.

Once I got started I felt much better. Everyone was so attentive and smiling and welcoming. They all seemed to really be interested in what I was saying and following along with me. We seemed to be on a journey together and we all went there. It was really spectacular. And I felt really good about it. After the service people said wonderful things to me and were very kind. I feel really good about the whole thing.

Eventually an audio copy will be posted online and I’ll post the link when I get it. It’s been taking a while to get the audio versions posted around here, so in the meantime, the text follows.

Readings:
Numbers 11:16-17, 24-29
John 4:31-38

Sermon:

Imagine, if you will, a table with a hundred tall, clear, sturdy, empty water glasses. The glasses are set out in rows of 10 – 10 across and 10 down. Beautiful and shining from the sunlight, the glasses wait with anticipation to be filled.

Now, imagine yourself, or maybe someone else standing at head of that table holding an average size plastic bucket. Now, pull that bucket back and fling the water out across the glasses.

What does it look like now. I imagine that some of the glasses are pretty full. Others, probably the ones in the back, are totally dry. Some have been splashed with water. And, I would imagine, that there is an awful lot of water on the table and the floor.

This is not exactly the most efficient way to fill up water glasses.
——————

In our reading from Numbers today, we catch up to Moses just after he has finished complaining to God. You see, Moses has managed to get the Hebrew people out of Egypt and is now wandering around in the desert with them. He has parted the red sea, brought the commandments down from the mountain, brought the commandments down from the mountain again, settled disagreements, intervened between God and the people, and reassured the people that they aren’t going to die in the wilderness. Moses has pretty much been doing everything since they left Egypt – he’s had an awful lot of water glasses to fill with just his one bucket.

And Moses is tired. He’s tired of doing it all.. In fact, he’s so tired that he asks God to kill me now! Just strike me down – I can’t do it one more day. And this is where we catch up to Moses.

God says, “Moses, I hear ya. Go get 70 elders so that he can put some of the spirit that is on Moses on them so that they can share the burden of caring for the people.” And interestingly, two young men, who seemed to have been chose, but for whatever reason didn’t go to get God’s spirit, began to prophesy. And in typical fashion, someone comes to tattle-tale, “Moses! Moses! They are prophesying! Tell them to stop!” And what does Moses say? “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”

Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”

Moses has been doing this all by himself for a long time. Moses knows that the burden is too much. He has learned the hard way that he can’t do it by himself. 70 elders is a good start, but Moses is dreaming big here – “Would that ALL the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”
———————————-
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.”

“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.”

Jesus’ food is to do the will of God. His food. Food is what sustains the human body. Food is what helps the human body grow. Food is what gives the body energy. Food is what gives the body life.

Jesus says that his food is to do the will of God. Jesus gains sustenance from doing the will of God. Jesus grows by doing the will of God. Jesus is filled with energy as he does the will of God. Jesus lives doing the will of God.

But Jesus does not claim this as an exclusive gift. Jesus does not hoard this food to himself. He is not here to do God’s work alone. Jesus isn’t trying to fill the glasses of water up by himself.

Jesus tells the disciples that he is sending them to reap what they did not labor. Jesus is sending the disciples out to do God’s will. Because Jesus knows that the will of God is food for all people, not just for him. Jesus knows that following God’s will and completing God’s work will bring them sustenance and growth and energy and life.

Jesus knows that God is fulfilling Moses’ dream – “Would that ALL the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them.”
Jesus knows that (in just a few short chapters in Acts) the spirit of the Lord will come upon them and be available to us all.
——————————–

Let’s go back to the image of the table will all the glasses – some are partially filled, some are wet on the outside, some are dry, and there is water all over the place.

This is clearly not an efficient system for filling up the glasses, yet don’t we try to do it this way? Don’t we get caught in the trap of trying to do everything all by our self? Don’t we know priests like this?

And what happens to congregations that work like this? Where the congregation sits in the pews like tall sturdy clear shiny glasses waiting to be filled. And the priest is desperately flinging buckets of water at them.

A few people in the congregation get what they need, while others get nothing. Some probably gets splashed a bit. And, I think, there is a ton of wasted energy that just gets spilled on the floor. And there is one tired, burned out priest.

But, what would it be like if we added a few things to the table? Let’s add 7 or 8 large pitchers and 10 or 12 smaller carafes. Now, use the bucket to fill each pitcher individually. Then, the pitchers fill up the carafes, and the carafes and the pitchers then each fill up the glasses.

What happens now? It’s more efficient, isn’t it? Less messy with a more even distribution. And substantially less work for the person holding the bucket.

Can you imagine a congregation that works this way?

A congregation where the priest concentrates his or her efforts on just 15 or 20 people. Teaching them they the spirit of God is upon them. Helping them to seek and understand the gifts God has given them. Working with them to discern the will of God in their life.

And then, those people turn around and do the same for other.

Can you imagine this congregation?

I believe that this would be a congregation full of life. A congregation eating of the food that Jesus tells us about – the food that is doing the will of God. I believe that this congregation would be sustained and grow as they do God’s work. This congregation would be full of energy and life as they responded to God’s call.
——————————-

Many of us in this room have discerned a call to the priesthood – we hear God calling us, just as God called Moses – to serve God in a very focused way. But I don’t think God has given us the spirit in a special way. Nor do I think that God has offered us special food.

I believe that Moses’ dream has been fulfilled - “Would that ALL the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”

All the Lord’s people are prophets. The spirit of the Lord is upon us all.

Amen.

I have been invited to preach at the Eucharist in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd here at seminary on Monday morning.  Every M.Div. student is invited to preach one sermon there during their senior year, the “senior sermon.”  I can hardly believe that my time has already come.  I remember listening to the seniors the first year that I was here and trying to imagine what it was like to be in that spot - almost to the end rather than just at the beginning.

I’ve been working on my sermon for a little over a week.  Sometimes when I’m writing a sermon I feel like I barely have enough to say to eek out a little something.  Other times I feel like I have so much to say that I have to work hard to edit the sermon and keep it on task.  Lucky for me, this is one of those times. I actually have too many mental images, too many metaphors, and one too many points (IMHO a sermon should have ONE point).   I love having a plethora of ideas from which to choose - it makes me feel less like I’m just using something because it is all I’ve got.

Last night, some friends mentioned that they are curious to see what exciting wardrobe option will appear as I preach in the chapel.  Will it be crazy shoes?  A bright pattern under my alb?  How will I break the rules?, they asked.

Interestingly, I’ve given this a fair amount of thought.  Should I break the rules when I preach?  I hate preaching from a pulpit, I could easily break with tradition by stepping out of the pulpit and preaching from the broad step where I’d be more comfortable.  But, I wouldn’t have a microphone, so I’d have to shout and there is some chance that folks in the back would have a hard time hearing.  That doesn’t seem like a good option.  I could do something fun and crazy with my shoes or earrings.  But, as a friend of mine from another seminary learned when he wore bright red sneakers for his senior sermon, folks were so distracted by the shoes that they didn’t hear anything he said.

There is a lot of stuff in chapel that I find silly; a lot that I think is goofy and outdated and irrelevant to the world today.  I don’t have any problem poking fun at old traditions and causing a little trouble to challenge people’s ideas about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.  But, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen is a different matter.  You see, I don’t think there is anything we can do that is more relevant to the world today than to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The world is a hectic, chaotic, broken, crazy place.  Jesus breaks into the midst of our chaos and offers us an alternate way to live - Jesus offers us new life in relationship with him. 

Preaching the gospel is what this thing is all about for me.  Proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ crucified and risen is the whole point.  Giving people the opportunity to meet Jesus and to have new life is the only reason that I’m doing this.  I love the Episcopal church, but, as my friend Cristopher said, “Even if the Episcopal Church crumbled tomorrow, you and I would still preach the gospel.”  This is it folks.  This is why I’m here.  This is why I have put myself and my family through so much turmoil and change - because I am convinced that God has called me to preach the gospel (and when necessary, to use words).

I care too much about preaching the gospel to do anything that might distract someone from hearing the Word of God in their heart.  If I were to act out and be silly in the chapel on Monday, most people in that room would walk away talking about my silliness.  I want the people in chapel on Monday to walk away talking about Jesus and who Jesus is calling them to be in the world.  Believe me, I won’t do anything to jeopardize that.

We are in the midst of birthday season in the Nelson family.  The four of us here (not including Justin) each have a birthday between Oct. 13 and Dec. 11.  It’s a busy time, especially when you add Halloween and Thanksgiving during that time too.

Currently, we are planning Ella’s upcoming party.  We narrowly escaped another year of a princess themed party - she happened to see the My Little Pony products and decided that’s what she wanted.  As I was buying the plates, cups, napkins, and invitations it occurred to me that party supply manufacturers have made a critical error in the package sizing of such items.  You see, they sell all those items in packages of 8, but if you have a birthday child and then 8 more kids (assuming that all the kids that got an invitation attend), then you have 9 kids.  Now you have 8 plates/napkins/cups/goodie bags and 9 children.  That’s sort of problematic.

November is a popular month in Ella’s class for birthdays.  In fact, her birthday week in particular is a full week.  So far there are 4 parties for kids in her class that week.  The other kids have invited the entire kindergarten class to their parties.  I don’t know, but I’m just not sure that Ella needs to have 20 little kids at her 5th birthday party.  That seems so overwhelming to me.  I’ve decided to just stick with the 8 she can invite with one package of invitations.  That was always the rule when I was a kid and I think it worked well.  Plus, she doesn’t seem to want to have all the kids there.

Tomorrow is my 38th birthday.  I can’t believe I’m 38.  That seems so old.  But I don’t feel all that old.  In the church I’m still considered ‘young’.  In fact, I have a friend of a similar age who is looking for a rector job and has been rejected because he is too young.  Too young.  Sigh.  Heaven forbid we have young clergy that might attract someone to the church that is under the age of 50!  But, I digress.  In any case, Rick is taking me to see the play Wicked tomorrow night to celebrate.  I’m very much looking forward to it.